Small Kitchen Design
The two most important things to remember when doing a small kitchen design or remodel are counter space and cabinet space.
When dealing with small kitchen designs, it is critical to remember that, although you may only have eight linear feet of counter top, it is vital to place it where it can be most useful. An eight foot long island may look great, but if you have no counter space next to your sink or your stove, you will have to do a lot more work. Having counter space to prep your food between your sink and stove allows for minimal mess and maximum accessibility. Even if your stove is on one wall and your sink is on an adjacent wall, four feet of corner counter top can be just as efficient as eight. The cornering of the counter also allows you to place items such as a bread maker or toaster out of your “everyday” space and into an area that is still easy to reach. This still allows for additional counter space on the outsides of your stove and sink, which can be used to cover the dishwasher or additional under-counter cabinets.
Using appliances that mount under your top cabinets, such as coffee makers and toaster ovens, can free up what little counter space you have for better use.
Whether you are designing a small kitchen from scratch or simply doing a small kitchen remodel, cabinet space is the other major factor in your kitchen’s functionality. If you can not reach a shelf in the cabinet, what good does it do? If you have to pull out six things to get to the one thing you need at the back of a cabinet, you are wasting your time. Cabinets that are designed for specific use are the best. If every shelf is at the same level, but you only stack dishes on three of them, the shelf you put your canned goods on wastes the top eight to ten inches of your space.
If you do not have the money for custom designed cabinets, a simple solution is stackable pull-out wire baskets or drawers from The Container Store or even Wal-Mart. This can be especially important when dealing with your under-counter cabinets. Being able to pull a drawer out to access the items at the back of the cabinet saves time and effort, and these cabinets will be deeper than your top cabinets, often without any shelves in them at all.
Often, cabinets that meet each other at a corner simply have blank space between them. Make use of that space by building a corner cabinet instead. A corner cabinet can be fitted with a lazy susan so that you don’t have to take everything out to get to the items at the back of the cabinet. These can also be the best cabinets in your kitchen for your “storage items,” such as the china or crystal. If you rarely use something, but don’t want to search through a box to find it, a corner cabinet gives you extra depth and space that would otherwise be wasted.
In small kitchen design, the most important thing is function. No matter how good it looks, if you can’t use it, it’s wasted. If you can’t reach it, it’s pointless. If you have to spend more time and effort getting to it or doing it, you’ve probably just let your chicken burn.
