Small can still be beautiful.
When potential customers with small kitchens contact us for the first time they’re often apologetic about the size of room they have – and even wonder if it’s big enough for us to consider! Notwithstanding that we’ll never get to a stage where any kitchen project isn’t worth discussing, we at Nicholas Hythe Kitchen Design Studio love small spaces! Why? Because it gets us really thinking about how we can still deliver the kitchen people want even if it’s not in the space they wish they’d got!
The trick with small kitchens is to use all the space available. Off the shelf solutions from our competitors never optimise the small amount of space available and rarely think about those spaces you’ve got that would otherwise go unused. Areas such as ceilings, hard to reach corners and even the seating (benches with lift up lids are great!) can all be used to maximise storage space leaving worktops uncluttered and maximising the ‘wow’ factor of your new kitchen!
And where many of competitors might suggest a filler panel we’re always looking at how the space might actually be used – so we often suggest bottle racks as a functional and attractive way of using what others would consider wasted space.
Every kitchen is different but particularly in regard to the amount of natural light available. With or without lots of light – but especially without – colours need to be kept light and bright with hints or accents of colour to ensure the room’s not like a hospital waiting room! Complemented with effective lighting and backlighting and it’s amazing how a small kitchen can look larger and more inviting. And whilst tiles are great they can, in small kitchens, absorb light. Glass and mirrored splashbacks – especially opposite windows – are a neat way of bouncing light back into a room and instantly making it feel larger.
Every kitchen has to have appliances (otherwise what are they for?!) Built in grills, ovens and even your microwave and coffee machine can be stacked on top of each other to maximise your storage and worktop space. And a corner sink really opens up an area which often attracts clutter leaving a usable space where it might traditionally have been sited.
When a kitchen has been well-designed previously unusable spaces suddenly open up. Accessories
such as ‘magic corners’ and door-hung wirework deliver unbelievable amounts of extra storage space that can make such a difference.
So please don’t despair or apologise for the fact that you have only a small kitchen space. Just ensure that you really make the most of it through having a great design done. As one of our customers said after we’d installed her new kitchen recently, ‘it may be small but I’ve now got so much [storage] space I don’t know what to do with it all’.
Her husband’s look, knowing his credit card was about to take a battering, was priceless!
For more information about Nicholas Hythe Kitchen Design Studio please go to www.nicholashythe.co.uk or telephone 01480 468598 or email us at info@nicholashythe.co.uk
For hundreds of pictures of kitchens we’ve installed for delighted clients please go to www.facebook.com/NicholasHytheKitchenDesignStudio
