Is your kitchen feeling a bit cramped? This is the reality of most people around the world. Even though a kitchen is the most crucial part of any home, there has been a move towards having smaller kitchens. Even with the clever marketing touting them as “cozy” or even “sustainable,” these small kitchens aren’t great to work with.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can still transform space in your kitchen. Find out below seven practices to maximize the space of a small kitchen remodel.
1. Consider a Structural Wall Removal
A load bearing wall removal seems like an obvious solution to maximize the space of a small kitchen. But how do you go about this in the first place? Removing a load-bearing wall alone could spell disaster for you and your home.
The term “load-bearing wall” simply means the wall supports something in the structure, whether it’s the roof, additional walls, or slab. The structural integrity of any building is dependent upon the presence of load-bearing walls that can support it.
Non-load-bearing walls are another type that doesn’t carry or support any of the structure’s load. Instead, they serve as partitions in the structure or even for aesthetic purposes. That said, unless you’re a structural or civil engineer, it would be next to impossible to accurately determine load-bearing walls from non-bearing walls.
A structural wall removal can free up more space and even help you maximize the space of a small kitchen remodel. But this will only work if you do it the right way. For your safety and to get the best results, contract professionals who can safely conduct a load-bearing wall removal.
2. Remove Unnecessary Clutter
Even the vast halls of the largest cathedral would feel small with enough clutter. If your kitchen has everything strewn, you must rein in the mess before doing anything else. Here’s an effective way of doing it:
- Get all you need to declutter. Cleaning supplies, storage boxes/containers, labels, etc.
- Divide the kitchen into manageable sections. Start with the easiest part, or eat the frog if that’s your style.
- Sort everything and decide what you want to keep, donate or recycle. Understandably, you might hesitate to dispose of some items in your kitchen. If the items are sentimental, you can pack them in storage boxes/ containers and shift them elsewhere.
- Clean your kitchen thoroughly and organize the remaining items.
Once you’re done, remember not to slack again. Try as much as you can to declutter regularly, keeping in mind the clutter builds up over time, and you’re better off dealing with it in smaller batches.
To keep the magic going, you can take a picture of your kitchen before and after decluttering it. Motivation is hard to come by, and a visual reminder that you’ve done it before can help spur you into action.
3. Rethink The Layout
Your kitchen might seem small, not due to a size issue but because of poor layout. Ideally, your kitchen layout should be a blend of convenience and practicality. There’s even a whole body of research into kitchen layouts.
In this case, the ideal layout for a small kitchen would be a U-shaped, one-wall, or an L-shaped layout. All these layouts consider the work triangle concept, offering an outstanding balance of efficiency and practicality, and, best of all, they help economize on space.
4. Go Vertical With Storage
If your kitchen feels too small, it might be a sign you’ve exhausted most of your kitchen’s floor space. A great way to remedy this is to embrace vertical storage in your kitchen. This can take on many forms, but in most cases, you can get floor-to-ceiling shelves or over-the-sink cupboards.
The good thing about vertical storage is it takes up little to zero floor space while opening up tons of storage space. You can also use spaces you might not have considered, like on wall corners or below the sink.
Don’t stop there. Get wall stickers, command strips, or hooks and use them to hang up other items in your kitchen. You can also stick them on the side of your refrigerator, which is mostly unutilized space.
5. Get Multipurpose Furniture/ Appliances
A small kitchen isn’t necessarily small in size. The issue might be redundant furniture, utensils, and appliances. The idea with a kitchen or any living space is every item that takes up space should, at the very least, serve a purpose.
To save up on precious space, whenever you can, stock up on furniture and appliances that can serve multiple roles. Similarly, remove unnecessary furniture and appliances that are taking up your limited kitchen space. You can get double-up countertops as breakfast bars or a microwave oven with defrost and roast functions.
6. Brighten Up Your Kitchen
Color and visual inputs profoundly affect how we perceive our environment. This is mainly because sight is the most complex sense in the human body. Improper lighting can cause a distorted view of things. Even though we might not perceive it, an enormous stream of information goes through our eyes and into the brain at any given time.
What the brain infers from this isn’t clear yet, but there’s an irrational bit to it. While this might not be readily apparent, your kitchen might seem small because it’s not well-lit. If you can, invest in the proper artificial lighting for your kitchen or, better yet, open up your kitchen to more natural light.
With sunlight streaming into your kitchen, you’ll save on energy costs and ensure better hygiene. Like antimicrobial blue light, sunlight has been found to limit the growth and spread of pathogens.
7. Hire A Professional
A lot goes into making a kitchen (or any room) big or small. If you still can’t notice any difference after applying these tips, consider working with a professional. An interior designer can best advise you on the ideal placement of items in your kitchen and how to maximize the space of a small kitchen remodel.
Bottom Line
A kitchen is the soul of any home, but despite this, it might be too small for your preference. There are many ways to remedy this, including load-bearing wall removal. The procedure produces remarkable results but can also have disastrous effects if not done correctly by a professional.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
