A small kitchen is a real stress for any woman. Cooking is inconvenient, there is little storage space, there is not enough room for maneuvers, and there can be no question of sitting in this room with friends. Novate.ru tells what tricks you need to use so that even a kitchen with an area of 4 sq. m. could become cozy and comfortable.
Usually, kitchens with an area of 4 sq. m. are found in old houses built during the Soviet Union - Stalin and Khrushchev buildings. Even in modern small-sized studios, such a footage is very rare. Designers offer a variety of solutions to the problem. The most popular of them is the expansion of space by combining with an adjacent room, for example, a loggia, a balcony, a living room. If you don't want to demolish walls, you will need the tips below.
1. Consider the power of color
Before you start decorating a room, you need to decide on the style and color palette. This should be done taking into account the area of the room. Taking into account the fact that our kitchen is only 4 sq. m., the main task is to get rid of the feeling of tightness and constraint that arises from the tiny size of the room. This can be done through light shades. Only they can fill the kitchen with air and light so that it visually becomes larger. A variety of colors are available to choose from. It can be milky, light beige, ivory, pastel shades. The main advantage of such tones is that they are ideally combined with natural textures (stone, wood), as well as bright colors (red, green, blue, yellow, and so on).
As for dark tones, they can also be used, but only as accents. If you want to use them for wall or floor decoration, then be prepared for the fact that there will be no effect of expanding the space.
Advice: Avoid contrasting combinations such as red and black. Such a technique may look beautiful, but it automatically makes a small room very tiny, which in the case of a 4 sq. m. is an absolute failure.
2. Make custom furniture
Considering the fact that in such a tiny kitchen every centimeter is worth its weight in gold, the option of buying a ready-made corner set in a regular furniture store is not suitable. It is best to draw up an individual project, which will take into account all your wishes, as well as the area and features of the kitchen. You can not only provide a niche for a microwave oven, a place for a hood, but also independently choose the material and fittings for future furniture. The only significant disadvantage is the cost - it will be several times higher than when buying a ready-made headset. However, remember that you are paying first and foremost for your convenience and comfort. In addition, the kitchen is issued for a single year, so it is in your best interest for it to meet absolutely all requirements.
3. Engage the windowsill
As we have already said, the available area needs to be used to the maximum. And the window sill is one of the interior details, which in no case should be left unattended. If you have it wide enough, find one of the following uses for it:
• If the window is tall, make a bar counter out of the window sill. It can easily replace a massive dining table, which usually takes up the most space in the kitchen. This option is ideal if no more than two people live in the apartment.
• If you rarely cook and spend a minimum of time in the kitchen, you can combine a kitchen sink with the windowsill. This is a great example of efficient use of space. In addition, returning to the topic of natural light, we can say that such a sink will help save energy, since you can wash dishes without turning on the light. And from an aesthetic point of view, this solution has no equal: placing the T-shirt on the windowsill looks very beautiful and effective.
• If there are no radiators under the window, be sure to use the free space. It is best to place a storage cabinet there.
• If the sill is short, extend it and equip the work area. The main advantage of this solution is that in the morning and in the afternoon you will have excellent daylight and you will not have to cook soup by the light of lamps.
4. Use shelves
Open shelves are constantly controversial: some say that they are impractical, as they collect dust, while others consider them as ideal storage systems in a small area. Our opinion is this: if you have a spacious kitchen, you can safely abandon the idea of open shelves and replace them with traditional cabinets with glass doors. If the room has an area of 4 sq. m., then the shelves become a real salvation - they look lighter, do not take up much space, add coziness to the room, and significantly reduce the search for the necessary dishes or spices.
You don't need to wipe them every day. A couple of times a week is enough, especially if the shelves are far from the stove. The task will be facilitated by a special dusting brush - it will remove all dirt in a matter of seconds. However, you should definitely pay attention to the fact that there should always be order on an open shelf. Place beautiful bright dishes or storage containers of the same type on them - jars, boxes or containers.
5. Think about custom technique
Blenders, mixers, coffee makers, electric kettles... It is not possible to place all this in a tiny kitchen. Therefore, you should carefully consider which particular technique you cannot do without. Try to choose small-sized copies that take up a minimum of space. For example, you can buy a hob with two burners instead of four. True, this option is only suitable if the family is small. As for the microwave oven, it can either be built into a cabinet or placed on a specially equipped shelf. But you will have to “play around with the refrigerator” - some housewives prefer to take it out into the corridor, however, frankly speaking, this is inconvenient. Another option is to buy a narrow unit.
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6. Equip additional storage space
Lockers are far from the only place to store food and kitchen utensils. You can use:
• space above the front door (in older houses there is usually a niche there);
• a place under the windowsill;
• the inner side of the cabinet door - there you can hang hooks for various kitchen accessories;
• area under the sink - the bin is not the only item that can be placed under the sink. Put there several baskets for household chemicals and other cleaning products, washing dishes;
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• space under the table top - this is where you can place a hook for paper towels. By the way, it can be fixed with Velcro, then drilling is not needed.
The main principle when organizing storage is the following - what you often use should be at hand and in plain sight. And the things that you need a couple of times a week, it is better to immediately hide in the closet or on the refrigerator.
Also, the tips described in the article can help you. How to make the kitchen spacious and neat with the help of available tools
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/250120/53175/