The kitchen constitutes one of the largest areas in your house when it comes to investments. Regardless of the size of the kitchen, its functionality must be desirable.
For a kitchen to run smoothly, all there has to be is perfect planning to ensure everything is in its rightful position. Designing a small kitchen may, at times, take more time than planning other rooms in your home.
Below are insights on how to make the most out of a small kitchen.
Perfect Positioning
Having all the space in the world, and not positioning items appropriately will eventually make the place congested. Dealing with a small space means you cannot place things anyhow.
There has to be an order in which items are arranged in the kitchen. Allocate space for everything needed in the kitchen. As you do the allocation, be sure to leave enough floor space for the necessary kitchen traffic.
Make Tall Cabinets
In ordinary circumstances, kitchen cabinets are designed such that space is left in between the ceiling and cabinets. What is the essence of this space? Break the norm and do things in an extraordinary manner. After all, it is a mere dust trap.
Talk to your local carpenter and check if there is a readymade cabinet that can meet your needs. In case there is none, let the carpenter make it from the kitchen. Including such spaces enhances storage in your small kitchen.
Ditch Doors for Drawers
Switching all cabinet doors for drawers is such a brilliant way of maximizing space. Unlike doors, drawers allow for easy accessibility of items.
The drawers also offer additional space for storage without tempering with the initial arrangement.
Hang Some of the Utensils
Items such as pans are likely to consume a lot of space when kept in common areas. If you have a small space, it will look awkward placing pans in the cabinet. They will even consume space that was previously meant for plates.
It is, therefore, recommended that you hang these pans on some nails within your kitchen. After all, there is nothing meant for the empty space in the wall.
Use Slim Cabinets
Broad cabinets are known for the vast spaces that they occupy. In a typical kitchen setting, the most significant portion is covered by these traditional cabinets.
Be creative and use slim cabinets instead. They are economical when it comes to issues of space as well as spending a little cash on them. However, their storage capacity remains the same or maybe increases a bit.
Fix Cabinets and Shelves on the Wall
Have you been to a room that is very congested yet there is so much space between the wall and other items? If you haven’t, let me assure you the feeling is not good.
The additional space left behind the shelves should be utilized fully. Unfortunately, it will be hard to place anything in these spaces, thus the need to get rid of them. It is only right to fix the shelves on the walls permanently.
Go for Small Dish-Washing Machines
There is a misconception in households that you need a big dishwasher to accommodate all the dishes at a go. While this may be true, it doesn’t always play to your advantage.
An 18-inch dishwasher is all your small kitchen needs to be at its best. After all, the function of this tool is to clean dishes that don’t happen very often. Dishwashers are rarely used in the home, thus should not be left to occupy all the available space.
If you are however obsessed with the big one, ensure that it is concealed into the wall to give space for other items.
Choose Slim Refrigerators
In almost every home, there is a high probability that you will find a 36-inch fridge that is mainly half filled. This beats logic in that other parts of the kitchen are congested, yet the fridge is empty.
Although we fancy cooking and shopping for fresh produce, that should not push us to buy these big fridges. You can still by a 30-inch refrigerator and have a touch of luxury. If anything, this small fridge will be ever full, thus giving you a sense of satisfaction.
Let the six or more inches that were to be consumed by the empty fridge be used for other purposes.
Make Good Use of the Corners
Corner space is one of the most underutilized portions of the kitchen. All you find in these corners are spiders and cockroaches if they lucky to be there.
Think of corner shelving as a perfect way of filling space. It looks awkward, but until you try, it is when you realize how much space you have been wasting.
Use a Magnet to Hold Knives
Some tools in the kitchen are essential, but troublesome at the same time. We all have that one moment when we misplaced the knife right inside the kitchen. The most convenient way of avoiding these scenarios is by sticking them on a magnet.
The magnet is strong enough to hold the knives among other metallic items in place. This saves the space that the knives would have occupied on the shelf.
Have In-Built Seats
Built-in seats can serve two masters in your small kitchen. Apart from being used for seating, they provide storage space beneath. Here, you can store some of the cooking items such as old pans.
The same seats are inclined towards the corner, thus making good use of that underutilized region.
How About the Folding Table?
As other people complain about how their kitchens cannot accommodate a table, get creative and bring a folding table.
When not in use, the tables are folded to the side of the cabinet, giving space for other activities in the kitchen. Folding tables are, thus, worth the investment for your kitchen.
Whether it is in the kitchen or other rooms in your home, space is all about creativity. Appropriate spacing saves you cash while still giving your kitchen a luxurious look. Let the kitchen flow as you make good use of those small spaces.
Resources – The Spruce, Forbes