One of the hardest things to do is to look around your space and try to figure out how to make it better. You might see the area you have to work with and wonder how you can get more out of it. Take the kitchen for example. Let’s say your space for the kitchen is limited. You want to redo the space to make it better. What ways are there to increase the look and feel of your small kitchen?
Focus on Function
The first thing you need to do is to review the old space in relation to the functionality of it and determine how you can increase this for the new space. Some ways to think about the functionality is to consider what obstacles that you’ve come across in your daily use of the old space. Did you have a problem running into the appliances? Was there not enough work area for meal prep? Did it seem like everyone was running into each other if there was more than one person in the kitchen? Answering these questions will help you determine what areas need to be updated for the new space.
Open Up the Room
Another way to bring more life into a smaller kitchen is to open up the space. A way to do this would be to replace some of the closed cupboards with open shelving. You can do this by either having shelves put up or by having glass doors put onto the cupboards. Glass allows the eye to see farther, making the room look larger. You could replace some of the cupboards with hangers where you could hang the pots and pans in a decorative arrangement. You could review the current walls to see if windows or spaces can be added to them so that you can see into the other rooms easier.
Mix Materials
When deciding on the materials to you for your kitchen, mix things up. You can create zones in the kitchen that will give the feel of more space. The zones can be set off by the use of different materials. You can have a meal prep area that is one material and the eating area that is comprised of another material.
Adequate Lighting
Another way to create the idea of more space is to be able to see the entire kitchen, reducing the shadow areas. You can do this be updating your current lighting scheme to shed more light all over the kitchen. This can be done with a large light in the middle of the room, or you can install smaller lighting all around. Some of this lighting could be under-cabinet lighting. A brighter room gives off the appearance of a larger room.
