Larger design concepts and smaller touches both do a lot to change the feel and function of a kitchen. We’d all love an expensive designer kitchen with a huge marble-top island, trendy lounge seating, and cupboards for days. But many people are stuck with smaller kitchens or boring kitchens with standard designs and not a lot of wiggle room – particularly for apartment-dwellers.
Below are a handful of ideas to improve the look and functionality of the kitchen, no matter what you’ve got to work with. You can also look more small kitchen design ideas here.
Tables on Wheels: Having a little side table that is mobile and can be moved around in the kitchen or to the adjacent dining room is a big help when you wish you had more counter space for preparation or when you could use a little table to glide out during appetizers or dessert time. One that has drawers and storage space is even better for keeping dishes, napkins, and other accessories.If your kitchen is too small, keep it stored in the dining room or the hall until needed.
People don’t often think about art when it comes to the kitchen, but if you have some wall space to spare, it’s a great way to decorate an otherwise boring room withenlarged photo art of a memorable family dinner or some creative digital art with food as the theme. You can create your own using high quality photo printing services and a high-resolution digital image of your choice, printed onto wrapped canvas, acrylic, metal, or a range of archival quality photo papers and posters. Customize the size to suit your space. Alternatively, you could choose to brighten up the room with a coloured splashback. You can buy these from Simply Plastics online.
Some kitchens don’t have enough cabinets but there is a lot of confusing extra wall space to spare. Try installing racks to hang your cooking implements and upside-down wine glasses, or small shelves to place your spice rack, oils and vinegars, or small appliances.
A purely aesthetic idea is colourful appliances coming back into style in a big way. Red fridges, cobalt dishwashers, and orange ovens make a statement without needing to paint the walls. Stay in complementary colour palates for other small items like the toaster or kettle to get a colour theme going. Or, go the other way, and keep your appliances a standard colour, and colour the cabinets with shades like teal, lavender, or golden sunset instead.
Install a small shelf, rack, or holder in front of your kitchen window (if you’re lucky enough to have one) and grow your own fresh herbs. They can be easily harvested while you’re cooking and get ample light.
Kitchen not bright enough? Install some hanging lights from the ceiling to illuminate your prep area. Or find some LEDtap lights that turn on when you press them for extra light when needed or when you want just a little light illuminating the area in the evening or to grab a late night snack.
Instead of having one of those decorative bowls with the weird wicker balls in them, place a functional bowl with the fruits that are best kept out of the fridge like avocado, figs, tropical fruit, bananas, persimmon, coconut, tomatoes. Apples and pears, two classic counter features, actually do best when kept in the fridge.
For more ideas for tiny kitchens, check out this list from HouseBeautiful.