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A few visual tricks are all it takes.
A small kitchen can be a challenge to work in, but that doesn't mean you should let it cramp your style. There are plenty of clever hacks designers turn to to make a small cooking space look (and feel) bigger. The best part? They don't require a major renovation.
Below, interior designers share their go-to ideas for helping a petite kitchen appear more spacious—without sacrificing function.
Related: The 5 Biggest Decorating Mistakes for a Small Kitchen
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Add Wallpaper to the Ceiling
Drawing the eye upward in a small kitchen is an excellent way to make the space appear bigger, explains Lygia Harkins, founder of Lygia Harkins Interiors. One of her favorite ways to make a kitchen ceiling pop is with the help of wallpaper.
"Adding a punch of color and pattern adds whimsy, but grasscloth would be great for texture," she says. "Keeping the cabinets monochromatic always helps, too!"
02 of 06
Bring in Floating Shelves
Floating shelves are perfect for a small kitchen, notes Barrett Oswald, founder of Barrett Oswald Designs.
"Adding floating shelves to a blank wall may feel counterintuitive, but they can help the kitchen feel less heavy by breaking up all the cabinetry," Oswald says. "Just keep the styling simple so it doesn’t feel cluttered."
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Choose Low-Profile Seating
Another one of Oswald's favorite small kitchen hacks is to look for bar stools you can slide out of sight when not in use.
"The seating you choose matters more than you would think," she says. "Stools that tuck all the way under the island take up less space and make everything feel a little less tight."
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Focus on Continuity
One of designer Jessica Cohen's best pieces of advice when it comes to designing a small kitchen is to "focus on continuity." In the space shown above, she went with a single slab backsplash and countertop "to eliminate visual breaks."
Cohen adds that she also went with the same style of stone throughout "so the space feels continuous and expansive rather than segmented."
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Store Things Strategically
While small kitchens often lack storage, it's still important to keep your countertops free of clutter—even though it may be tempting to fill them with small gadgets and other essentials. "Edit your countertops hard so it doesn’t feel visually crowded," recommends designer Amy Switzer.
If you're designing a small kitchen from scratch or renovating your space, Switzer is a proponent of going with cabinetry that extends to the ceiling—not only does it draw the eye upward, it also offers more storage potential!
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Go Two-Tone
Ali Shoemaker, founder of Alison Interiors, offers a cabinet trick that works wonderfully in a small kitchen: creating a two-tone kitchen cabinet color scheme where the uppers are lighter than the lowers.
"By doing this, the kitchen stays brighter and feels more open," Shoemaker says. "This grounds the darker space at the floor level while the lighter tone creates a more breathable environment."
Related: 6 Kitchen Design Tweaks That Make Cooking So Much Easier
Read the original article on Real Simple
