37 Small Kitchen Design Ideas That Are Big on Style
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When we dream of the perfect farmhouse kitchen, it most often has ample space for creating meals and sharing memories with a whole gaggle of friends and family. In reality, the kitchens of the quaint cottages and farmhouses we more typically call home are much shorter on square footage, though certainly not on soul. But a small kitchen can still be the heart of the home! And if you’re looking for design ideas to outfit a tiny cook space, you’ve come to the right place.
There are many designer-approved tips and tricks for making a small kitchen feel larger. Tried-and-true options include selecting a warm white paint palette, incorporating light-reflecting tile, and going with a galley-style kitchen layout. That said, more unexpected and DIY choices, such as peg rails and skirted sinks, also have their place. Backsplashes can also have a big impact, and you shouldn’t overlook the possibility of relocating the pantry to another (nearby!) room. Finally, when all else fails, know that a bit of open shelving will go a long way. No matter your small-space dilemma, our guide to the best simple and stylish small kitchen design ideas is sure to help you make the most of every last inch of your treasured cook space.
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Maximize Your Small Cook Space with These Great Galley Kitchen Ideas
Opt for a Galley Layout
Originally named for the tight cooking quarters aboard a ship, a galley kitchen is most commonly characterized as a long, narrow space with two parallel walls. All appliances and cabinetry are aligned along the two walls, thus making the most of a small footprint.
Try a Long, Skinny Island
In a narrow kitchen, prep space has to be very strategic. Instead of forgoing an island entirely, try a long, narrow piece of furniture that runs parallel to your sink and appliance wall. What you’ll lack in width you'll more than make up for in length.
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Use Light-Reflecting Tile
The ceilings in this cozy green kitchen top out at just six feet, so homeowner Stefanie Watts of Watts Design House used light-reflecting tile as a counter-to-ceiling backsplash to brighten the small space.
RELATED: 25 Great Green Kitchen Cabinet Ideas
Match Your Upper Cabinets to the Walls
To give air to this itty-bitty kitchen, designer Heather Chadduck Hillegas painted the lower cabinets a happy blue hue but matched the upper glass-fronted cabinets to the walls.
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When In Doubt, Go With White
This much-beloved neutral brightens and expands any space it graces, but it’s especially hardworking in a small kitchen.
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Opt for Open Shelving
Closed-off cabinetry can make a small kitchen feel, well, closed in. If you opt for open shelving up top, you’ll air out the space and have the opportunity to showcase your favorite dishes and kitchen collectibles. It’s a win-win!
RELATED: 20+ Dreamy Open Shelving Ideas for Your Kitchen
Give Every Nook and Cranny a Function
Anything can be a shelf if you want it to be! In this Martha’s Vineyard beach cottage kitchen, any place with a flat surface—including above and around the windows—is used for storage.
Put in a Pass-Through
A pass-through window can help an itty-bitty cooking space from feeling cramped and closed-off while you’re in it. Added bonus: it allows guests to join you on the other side of the bar without getting in your way while you move about the kitchen.
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Stick to a Single Palette
For this 1900s farmhouse galley kitchen, the homeowner went with a timeless cornflower blue paint color for the ceiling and trim, while a green reproduction wallpaper covers the walls. An antique mint-colored enamel gas range continues the color story, and lends a cohesion to the space that makes it feel larger.
Get the Look:
Trim Paint Color: Jamestown Blue by Benjamin Moore
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Just Skirt It
A small kitchen also means small cabinetry. Minimize the need for door swing space—and give yourself more flexibility in storage—by covering the space below your counters with fabric instead. The space you save may also give you enough room to slide in a small island, like here.
Put Up a Pot Rack
The space above your range doesn’t have to go unused! A pretty brass pot rack is a lovely place to hang your most-used (or most-beautiful) pots and pans.
RELATED: 16 Utterly Genius Kitchen Storage Solutions
Think Vertically
When every inch counts, wall space is just as valuable as counter space. Here, designer Ken Fulk wrapped the kitchen in above-the-door height open shelving and added wall-mounted storage for knives and copper cookware to keep essentials simultaneously out-of-the-way and close at hand.
Embrace the Brace
Use the exposed wall braces of a cozy cabin as an intuitive guide to where to insert shelving. That way, you’ll create more storage without interfering with the natural lines of the structure.
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Dine à Deux
A petite bistro-style table is the perfect place for a solo breakfast or a cozy dinner for two in a small kitchen.
Get the Look:
Bistro Table: “Rae” pedestal table by Pottery Barn
Size Your Pendant Lights Right
In lieu of a singular chandelier, a trio of smaller pendant lights featuring cloth-covered cords and Sheffield milk glass shades light this small Texas kitchen without becoming an overpowering focal point.
RELATED: Farmhouse Kitchen Lighting Ideas to Brighten Your Cook Space
Put the Pantry to Work
In a small kitchen, certain appliances such as air fryers, instant pots, and microwaves can take up valuable counter space. If possible, relocate these items to the pantry.
RELATED: These Pantry Organization Ideas Will Keep Yours in Ship Shape
Hide Your Hood
Wrapping your stove hood in the same surface that covers your walls will help keep your kitchen from feeling visually cluttered.
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Size Your Appliances Accordingly
In this 98-square-foot galley kitchen, the petite 20-inch electric range maximizes cabinet space.
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Dine at a Drop-Leaf
If your small kitchen is also an eat-in kitchen, consider a drop-leaf table for your dining surface. The furniture piece can be folded down and set to the side when not in use, giving you more room to move about when cooking.
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Put Your Island On Wheels
In this easy-going white kitchen, a narrow rolling island serves as a portable food prep space, which can be wheeled in and out as needed.
Display Dishware The Same Hue as Your Shelves
If you’ll be storing your everyday dishware on open shelving, it helps to select clear drinking glasses and pattern-free plates the same color as the wall and cabinets.
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Send Shelving Across A Window
Problem: you need more space, but your kitchen only has one primary source of natural light. Solution: send a shelf across the top portion of the window, then layer in clear or colorful glass over the portion that crosses the panes so light can still filter though.
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Choose Barely-There Brackets
The skinny brackets holding up the narrow kitchen shelf in Claire Zinnecker’s Texas farmhouse kitchen keep the addition from feeling too cumbersome.
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Move Cooking Essentials Off the Counter
In lieu of keeping oils, spices, and other everyday essentials on the countertop, move them to a small shelf just above the side of your cooktop.
Fake a View
A small kitchen sometimes means a closed-off kitchen. If the space above your sink doesn’t include a window for gazing out as you do the dishes, a landscape painting on the wall will serve as an almost-as-good stand-in.
Corral Those Spices
Here’s a crafty trick: If shelf and cabinet space is at a premium, stack vintage soda crates to organize your most-used spices.
RELATED: 30+ Clever DIY Home Organization Hacks
Select a Sliding Door
Interior barn doors aren’t just for closets and bathrooms! Here, a sliding door keeps snacks and small appliances out of sight without requiring the ample swing space necessary for traditional cabinet doors.
RELATED: Barn Door Design Ideas to Add Charm to Your Home
Switch Up the Stovetop
Working with a small kitchen and an open floor plan? Consider placing your stovetop on an island or peninsula that allows your view to face outward. That way, you won’t miss out on what’s going on in the living room while you prepare meals.
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Relocate the Pantry
No room for an in-kitchen pantry? Convert a freestanding furniture hutch into kitchen storage space and place it in the dining room or another close-by area.
RELATED: 30+ Ingenious Pantry Organization Ideas
Put Up a Pegboard
Pegboards are an easy, affordable, and endlessly customizable way to add more storage to your small kitchen. Install one on a free wall, then hang the pots, pans, and utensils you use most regularly.
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Booth In a Breakfast Nook
By adding facing built-in benches with a narrow table in-between, an eat-in moment can make the most of a closed-off corner or the end of a hallway.
RELATED: Breakfast Nook Design Ideas for Every Style and Space
Repurpose a Built-In Spice Rack
Not quite sure what to do with that built-in spice rack on your kitchen island? Take a cue from textile designer Heather Taylor and turn it into a coffee station. Stock mugs, honey, coffee filters, and more to keep all your early-morning beverage must-haves at the ready.
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Try a Retro Refrigerator
At just two feet wide, Smeg’s extra-slim retro refrigerator makes a big impact in a tiny kitchen.
Get the Look:
Refrigerator: ’50s-Style Retro Refrigerator by SMEG
Put In a Peg Rail
In Shaker homes, peg rails wrapped the perimeter of most every room and were typically hung high on the wall—with pegs placed six inches apart—to hold everything from brooms to chairs. In a small kitchen, they’re a tidy way to keep everything from teapots to fresh produce close at hand.
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Hang Pots Overhead
Even the ceiling beams can be put to work in a small kitchen! Here, copper pans and other special occasion pots hang from a rough-hewn rafter.
Recess The Refrigerator
For her 180-square-foot kitchen, Country Living Design Director Maribeth Jones worked with Birmingham architect Heather Knowles to recess her refrigerator to free up floor space and create a seamless flow between the two hallways that connect to the kitchen.
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Save Room for Special Mementos
Kitchens of all sizes, even the tiniest ones, benefit from a display of family heirlooms or favorite vintage treasures. Tuck yours into an open shelf, above upper cabinets, or anywhere else that could use a pinch of personalization.
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