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Kitchen Advice

Small Kitchen Ideas

All great things come in small packages and a kitchen can be both stylish and functional with clever planning and smart measures that make it more organised. These ideas for small kitchens will help get the most of all available space, whether that is within an existing interior or for a new small kitchen design.

1. Choose a new neutral

White is a staple for small spaces as it makes a room appear bright and open, however it can often look clinical. Grey offers a great alternative to this pale shade and will soften an interior for a cosy feel, plus it is easy to pair with many colour palettes, making it a versatile choice for any home.

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2. Stick to simple shades

Like grey, stony shades have also grown in popularity with the latest neutral of choice being a sandstone tone. This hue offers a cooler take on ivory or cream and is also pale enough to bounce natural light around a room for an airy feel. Even better when paired with glossy fronts, like our Clerkenwell Gloss Sandstone.

See Clerkenwell Gloss Sandstone

Slate grey l shaped handleless kitchen with half height and full height wall units and contrasting white kitchen worktop.

3. Try out two-tone

Mix and matching colours is a growing trend for interiors and it can make a room look deceptively large. Pair dark base units with a pale colour, like our Hockley Mirror Gloss Dove Grey, to make the area at eye level appear more open without sacrificing valuable places to stash everyday essentials.

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4. Mattify bright white

For an on-trend adaptation of a classic small kitchen colour, try combining white with a matt or a super matt finish. Muted surfaces are becoming a go-to choice for interiors, adding a luxe aspect to a design, and this material is a low maintenance choice as it shows fewer marks made by fingerprints or water.

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5. Go for glazed features

A small kitchen hack, that is similar to two-tone cabinetry, is to break up long banks of cupboards with glazed units. These fronts come in both clear and frosted styles, so you can tuck accessories beyond view. They also come in a selection of colours, including white and black, to best suit the interior for a co-ordinated look.

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6. Add half-height heroes

To prevent a small room from becoming too packed, try adding half-height units to a design. These wall cupboards will provide extra room for storing essentials, while taking up half the space of a standard wall unit. They also prevent shadows being cast across the surface below making an area brighter.

Learn more about kitchen cabinets

7. Pack-out a plinth

An often unused space within a room, drawer options that are disguised behind kickboards are a great space-saving solution. We recommend storing less frequently used items here, so you can free up more accessible areas for the essential cooking equipment in your arsenal.

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8. Take on towers

When floor space is limited, you can look to your walls to get the most out of your room and towers offer the best use of height. Pull-out and pull-and-swing accessories are available to make storing areas more accessible - even at the back of the cupboard. This is a great addition for multi-generational homes.

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9. Organise corner cupboards

The hours spent tidying up a small corner unit could be saved by simply installing a carousel device within this awkward spot. These space-savers make light work of keeping this area neat and tidy, and also maximise every inch of space. They also come with different operating styles to improve accessibility for all stages of life.

View corner storage

10. Shed light on shadows

Shadowy areas within a room can give a cramped impression, so a quick fix to make a space appear larger is to add lights. Targeting areas where the light is most limited is a good place to start, while adding lights beneath base units can also draw attention to floor space making it appear bigger and brighter.

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11. Distract with patterns

Striking patterns can draw the eye, so why not add this distinctive look to the largest surface in a room. Our chevron floorboards offer a good example of how this works successfully as the arrow-like effect offers a geometric pattern that makes it the main focal point in a design.

See Chevron Laminate flooring

12. Save on kettle space

Save surface space where the kettle is normally stashed by upgrading to a 4-in-1 tap that provides cold, cold filtered, hot and steaming water. These devices not only cut down on clutter they also reduce household bills as they are more energy-efficient than their electrical counterpart.

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13. Switch to slim counters

A quick trick for freeing up clutter in a cramped room is to switch materials to thinner styles. The trend for slim counters is very much current, making it a savvy choice for saving space and for achieving an on-trend look in the home. Options include an ultra-thin 12.5mm-thick design or 20mm-thick for those less daring.

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14. Declutter cutlery

A small cutlery tray is one of the quickest and simplest ways to free up surface space in a compact room and it will limit distractions caused by unsightly utensils being on display. These smart accessories can be tucked into a drawer and will better organise cutlery, making it easy to find the items required for dinnertime.

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15. Go little on laundry

The latest technology has meant that more and more equipment can be combined into one device, which is a great space-saving solution for compact areas. Laundry options that combine washing and drying functions will save valuable floor space, which can be used for extra base cupboards or towers.

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16. Trim down on fixtures

A neat way to keep visual clutter to a minimum is to switch out chunky handgrips for slim-line designs, like our trim bar handles. These can be installed at the top of the cupboard, providing enough purchase to access its contents, whilst looking subtle enough from the outside for a pared-back look.

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17. Forget about handles

If you are not ready to jump into the deep end will a full handleless design, try adding push-to-open devices to cupboard doors. These strip back excess clutter created by cabinet accessories, making a room appear less busy, while also making cupboard contents easier to access with a simple push of the door front.

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18. Be bold with borders

These decorative panels can be used in more creative ways than simply spanning the edge of a design, so, why not try using them to create a vertical feature in a room. This small kitchen idea will draw the eye upwards, bringing attention to the ceiling and making space appear more airy and open.

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19. Select a striped effect

Like borders, wall panels offer a neat way of adding a vertically-lined feature to a room that also has the added benefit of protecting walls from splashes and spills created during cooking and cleaning. This pattern will keep the focus on wall space rather than other clutter in a room, making it appear bigger. They are also easy to customise with a paint colour of your choice.

See wall panelling

20. Create a place for pans

Pots, pans, and other cookware are often cumbersome items that create clutter quickly within cupboard space. To ensure a small kitchen remains functional and fashionable, try adding designated pan storage to a design. These smart drawers are deeper than standard options and can be paired with a divider kit to better organise the items inside.

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Small kitchens in real homes

Get cosy with cashmere

Claire @ctc_home wanted her small kitchen to look stylish for years to come, so she picked a warm, cashmere shade for her cupboards. As well as creating a cosy feel, this pale tone keeps the room looking open and is versatile enough to complement a variety of decors.

See Claire's kitchen makeover

Small Kitchen Ideas @goodchantier - Clerkenwell Super Matt Charcoal

Work with one wall

By keeping all the units to one wall, @goodchantier has created a linear style that looks stylish and saves on floor space. This layout also offers an uninterrupted length of counter space, which makes the design more functional and easier to use.

Small Kitchen Ideas @rukminipatelinteriordesign - photographer @megantaylorphoto - Clerkenwell Gloss White

Make it monotone

Designer @rukminipatelinteriordesign shows monotone enthusiasts exactly how to create a stylish design using one colour palette. The cabinets, counter, and floor in @megantaylorphoto ‘s kitchen all use the same pale tones, which helps to maximise light for a bright and spacious feel.

Small Kitchen Ideas @serafinaalice - Fairford Graphite

Pick premium patterns

@serafinaalice ‘s design proves that you create a luxe layout even in a compact room. They have incorporated marble and woodgrain patterns into the dark-grey scheme, which replicate the look of natural materials to create a high-end effect.