Kitchen Designs: Design Ideas for Small Kitchens

1. Mirrored Doors/Background

The use of mirrors as background on the walls or on cabinet doors is an old trick. It reflects all the light, adds dimension creating the illusion of more space. While some say that this idea is only for effect unlike some of the others down this list that actually solve a functional problem. However, how one feels in a space directs how one works there and what is produced. For a room as important as one’s cooking space, the right effect is just as important to set the right mood. The brightness and sense of space mirrors add can breathe a new lease of life into your kitchen.

2. Folding Doors

The good old folding doors/partitions can still be of invaluable use especially in small spaces. Many modern kitchens; especially in apartments are adjacent to the entry way leading up to the living room/seating space. An open floor design makes the kitchen seem more spacious but can be intrusive when not in use for socialising.

In such scenarios a folding door can be used as a false wall or a gallery separating the kitchen from the rest of space and setting the ambience right.

Tip: This design solution is particularly effective in the case of a single-wall kitchen unit. The folding door may be placed right up against the unit. No wastage of space a ready and flexible design element that can be customised with art work paper and hangings to suit the occasion and set the ambience.

3. Repaint Kitchen Cabinet Doors

This point seems to pop up in almost every list on kitchen re-designing. The simple reason is that, when done right it works. That’s it. It is cost effective, effective as a design solution and easy to execute in terms of labour and time.

White or pastel shades that are uniformly used throughout the entire kitchen will add sense of space as the flow of the eyes is never broken. This is important for small spaces.

Tip: If one is a little more adventurous one can even choose bright solid colours of red or green. They will your personal cooking corner full of character.

4. Tempered Use of bright colours in matte shade

This is not about the kitchen unit itself but the walls that contain it. Very often in determining the colour of a kitchen unit what is often forgotten are the walls behind/beside the unit and the ceiling. The understanding is that these can be repainted anytime, and it is not as burdensome on the wallet as the kitchen unit.

However, imagine a pairing of light veneer with a turquoise or ocean blue ceiling and wall paper. This adds a unique slant to your kitchen that will not often be found in domestic cooking spaces setting your entire home apart.

Tip: One must always be mindful of how to adapt the walls and the surrounding to the kitchen as well. It is not often about money but the choices made.

5. Small Customised Shelves

Often some storage units come in standard sizes but all good modular kitchens in Bangalore and across Indian these days come with customisable options. Optimised space utilisation is possible due to these options.

Spaces under the staircases or corners or ends of shelves which are often left unutilised in bigger spaces have to be accounted for in designing small kitchens.

Pratik Gaikwad Content writing