Easy Tips to Make Your Small Kitchen Stylish and Efficient

Your small kitchen can be the model of efficiency and style with a few simple changes. While it may feel like you lack space and storage, the truth is a small kitchen can be very efficient. Smaller means fewer steps between counter and stove or refrigerator and sink, cupboards and drawers at your fingertips, and shorter trips to the dining room table. These options can actually be more help than hindrance to you, so embrace it.

To help you make your small kitchen look or feel larger there are three important areas to work on, storage, lighting and appliances. Here are some ways to help maximize the space you already have.

--Look for smaller scale appliances. Manufacturers are offering more choices in sizes of refrigerators, dishwashers and stoves, so look for ones that scale down a bit from regular-sized ones. Your room will have more space and feel less crowded.

--Choose light colors to make spaces look larger. Try cream-colored cabinets, beige walls, or if you like a splash of color, chose light greens, blues or yellows. Lighter colors will reflect light and create a brighter space.

--Cabinets with glass fronts make the kitchen seem roomier while showcasing your favorite dishes or china. Try glass fronts on the upper cabinets and leave lower ones solid to keep the eye-level part of the kitchen airy.

--If your kitchen is wide enough, try adding a free-standing island or a butcher's block to increase work space and add storage space.

--Hanging your pots and pans from the ceiling on an overhead rack or shelf will keep them close at hand while saving precious cabinet space for your other cooking items.

--For added storage, use pantry units and stack from floor to ceiling to maximize storage in a small space.

--Use under-cabinet lighting to create the illusion of space while brightening those dark workspaces.
--For flooring, use a diamond pattern tile or wood floor. Or try painting your existing floor with a diamond pattern of two different colors. This pattern tricks the eye into thinking the floor is much wider than it is.

--Have a cutting board cut to fit over your existing sink or half of your sink. You will have more space to work on but then can store it away when not in use.

--Scrutinize the small appliances you use and don't use. Can you get by with a two-slice toaster instead of the four-slice? Do you really ever use the food processor or cappuccino machine? Most people use only about one-half of the items they have stored in their kitchen. Give away the items you don't use and enjoy the new storage space you've created.

--Maximize light from small windows by using less fabric for curtains. Try using coordinating scarves over a curtain rod to dress the window allowing more sunlight in.

Once you've found ways to maximize the space of your small kitchen you will see it in a new light. Soon you won't think of your kitchen as small, but instead as cozy and efficient.