Some Small Kitchen Design Tips

To create a small but efficient kitchen design, you need to work on three major areas - storage, lighting, and appliances.

Small kitchens may seem to be a very difficult design challenge, but they can also be functional, beautiful and efficient. Even with a small budget and building restrictions, you can find that there are many options open to you to transform your kitchen into something more ideal for your needs.

To create a more spacious look for your small kitchen design the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) recommends designing more unique storage solutions, mixing natural and ambient lighting, taking advantage of more space saving appliances, and adding personalized touches.

A small kitchen design requires creativity in coming up with storage solutions. Some ideas to try include:

• Putting an island in the centre of the kitchen can provide freestanding storage that is also convenient from any spot in the kitchen.
• Using a galley kitchen design in which the cabinets and appliances line up on either side of a corridor can work out very well for a small kitchen space.
• Today's appliance manufacturers have come up with more compact space-saving appliances to make small kitchen design easier, such as refrigerators that are 24 inches deep instead of 30 inches deep, as well as appliances that can be hung underneath cabinets like microwaves.
• Other small kitchen design tricks to create an eating area in the kitchen include using a drop table or a small sized round table with two small chairs that can be tucked into a corner. Or a built-in counter along the wall with chairs to provide an eating nook.
• Another interesting challenge in small kitchen design is creating an illusion of space with under cabinet lighting or under the counter lighting. With the proper type of lighting the kitchen can be made to appear larger and more pleasing.
• The use of light coloured cabinets with glass doors.
• Installing deeper counters can accommodate more appliances and increase work space.
• Flooring tiles can be placed at a diagonal, and in a galley style kitchen hardwood flooring can be run the length of the kitchen.
• For storage you can hang up pots and pans. This is a perfect way to free up cabinet space, and they add a certain charm and character to your small kitchen design. The insides of cabinet doors can be used to hang up everything from utensils, oven mitts, and other miscellaneous items. Pantry storage with units that go all the way to the ceiling with the upper cabinets to provide more space for seldom used items while making the lower cabinets more accessible with roll-out shelves, lazy susans, and tilt-out bins.
• Install a large kitchen sink, since larger sinks are considered to be more practical than small sinks when it comes to cleaning pots and pans.

Remember most kitchens are small. When you look in kitchen design magazines you naturally notice that the kitchens featured are large and so you might think your small kitchen in inadequate. But good small kitchen design means being able to create space and incorporating ample storage facilities, and being able to fit in all the necessary appliances.

James Mahoney is the author of many kitchen design articles. You can visit his Kitchen Designer's Ideas site here. He also publishes a newsletter on kitchen design.

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