As people downsize their home space and their expenses, smaller kitchens are becoming the norm these days. While small kitchen ideas can often be challenging, when handled properly, they can also build in plenty of time- and labor-saving efficiency. The trick is to create a welcoming space that also functions at peak efficiency.
The best place to start thinking about kitchen ideas for a smaller space is simply to stop and look at how the kitchen is used. Casual dining is the byword these days and many family meals are enjoyed in the kitchen. In addition, the kitchen frequently serves as the social center of household life. This means it has more than one function, although it is essential to keep in sight its primary function of food preparing and serving.
To get a good idea of how the kitchen is used, track daily activities for a month, either on paper or in a computer spreadsheet. Note the number of full meals, snacks, family games, homework sessions, bill-paying sessions and so on occur in the kitchen space. By cataloguing the activities it will be possible to understand better how the kitchen is used and how it needs to function.
At the same time, start thinking about decorating styles that appeal to you. Clip pictures from home magazines or print out website pages with attractive arrangements, color combinations, appliances and so on. This will give a head start on which kitchen ideas to use when it’s time to hire the remodelers.
Small kitchens work as a single focal point, much like a fireplace in the living room or the bed in a bedroom. Therefore, viewing a small kitchen as a single unit can keep the design from becoming cluttered. Most decorators recommend decorating a small kitchen with either a neutral color palette or a single color in order to give an illusion of greater space. As a single focal point, a small kitchen should be one that the eye can take in all at once. Nothing in the decorating scheme should be a “stopper”; that defeats the purpose of trying to achieve a unified sense of the space. Remember, unity, harmony and balance are the three elements of good interior design and they apply to kitchens as well as other rooms in a home.
Finally, when it comes to storage, a small kitchen requires some creativity. Manufacturers are catching up to this reality at last, producing appliances in smaller scale, such as 24-inch deep refrigerators rather than standard 30-inch-wide models. If the kitchen is a minimum of 12 to 15 feet wide, it probably can fit in some freestanding center storage such as an island. This provides convenient storage accessible from anywhere in the kitchen. Try other space-saving ideas as well, like a banquette with a seat that opens to provide storage or a bistro-style round table with two chairs.
Even in a kitchen with small square footage, it’s possible to position food storage, food preparation and cooking in the kitchen workflow triangle. Use this principle to build efficiency into small kitchen ideas.