Small Kitchen Designs

Small Kitchen Design Ideas

Small kitchen design ideas should be ways you come up with to save as much space as possible while having everything you need in the kitchen. As stated before, a small island in your small kitchen design can help save space when it comes to storage for your pots and pans or utensils. If you are not financially able to work an island into your small kitchen design idea, you can use a mobile butcher block cart. This is a good idea for food prepping or to just use as a buffet.

The cart is very resourceful, and can be stored easily by sliding right in next to your sink. A small kitchen hutch is also a good idea since it has pullout parts like storage drawers and cutting boards. A small hutch also has glass doors on its upper portion where a few plates and fine china may be stored. An open plate rack can be built in or placed against the wall as an addition.

Kitchen tables can be placed in a small kitchen. If there is an island in the kitchen, you are already saving space. However, if you want a place in the kitchen to be able to sit down for meals you can nestle a table against the island. This will leave more floor space around the work space and the table altogether. Additionally, you can conform your island into a peninsula by adding it to the end of your sink counter space.

This will open up the middle of the floor for you as well as provide unrestricted access to the sink, stove and dishwasher. In order to preserve kitchen space and have a more spacious look, built in cabinets are another kitchen design idea. Wall cabinets are in a location that is easily accessible, yet they are not in the way or taking up any excess space. If you have cabinets that have space above them, small baskets can be used to hold some of the loose items that lay around taking up counter space.

Lighting can play a big role in the way your kitchen space can appear in size. A small kitchen does not need fluorescent lights as they can depress a small kitchen. Any lighting that can be put up under wall cupboards will not make the room appear too bright or too small. Lighting should blend in with your colors and overall décor to give the room a good contrast.

The appliances should be next to each other when you are designing the kitchen. This increases their efficiency and prevents you from having to walk across the entire room to get from one appliance to the other. If you do not require a large refrigerator, you can purchase a smaller, deeper one to save more floor space. There are software design tools that can help you come up with design ideas for your small kitchen and appliances. You can also get great ides from home improvement stores.

Modern Furniture

Kitchen Designs Ideas

Kitchen design ideas -

A kitchen is the central headquarters for the family. Kitchen is often the showplace of the home, and yet it is required to function well for a wide variety of tasks. A well-equipped, beautifully dressed kitchen will provide both a sense of well-being and a favorite place in the home. As you plan your new kitchen, you must consider both the utility and the look factor.

Kitchen design ideas - choose the one that suits you best!

When thinking of ideas for designing your kitchen, you could either consider one- one part of the kitchen at a time or pick up a complete theme. A complete theme could be something like a design based on Feng Shui which incorporates all its principles. Feng shui concerns the art of placement and you could help you to arrange your kitchen in a way that enhances its good energy. For instance, according to Feng shui, the cook's back should never face the kitchen entrance so you must design accordingly

Now according to the other way, you could choose a particular look for the kitchen floor, the walls, the storing place etc. this can be done in various ways depending upon the amount of money you are willing to spend, the lay out of the kitchen and your taste. Here are some specific design ideas for your kitchen -

* Kitchen floor- Your flooring choice is important as it will set the tone for the whole kitchen. The textural quality of the floor always appeals to eye and has a radical effect on how one perceives the room as a whole. For kitchens, the two most elegant floors are tiles / stones and laminated or hardwood floors. Ceramic tiles are a premium product for a kitchen and represent an impressive upgrade over any other floor. The only disadvantage is the cold feel. However if you want you can also opt for a floor heating system.

* Kitchen countertops - While choosing your countertop, select a color and texture that will compliment your cabinetry, floor or paint selection. Don't be afraid in combining two or more countertop materials. Complimentary colors and textures on adjacent surfaces create visual interest. Also remember, it pays to select a material, which will withstand years of use without extraordinary maintenance requirements and is easily repairable should an accident occur. Granite and marble are strong options.

* Kitchen lighting - you might have a large ceiling fixture, equipped with energy-efficient fluorescent tubes that supply plenty of well-diffused general lighting. However it may leave you working in your own shadow at the sink, range, and countertops. These areas in your kitchen need supplemental task lighting. Also placing your windows is a tricky question.

Kitchen design layout -

The perfect arrangement

Kitchen designing is very subjective, so a layout that might be perfect for one can be disastrous for another. This is primarily because the tastes, and the ways of people in terms of working habits, styles are vastly different. Thus kitchen layouts should be done according to the necessities and specifications of the prime user of the space, who has definite ideas about how he/she would like their working space to be. But apart from this subjective outlook, there are certain steps that you should follow while designing your kitchen plan or layout. Following are the stages -

Stages in kitchen design layout

Follow these simple steps in order to get your kitchen space rightly utilized with a desirable look-

1. Measure your kitchen in a detailed manner, the position of the doors, windows, electric points, drains and sinks etc.

2. Demarcate the kitchen areas into three - Storage, cooking and cleaning. Go about planning the space, keeping these three aspects in mind.

3. Make a list of the appliances that you are likely to use in the kitchen, and provide space for them according to their dimensions.

Keep these three points in mind and then design your kitchen in a style that fits in accordance to your tastes. Following are some of the stereotypical kitchen design layouts that are used -

Kitchen design layouts - Types

These are the 4 basic kitchen layouts that are generally followed while designing a kitchen -

1. Corridor layout - This is meant for a narrow kitchen, where there are two facing rows. One for storage and the other for cleaning and cooking. Make sure there is a minimum 1200mm space between the two rows.

2. L shaped layout - This is a layout, where the rows are diagonal to one another, thus forming an L shape. This gets the kitchen working space into the corner, thus giving a lot of free space to move about.

3. U shaped layout - this is the best choice for small kitchens and very convenient too.

4. Island layout - This one on the other hand is meant for large kitchens. Here the cooking hob is altogether a different box unit, while the L shaped row is meant for the sink and storage purposes.

Kitchen Designs Pictures 2013