Oh, to have the luxury of space – plenty of room for work surfaces, a large cooking range, and a dining table – to name just a few luxuries. Sadly, many of us do not have the benefit of vast interior spaces, and the kitchen is reduced to a room which has to function solely as a place to prepare cook and store food.
I put up with my small kitchen for too long. The lack of usable space, and the cluttered feeling was not conducive to a creative and enjoyable cooking experience. Last month I decided to make a change, however it didn’t take long to discover that small kitchen remodeling is hard work. Unfortunately, kitchen extension was not possible without having to also sleep there, so I was limited with the space I had.
My tiny work area remains modest at best. So how did I manage to redesign this tiny space to produce a brand new, gleaming, space efficient, marvel of modern design? First of all, I could not afford to get consultants in, so the work had to be easily achieved. This meant that repositioning pipes and the boiler was not a consideration. The kitchen shape was a forced decision due to the dimensions, being too narrow for anything other design. Armed with a tape measure, my first step was to confirm with military precision that my kitchen was tiny. The second step was to measure again to see if I had made a mistake. Sadly it was just as small the second time.
Since I had failed to find more space, it became necessary to create more. I had the brainwave of making everything in miniature in order to fit more in. Once I had downsized the fridge, the cooker and the double sink, I found that I actually had quite a bit of space. In fact, I actually managed to free enough space for a small slim line dishwasher. Whilst I do still need to get someone to connect up all the pipes in order to use it, in the meantime it is a fantastic place for hiding the washing up.
Whilst cupboard units could not increase, better designs allowed for more efficient usage and increased the storage space available. A larger number of smaller drawers made me limit the things that I threw in them, shaving minutes off the arduous task of finding a utensil.
For me, small kitchen remodeling involved hard work at the planning stage, however I am now the proud owner of a fantastically convenient, modern and efficient kitchen that is a joy to spend time in and was certainly worth the effort.