Small Kitchen Redesign – Making the Most of a Small Kitchen

Kitchen Design

Small Kitchen Redesign Tricks

Feeling cramped in your kitchen? Wishing you had the space that a large kitchen affords? Even if you don’t have the ability to expand the footprint of your kitchen, with a few design changes you can increase the efficiency, improve the function, and “grow” your small kitchen. There are many ways to redesign a small kitchen with minimal architectural changes. Here are some of our favorite small kitchen tricks.

Light colors make a small kitchen appear larger in size

Choose light colors

Take advantage of white and light colors to help your small kitchen look bigger. Choose light colored walls, cabinets, and countertops to expand your space.

Buy compact appliances

Compact appliances are a small kitchen space saver! Consider traditional refrigerators instead of side by side models, dishwasher drawers (or skip the dishwasher altogether if you are in a very small or galley kitchen) and compact ranges.

Add under cabinet lighting

Brighten your small kitchen with under cabinet lighting. By illuminating the dark recesses of your kitchen you will immediately add volume to your countertops.

Install a mirrored backsplash

A mirrored backsplash will create the illusion that your small kitchen is much larger than it really is by reflecting the area in front of it.

Replace cabinets with open shelves, especially up high

Cabinet doors shrink your wall space, closing in your already small kitchen. Open up your walls by removing the cabinet doors to expose open shelving. Open shelving in high places will also make the ceiling feel higher, making your kitchen appear much bigger all around.

Replace solid wood cabinet doors with glass doors

If you prefer your cabinets to have doors, replace solid wood ones with glass. Frosted glass will hide the contents of your cabinets but still help to open up your walls.

Install large floor tiles on a diagonal

Large floor tiles will make your floors look bigger and placing them on a diagonal will carry your eyes from corner to corner instead of wall to wall. Your eyes will be tricked into thinking your small kitchen is bigger than it actually is.

Design with clean lines to reduce clutter

Traditional design is not the best for small kitchens. The fancy woodwork and trim create clutter which reduces space. Instead, redesign your small kitchen using clean lines and smooth surfaces to let your eyes scan unbroken across the kitchen, expanding the look and feel of your space.

If you do have the ability to alter or move walls, we recommend the following design elements:

Pass through windows into the adjacent dining room add a sense of openness and detail in this kitchen design

Add a window to the outdoors

Windows let in the best kind of light – natural light that brightens your entire room. And a bright kitchen is a big kitchen.

Add a pass through window

If you can, add a pass through window in a wall that separates the kitchen from the rest of the house. Even a small window will create visual continuity, making the room seem large, airy and open.

The kitchen designers at Drury have years of experience redesigning small kitchens. We incorporate these and many other elements into the design to help bring more space, more function, and more efficiency to the kitchen. Find out what we can do for you by contacting us and requesting a free consultation. We’ll help you grow your kitchen by leaps and bounds