Guest Blog: 11 Tricks to Make Your Kitchen Feel Larger

A large, roomy kitchen gives a good vibe to anyone who spends a significant amount of time in it. After all, anyone would love to have a well ventilated and spacious cooking place, just like the large, capacious living and bedrooms that accommodate everything you wish to put inside them. But if your kitchen is small and cannot be extended or remodeled, do not feel low. Instead of fretting over space constraints, you can get a bit creative and revamp the kitchen to your liking.

1. Clean and simple cabinet

It may not seem convincing, but having a shallow or Hampton’s style cabinet with concealed handles on doors and drawers gives a spacious look. Opting for light and warm or glossy colors add an illusion of larger space and having the kick strip in the same color as the doors or drawers is another trick to make your kitchen look big. Opting for a different color kick strip neither goes well with the overall look, nor is it in fashion. Also, using slimmer cabinets adds to floor space which gives a picture of the wider area to a tight kitchen.

2. Single sink option

It may be difficult for some to fathom a single sink when they have been habituated to using the double sink for decades. But a single sink adds to a good amount of cabinet room that can be used for other purposes. Although people incessantly opt for a double sink, choosing a 24-inch cabinet (single sink) instead of a 36-inch one gives you a larger, uncluttered cabinet, and in turn a seemingly bigger kitchen.

3. Appropriate dishwasher

Going for a condo-sized, 18-inch dishwasher gives you lots of advantages apart from extra space on the cabinet that could be diligently allotted for some other purpose. The dishwater fills up faster and lets you run a full load conveniently and much more frequently, compared to the regular 24-inch giant that you run only while half full because filling it up is time-consuming. The smaller dishwasher gets work done quickly and efficiently, and also substantially adds a room to your compact kitchen.

4. Slim fridges are an option

Slim fridges serve two main purposes: saves room and keeps a check on what you consume. Well, who would mind having a fridge that stores just what is sufficient and healthy for you, instead of a gargantuan one that has the ability to accept everything you dump inside? Lower down to 30- to 28-inch slim ones and make room for other essentials; maybe a small appliance or a beautiful vase of flowers on the counter?

5. Opt for slender furnishing

It is obvious that a small kitchen cannot accommodate extravagant furnishing to hold all the items. Slender furnishing should such as lightweight stools, bar chairs, etc., serve the purpose. A folding table & chair option is a great way to keep a check on space. It helps you enjoy your food fresh and hot in the kitchen, and to work without bumping into chairs and tables while you cook as you can fold them and keep aside until the next meal time.

6. Use the vertical space

You wish to save the floor space? Then think of how best to fully use the vertical space and keep the kitchen uncluttered. Pegboards and hanging shelves help you well with storing the necessary things, letting you avoid packing everything tightly at a single space, minimizing the chances of breaking or damaging your fine china. You can even hang the cutlery on the magnetic strips, which will keep the youngsters away from sharp objects and let you handle the cutlery the way you like.

7. Glassdoor cabinets

 It looks as cool as it sounds and gives a trendy look to your kitchen. Glassdoor cabinets can be dedicated to the best china you possess that can be kept as a display as well as a storage. This way, the kitchen is packed in the compact space, leaving the floor area free of clutter, which makes the kitchen look large and spacious.

8. Good pattern floor

Horizontal lines play with your eyes and give you a wider picture of a not-so-wider floor area. When your eyes move from left to right, horizontally, you tend to assume that the space is bigger than what it actually measures. Use this trick wisely, and enjoy the feeling of having a wider kitchen.

9. Cabinet lighting.

Good lighting never goes unnoticed. Do you agree that miniature tables and chairs in a well-lit restaurant look much grander than the large furniture set under poor lighting? Apply the same principle in the kitchen. Add light to the cabinet and choose good ones for the kitchen. This gets a feel of standing in a bigger kitchen since the glint from the lights is doing wonders. You can even go for plug-in LED lights to add brightness to the kitchen.

10. Opt for back splash

To make your kitchen walls taller than what they really are, you can opt for a back splash. For a trendy look, you can opt for a stainless steel back splash that gives a toned up look and seemingly larger floor area. The more uniformity you maintain, the better it tricks the eye. You can even take the tiles up until the ceiling in case you wish to cover the kitchen evenly with tiles.

11. Open shelves

Open shelving may not be a convincing idea for many, but this indeed gives a spaced out, wide look to the kitchen, more than the covered cabinet kitchen that keeps everything locked behind the doors. Maybe segmenting your kitchen partially with open shelves and partially in closed-cabinet makes it look spic and span, rather than cluttered or untidy.

There is no dearth of innovations, and you can keep exploring. But the choices you make with dishwashers, cabinets, and sinks, if made right, will let you enjoy a wider space and also help you maintain the kitchen very well. Investing in multi-functional pieces is highly useful if your kitchen is super small. They will allow you to do multiple functions and provide you with more workplace and additional storage space in your kitchen.

Rolling, stalking and folding items can be moved into a corner when not in use. You must have a kitchen that is functional, comfortable and a great place to relax. If you make a few changes in your kitchen, you can surely improve the overall ambiance of your kitchen.

About the Author:

This article was written by Sasha Evans from housetipster.com. Sasha recently got her Master's Degree in Journalism. She lives in Connecticut with her two dogs and loves baking and writing in her free time.