How to choose a set for a small kitchen

Content:

1. What you have to give up
2. Selecting what you need
3. Which shelves to choose: open or closed?
4. Space layout
5. Bar counter instead of a table
6. Several useful tips
   

A small kitchen is a challenge for a designer. In a small room you need to fit a lot of objects, while maintaining space for comfortable movement. In any case, something will have to be sacrificed, so first you need to decide what exactly. Either comfort, space, or storage space will suffer. Answer yourself the question: what exactly do you do in the kitchen and how much time do you spend there?

The main thing is not to start from familiar scenarios, which often do not correspond to the real state of affairs. For example, your parents had a spacious kitchen, where your mother prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner, prepared preparations for the winter all summer, and there were always guests. And it seems to you that you need it too. But it is not always the case. If you drink coffee for breakfast, dine in a cafe, and order home delivery in the evening, you don’t need most cooking equipment. Perhaps a dining table is not needed. You can also drink a cup of coffee at the bar, for example.

You also need to consider whether you use a lot of dishes regularly. If it’s not enough, you can do without extra storage cabinets. A two-burner stove is suitable for cooking.

If you cook often, you will have to leave room for the hood. All surfaces and facades must be made of practical and durable material.

What you have to give up

To make a room feel harmonious, it is important to combine thoughtful style, proportional dimensions, colors and finishes. Since the kitchen set occupies most of the room, it is important that these factors are thought out to the smallest detail. If in a spacious room the owner is free to choose what he likes, then in a small room some things should be abandoned. Among them:

• large details. Each piece of furniture must correspond to the dimensions of the room and not go out of balance;
• artsy patterns. Intricate elements add bulk to the furniture and steal precious space;
• asymmetry. Asymmetrical shapes are appropriate in a free arrangement. This option in a small kitchen is an unacceptable luxury;
• large prints. In a small room, large drawings are unacceptable;
• decor that has no functional load. Various cute trinkets will litter the room. Therefore, if it is important for you to surround yourself with such objects, then leave only what can be used in everyday life. These are jars for cereals and spices, potholders, ladles, and so on.

Selecting what you need

Before you start directly choosing a set, you need to answer the question of what furniture and appliances will be placed in the kitchen.

You can make a list of necessary, desirable and optional items:

• cabinets. Even small cabinets in the kitchen are necessary. They will house dishes, kitchen utensils, as well as some products (cereals, tea, coffee);
• tabletop. This is a work surface without which it is difficult to imagine cooking. In addition, you can place the necessary equipment on it: kettle, coffee maker, toaster, etc.;
• Sink and stove are the basis of the kitchen. You can't do without them. Therefore, when choosing a set, it is important to consider that the sink and stove should be at a convenient distance from each other;
• table. There are options here. You can completely abandon it by placing it, for example, in the living room. Or you can use a bar counter or a small folding table, or adapt a window sill;
• refrigerator. It takes up a lot of space, so when it is possible to place it outside the kitchen, it is better to do just that. In some cases, they use niches in the corridor, or give preference to a small refrigerator built under the countertop;
• dishwasher. If there is nowhere to put it, then you can do without it.

There may be other things on the list. For example, microwave, oven, cooler. If all these are essential items, when calculating the size of the set it is important to take into account their location in the kitchen.

Which shelves to choose: open or closed?

Preference is given to cabinets with closed shelves. If you prefer to store all your utensils away from prying eyes, then this is a great option. The main thing in a small kitchen is to use more vertical surfaces, and also not to forget about the height of the wall. The presence of a pencil case further stretches the space, visually adding height.

It is preferable to choose light glossy facades without decoration. This design visually lightens the furniture, making it more airy and the space more open. When selecting a color scheme, a standard design ratio is used: 60% primary color, 30% additional color, and 10% framing. Light and warm tones can be complemented by deep shades. White color also looks advantageous when combined with any other tones.

If we talk about an open headset, it is used much less often. At the same time, the more common options are when floor cabinets are closed and wall cabinets are open. In this case, you will have to clean more often, and the dishes located inside the open shelves should be in perfect condition, but visually there will be more space and air.

Space layout

To make it comfortable in a small kitchen, you need to position the set correctly. Most often used:

• L-shaped placement. In this option, there is always a corner cabinet, which allows you to use the kitchen space, using all zones. Therefore, they usually buy such a set for small kitchens;
• U-shaped placement. In this option, there are two corner cabinets at once, and the remaining shelves and surfaces are located along three walls. A set of this design is roomy, but at the same time massive. It is not suitable for tiny kitchens, only for more spacious options;
• linear placement. In this case, all cabinets are lined up along one wall. This option is suitable even for the smallest room.

Which placement method to choose is determined by the area of ​​the room, the type of furniture, and the number of items that need to be placed in the space. Most often, kitchen furniture of this size is made to order to take into account every centimeter of space. The designer will show you photos of finished headsets so you can decide what you want.

Bar counter instead of table

It is important to write about this separately, since often the dining table takes up too much space in the room. Therefore, they use a bar counter instead. It is compact and functional. Of course, for a large family this option cannot be used as a full-fledged dining area, but it is suitable for morning coffee or a snack. And if one or two people live in an apartment, then you can have lunch here.

Sometimes, instead of a full-fledged bar counter, an imitation of it is made. This is a wall-mounted table with one support. You can make it in the shape of the letter L, so you can also have a work surface in the kitchen.

The bar counter is also loved because it is suitable for compact chairs that do not take up much space. But if you buy a regular table for the kitchen, then it’s better to use these options for it too. Choose simple ones that can be easily pushed under the table.

Some useful tips

Even if the kitchen is small, the same rules that apply in a large kitchen should apply. The main one is compliance with the “working triangle”. That is, during cooking you should have free access to the stove, sink and work surface. Often in a small kitchen the work surface is the dining table. This means that it must be located according to the rules of the work area.

If you have a lot of small household appliances in your home that you don’t use all the time, you need to have a place to store them compactly. If all this is constantly in sight, the already small kitchen will turn into tiny.

Properly organized lighting will not only make the space visually larger, but will also make working inside it much easier. You need to think about how it will be organized at the design stage.

So, it is important to understand that a small kitchen can be made comfortable. The main thing is to organize the space correctly. By choosing light colors, arranging shelves on the entire vertical surface, abandoning the unnecessary and non-functional, you can make the room cozy and practical.

Garda Decor produces custom-made kitchen sets. Check out the catalog and choose the option you like, our designers will help you adapt it to your space. We are also ready to offer individual turnkey project development.