You’ve recently moved into your new place.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t come with the open concept kitchen of your dreams. Rather, you have a paltry few cabinets to work with and a sorry excuse for counter space.
Despite that, you still have ambitious plans for the space.
You want to spend time in the kitchen whipping up meals for people you love, without it being a claustrophobic, greasy mess.
How?
Keep reading to learn some clever tips for how to transform small kitchen layouts, maximizing the space you have.
1. Mirrors
Mirrors are a tried and true way to make any space look bigger. They reflect light back into the space and can make it look up to twice as large as it actually is.
For the kitchen, you’ll want to get creative with how you use mirrors. You could replace the backsplash with a large mirror, add in mirrored cabinets, or even transform an irregularly shaped wall into a mirrored wall.
They don’t have to be full-on mirrors either. Reflective countertops and cabinetry can work just as well to introduce light to the space.
If this sounds like a lot of work to you, you can always consult a service like Ctbathplanet.com about how to remodel a kitchen.
2. Step Stools
If you’re short, you need to plan to add a step stool to take advantage of all your vertical kitchen space.
Many kitchens come with underused cabinets that are higher up; with a step stool, you would have easier access to these cabinets.
Take advantage of them to store lesser-used kitchen gadgets or bulk items.
3. Reduce Color Contrast
One of the best tips in how to make your kitchen look larger has to do with color contrast. Nothing boxes you in more than numerous contrasting colors.
A room with four white walls will look bigger than a room with walls of four different colors.
A unified color scheme suggests a larger space. Try to match your countertop appliances to your cabinets, and your cabinets to your countertop or fridge.
4. Multipurpose Items
Ideally, you want multipurpose gadgets to save space. Freeing up countertop space will make your kitchen look a lot bigger than it really is.
Japanese kitchen layouts are great examples of this, as many of their houses and apartments are quite small due to population density.
They have microwaves that also double as ovens that can roast fish and bake bread.
You could also invest in a silicone mat with numerous functions: baking, surface for hot items, pot gripper, and more. Items like these save space because you can forgo non-reusable items like baking paper.
Transforming Small Kitchen Layouts
As long as you make clever use of the space you do have, working with small kitchen layouts should be completely manageable.
You’ll want to take inspiration from North European or Japanese layouts–their design philosophies often make creative use of storage.
For more kitchen remodeling ideas, visit our home improvement section!