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Designing a petite kitchen that stuns is no easy feat. If the laundry list of basic appliances that need to be factored in wasn’t enough, there are questions of how to camouflage cookware and whether or not to pay your respects to the potentially superannuated (potentially still life-enhancing) golden triangle rule. Petite proportions shouldn’t detour you from cooking up the kitchen of your dreams; however. With a little expert guidance, it’s possible to procure big kitchen energy within a surprisingly conservative footprint. Ahead, steal ideas from seven small kitchens that are disrupting the long-held belief that a kitchen needs to be grand to be gourmet.

Poppy Interiors / Photo Credit: Patrick Kelly

Double-Duty Kitchen Fixtures

When you consider the checklist of appliances required for even the most modest of kitchens, buddying up where you can isn’t just a novel idea—it’s a game-changing one. For a Mid-Century Modern abode in L.A.’s Silverlake neighborhood, the firm Poppy Interiors elected to install a kitchen island that also functions as a gas cooking range. An overhang allows the island to still operate as a casual eating area, effectively transforming what’s typically a one-trick pony into a multifunctional hub. You might also take note of the kitchen island’s diagonal cut on one side. Not only is it a befitting play on Mid-Century Modern angles, but it visually opens this small kitchen’s footprint.

Lily Spindle / Photo Credit: Michele Thomas

Maximize Blank Space

Galley kitchens can challenge even the most veteran of designers. Two walls lined with appliances and cabinets can make a galley kitchen feel more trash-compactor-like than heart-of-the-home-like. One solution? Make those walls feel less imposing by freeing them of upper cabinetry or dark, heavy tile. Open shelving can make a galley kitchen feel instantly more airy, as can backsplashes that don’t carry up higher than they need to. For a North Hollywood bungalow with major space constraints, designer Lily Spindle chose to style open shelving with decor that skews more living room-like than kitchen-like. The result is a living space that transitions smoothly into the home’s kitchen space, thereby making both feel bigger.

KitchenLab Interiors / Photo Credit: Michael Alan Kaskel

Drop In a DIY Cabinet

Whether you’re living in a rental or you simply don’t want to install armory-like cabinets, a freestanding cabinet such as an armoire or cabinet can be a smart strategy for optimizing a small kitchen’s footprint. For a rustic-style kitchen, the firm KitchenLab Interiors selected a glass breakfront cabinet to house dishware and pantry staples. Springing for a transparent front can make a small kitchen feel less visually weighted down, but keep in mind that all-bearing glass does require taking an editorial approach to your cabinet contents. That said, weck jars and simple dishware can work magic. 

Martin Young Design / Photo Credit: Photograph by Douglas Dun

Make Your Cookware Beautiful

Pots and pans are among the most cumbersome pieces to stow away in cabinets. If your small kitchen is short on cabinet space as it is, free it up for other culinary accouterments by putting your cookware on display. Taking a page from this postage-stamp-sized San Francisco kitchen designed by Martin Young, consider choosing pots and pans that pander to aesthetics. An arsenal of monochromatic cookware, such as copper pots, can make filling out a pot rack loads easier. You don’t have to straight-up jilt your favorite non-stick skillet just because it lacks design aptitude, of course. A more rustic or industrial theme kitchen can fold utilitarian cookware into the mix fairly seamlessly. 

Zoe Feldman Design / Photo Credit: Stacy Zarin Goldberg

Hide Your Oven Hood

Leave oversized over hoods to more spacious kitchens. In very small kitchens, consider doing as DC designer Zoe Feldman does, and incorporate your oven hood into blank wall space. If nothing else, a seamless hood lessens the visual noise in a small kitchen. Regardless of whether you’re looking to promote a feeling of organized abundance or nonchalant minimalism, this can be a plus. While it could be tempting to adorn the blank wall created by a baked-in range hood, a blank expanse can give the eye a resting place.  Range hoods can also be clad in false cabinetry fronts, should you be putting upper cabinetry into play.

studio CAK / Photo Credit: Aimee Mazzenga

Insert an Island That Looks Like Furniture

If you have a small kitchen abutting a living room, a kitchen peninsula that masquerades as a case piece can have an enlargening effect. For a cozy city apartment, the Chicago-based firm studio CAK sourced a vintage apothecary counter to function as the kitchen’s peninsula. The furniture-like piece tempers the transition between the living room and the kitchen, thereby making it feel like the kitchen expands beyond its means. The firm also forewent upper cabinetry, continuing the trend you’ll see in virtually every small kitchen on this list.

studio CAK / Photo Credit: Aimee Mazzenga

Make it Monochromatic 

Monochrome has long been a tool of designers looking to cue up a quietly cohesive space. The kitchen is no different. Opting for an all-over color can trick the eyes into believing it’s moving much further than it actually is. While you’ll virtually never see shocking colors used in larger kitchens, a small kitchen is a prime spot to get a little lawless with color. For a petite apartment cook space, studio CAK selected a fierce shade of fuchsia for the cabinets. Note how the firm painted the exposed pillar to the left the same shade, effectively making it look like cabinetry. A backsplash in a complementary pink hue with little dimension also streamlines the look. 

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March 16, 2022

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