Maximising your small Kitchen space - DIY

You might take one look at your small kitchen and think there's hardly any way to fit all your cooking utensils, dishes and pots and pans in that room. However, with a little ingenuity and some moving around of your items, you can maximize your small kitchen space and make the room aesthetically appealing.

When maximizing your small kitchen space, the most important goal is to make your necessities more accessible, thus saving time and energy. You will especially need both of these when cooking.

Clear Up Space

Sort through your pots, pans, lids and cooking dishes to see which ones you use more often and which ones are hardly used. Put the rarely used items to the side to clear up space for the commonly used ones. You may get rid of the underused items or store them somewhere else in the kitchen.

Use Cabinets and Drawers

Pantries, drawers and cabinets underneath the sink are obviously great storage spaces. Put racks into the cabinets and sort the pots and pans according to size, with the larger objects on the bottom shelves and the smaller ones on top ones. That way, you don't have undo stacks of pots and pans to get the largest ones, which are usually at the bottom. Flip the lids upside down so the handles are inside the pots and pans, thus storing them more easily. Use dishware organizers for your silverware and cooking utensils in drawers.

Rack Them Up

If your kitchen has the right ceiling height, you can use an overhead pot rack to suspend your pots and pans from. However, if the ceiling is too low, store your pots and pans on wall shelves and hang them on hooks.

Make a Case for Baskets

For items you may not give a second thought to once you put them away, you can use the space on top of your refrigerator. Put baskets on top of this and toss rarely used items into them.

Relocate Your Spices

Remember, your kitchen space should be just as much about easy access as it is about finding ample storage space. In the case of spices, take them out of the cabinet and mount them on an attractive spice rack next to the kitchen stove. Your spices will be within reach while cooking.

Store Pantry Food in Containers

Seeing a pantry cluttered with half-opened packages can be a real eyesore. For this situation, use a set of reusable, stackable containers that come in different sizes. Label each container according to their contents like "cereal" or "spaghetti." You can even cut out the recipes on old packages and apply them to the new containers.

Add Your Personal Flair

When all is said and done, it's your kitchen. Therefore, you should personalize it with your taste. Put a colorful centerpiece like an eye catching vase full of flowers on your counter-top or hang some artwork on your wall if wall space permits. Open baker racks are okay to use, but for extra cabinet space, consider getting a stylish cabinet instead-Alexa Campbell

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Excellent tips To Make Your Kitchen Look Bigger

Designing your kitchen can be a very stressful experience. You will want to get it right the first time as any mistakes could be very expensive to rectify later. Therefore, you should take your time and make sure that you think everything through before you make any final decisions.

If you have a small kitchen and you are struggling to make everything fit without it looking cramped then you have come to the right place. The aim of this article is to show you how to use the space that you have and to give your kitchen illusion of looking bigger, by using pendant lights.

Storage will be your main issue if you have a small kitchen. If you install regular cupboards, the room will start to look smaller and smaller. This is because standard kitchen cupboards can be very deep.

Therefore, the trick is to build upwards instead of outwards. You should have your cupboards designed to be tall, and not deep. With a tall design, you will be able to store the same amount of items, but the shelves will be a lot smaller in width. Having this style of cupboards means that your kitchen will look a lot bigger.

Many people with small kitchens will think that it will save space if they install spotlights in the ceiling to make the room look bigger. Whilst this is not necessarily a false assumption, pendant lighting will give you the same effect and they are a lot more fashionable.

You can also install this style of light close to the ceiling so that the light cover does not take up a lot of space. You could look into having this style of light with a thin neck and a small shade, to keep everything within the design element of long and thin.

One of the benefits of these lights is that they will fit into a retro styled kitchen, as well as a more contemporary kitchen. This is because there are different choices when it comes to the style of light shade. Furthermore, if you change the design of the kitchen at a later date, all you have to do is change the light fixture; you don't have to change the light. This means that your pendant lighting can last a long time and it will save you money in the long run.

If you have decided to have a dining table in your kitchen, then you should look into collapsible tables so that you can save room when you are not using it. Some tables will be extendable so that you can make the table bigger when you have guests.

Another benefit of this style of light is that they can be used as a feature piece to highlight one element of the kitchen, conjunction with other styles of light. Therefore, it is a good idea to use the light to highlight the kitchen table. This means that there will be a romantic element to the design of the kitchen because you don't have to put all the lights on when you are eating at the table.

If you are not sure which style of light will complete your kitchen, you can look on social media,where there will be images of different kitchen designs. They will illustrate different lights and this will help you to choose the one for you.

If you don't have access to social media, you can contact a specialist light store and they will be able to give you advice. Any good light store will be able to recommend you on your lighting choice.Sean David Young

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Make your Small Kitchen Appear Larger - 5 Ways

Incorporate Open Shelving

Break tradition by removing your full blocks of cabinets. Replace them with an open shelving scheme that allows your eyes to travel to the wall instead of the front of a cabinet.

There is one sticking point with open shelves that does not always make them the best choice for homeowners. You have to cut back on the clutter-open shelves have to look open. So you need to choose very carefully what you can store there.

Open shelves can also be a design feature for your kitchen. This can make a transition between a traditional kitchen to a transitional or contemporary kitchen.

Use Glass Cabinet Doors

If you do not want to lose your cabinets altogether, consider switching out the full doors for glass-front doors. These also draw the eye back to the wall, adding depth to your room. As you do not have to use glass-front cabinet doors on every cabinet, you get to store a larger number of items. You still need to consider the amount of clutter in cabinets when using a glass door.

Embrace White

White is the primary color kitchen designers use to open up a small kitchen. White reflects light, which makes the walls and ceiling look farther away than they actually are. If you aren't the biggest fan of white, choose lighter colors that make your space feel brighter and bigger.

Eliminate Clutter

All too often, kitchen counter tops become the go-to storage spot for small appliances, utensils, spices and more. Just as you want your open shelving or glass-front cabinets to look clean, you also want to keep your counters clear. This means finding a home for all of your kitchen goods, and removing non-kitchen clutter altogether. (Note: custom cabinets for your kitchen can solve many of your storage woes!)

Incorporate Smaller Furniture Items

We all love the added storage and workspace that an island can offer any size kitchen. Instead of building a stationary island, however, consider instead adding in a small movable island for workspace that can tuck away nicely when not in use.Jenn Newville 

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