Buying a new home often involves some sort of compromise and if you’re downsizing or moving to a smaller property in a fancier area, one thing that might have to give is kitchen space.
A smaller kitchen doesn’t mean the end of dinner parties and lavish Sunday roasts, or even sitting with your bestie at the kitchen table over a mug of hot chocolate. You just have to get clever with the space you do have and these tricks may help you out.
Retrofit existing cupboards with spacers and racks
If you have sturdy floor and wall cupboards then increase their storage potential by fitting them with pull-out racks and trays so that you can fill them up more.
Install slimmer units and counters
You can, if your kitchen is narrow, increase the floor space by replacing the old, standard-sized units with ones that don’t encroach so much into your floor area. Just a few centimetres’ less width for each unit makes a big difference overall.
Bring in a portable island
You can stop dreaming about that handy kitchen island and make it a reality, albeit a smaller one with wheels, by using a hostess trolley or butcher’s block as both storage and workspace. You can wheel it into a corner when you’re done.
Install a bigger sink
This might seem counterintuitive, but a bigger or double sink can double up as a repository, while you’re cooking, for the utensils, knives and even the food you’re preparing to keep it from cluttering up your work surface.
Use floor-to-ceiling cabinets
If you’re a fairly tall household, then using taller shelves and cupboards can work well – you’re building upwards rather than outwards. Even if you’re not that tall, you can use a footstool that also doubles as storage for cleaning products to reach the dizzying heights of the top shelves.
Relocate your washing machine
Your washing machine doesn’t have to be in the kitchen, so if you can relocate it to the bathroom, or under the stairs, for example, then you’ll be freeing up valuable space in your kitchen.