Simple Ways to Enhance the Beauty of Your Small Kitchen

The challenge that most homeowners face is making good use of the little real estate they have before starting a remodeling project. This is especially true for kitchens, which seem to be getting smaller with each new construction while contractors blame this trend on the weakened economy. So, how to you enhance the functionality and beauty of your kitchen when there seems to be barely enough space for the basic stuff? In this edition of “Get Inspired”, where we show you intersting kitchen remodeling projects, we feature a project which spares no efforts in investing each and every limited square inch for the sake of functionality.

Though there is a common agreement that you should not clutter your kitchen space just for the sake of buying a large professional stainless steel range, many experts would rather employ the “less is more” tactic for smaller spaces to accomplish simple designs. But you don’t have to limit -or even betray- your own sense of style just because your kitchen is not as large as the surfaces that Michelangelo use to work on. In fact, selecting the right appliances, furniture, flooring and accessories you can create that picture-perfect kitchen without spending too much from your budget and ending up with a kitchen so tight in space that you won’t be able to enjoy.

To put these recommendations to the test, we took up on the challenge to remodel a small to medium-sized kitchen in a New York City apartment. Measuring just about 30 square feet, the kitchen was narrow and had just enough space for the basics: a kitchen sink and a set of top, bottom and side cabinets. Unfortunately, the owners did not want to get rid of their old and clunky stainless steel range which also included an oven and an extractor, making our design harder to accomplish but not impossible.

Though the stove/oven/extractor was an initial eyesore, they saw the benefits of basing their new design around the limited space that was left in the kitchen. Also, this worked-out to be a blessing for the project because now the designers could count on the money they would have otherwise spent in buying a new stove. With that money back into the budget, the designers focused on installing a great-quality, marble countertop, real wood cabinets with brass hardware, a stainless steel kitchen sink with a pull-out stainless steel faucet and Italian tiles for the floors and the backsplash.

For the countertop, which was small and narrow offering just enough space for a single-bowl, under the counter stainless steel sink, the designers selected real marble with color tones that matched or at least complemented almost perfectly well with the cherry wood cabinets, pink and cream Italian tiles on the floor and the light cream for the backsplash. The marble used for the countertop has an exquisite mixture of dark and light tones which go from white to cream, caramel and even dark brown. The designers chose this countertop not by accident but because they know that the kitchen needed a focus point to counteract the clunky, old stove. And since the budget allowed them to splurge just enough, the marble countertop became the center of attention that they were looking for.

To complement with the stainless steel industrial stove, they installed a Kraus under the counter single basin stainless steel kitchen sink model KBU-10 and a matching Kraus stainless steel faucet model KPF-2110. The sink alone is made with 18-gauge stainless steel and so the investment was perfect for a long-lasting kitchen. The selection of one bowl was also intentional because the countertop was too small for a two or more bowls. (Learn more about Kraus kitchen sinks)

Now they needed to translate all of the natural textures and the color tones found on the countertop to the rest of the kitchen. By installing three sets of cherry cabinets, (top and bottom and on the side) and outfitting these with brass hardware, they were able to add one side to the color contrast that they needed; the dark tones. To add the other side of the color palette, the lighter side, they laid down gorgeous Italian pink and cream tiles on the floor and lighter cream ones for the backsplash.

The final product was an interesting take on a small kitchen that seemed spacious enough to be the home of a large industrial stainless steel stove but comfortable enough to use every day. Also, by spending just enough on the countertops and the floors, the designers were able to diminish the visual footprint that the stove was making on this small space.

Don’t let your small kitchen discourage you from transforming it into the perfect zone for your everyday needs. Just follow these recommendations and take up on the project that you so much have been putting aside.