How to Make Your Kitchen Feel More Open
If your kitchen is a little on the *small side* you don’t have to do anything too drastic – like put your home up for sale and look for a house that has a bigger kitchen, you just need to take a good look at the space you have. Many times, people will find that the kitchen really isn’t that small, it’s just been badly designed. There are quite a few things you can do to turn your small kitchen into a kitchen that you love to work in, simply by making the most of the space you have already.
First, you need to take a look at the bigger picture. In older homes, the kitchen was usually placed in a separate room with a wall that divided it from the hallway and other living areas of the home. This style of kitchen today feels stuffy, claustrophobic and small. If your kitchen is like this you can open it up to the rest of the house – or to the outdoors.
If a wall is separating your kitchen from the hallway you can knock out the wall and install a kitchen island. A good kitchen designer will be able to help you re-design your kitchen layout to maximise all the available space, so you don’t have to lose any storage space.
Knock out a wall and build an *L* shaped kitchen with one side of the *L* facing your dining room. You won’t have to lose any storage space but your kitchen will feel a lot more spacious. Look for a kitchen renovation specialist who also has a builders licence this way they can handle the whole renovation from the removal of the wall to the installation of a new kitchen.
Most kitchens face a window. Perhaps your window is too small? Look at having a larger window installed that will allow more daylight into the room. Modern bi-fold style windows open wide and allow plenty of fresh air to enter the room.
When you have had a chance to look *at the big picture* you may find that there is no reason you must put up with that small kitchen any longer. It is possible to open up a small enclosed kitchen without sacrificing work or storage space, you just need to take a look at the details of your kitchen.
Look at the details!
When you take the time to have a really good look at your kitchen, you would probably be very surprised to see how much space you actually have – and some of that space in your kitchen cupboards and pantry is probably being wasted, often, as much as one-third of the space inside cupboards is wasted.
Take a look inside your drawers. How wide are the storage areas inside the drawers compared to the width of your cupboards? Is there a lot of space between the top of the drawer and your cutlery? There is a solution for both problems. The modern metal drawers of today give you a wider area to use. Have a look at drawer inserts you can buy – these allow you to get much more out of your drawer space.
When it comes to the pantry most homeowners find their pantries lack space – simply down to the design. You will find there is plenty of extra space available – for example, you can store all your spices in wire baskets hung on your pantry door. If you are renovating – replace your pantry completely for a new one that can be fitted with slide out baskets – which give you fast access to everything you need.
Colour and light
If you choose light colours for the walls and cabinets and daylight can actually enter the room – any kitchen is going to look bigger.
Whatever your budget you can make the most of a small kitchen – if you can’t afford a full renovation, simple ideas such as adding some wire baskets to your drawer are an inexpensive way to make your kitchen work better. For a little more money you can replace old style cupboards with some D.I.Y flat-pack cupboards, or for dark kitchen cupboards, a coat of light paint will help turn your kitchen from dark and dingy into light and bright.
You don’t have to put up with a small kitchen, even making some simple small improvements can help. After all, everyone spends a lot of time in the kitchen, you want to make it an enjoyable place to be.
