How to Make the Most of a Small Kitchen
When you have a small kitchen, decorating it goes hand in hand with turning the room into as useful a space as possible. Unlikely though it may seem, it is possible to prepare dinner for 12 or a buffet supper for 20 in a tiny kitchen. The secret is to organize your kitchen so that the items needed for entertaining, as well as those for daily use, are part of the decorating. In other words, let the pots, spoons, bowls and everything else you need become your kitchen decorations. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Assess what you have. Empty your kitchen cupboards of everything you own that is not white or made of metal. Since you already have these items, start here. Group like colors together and decide on the dominant color, or if you are planning to make an investment, decide what color you want to become the dominant color. Rather than keeping items such as mugs, pitchers and mixing bowls hidden away, display these items on countertops, above the refrigerator, above kitchen cabinets and in open shelving and cabinets.
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Paint the kitchen walls to match the dominant color of your decorating scheme. Although it's true that a neutral color might make the room seem larger, if you have either white or stainless steel appliances, the contrast of, for example, Wedgewood blue, sea foam green, or barn door red, can provide a striking and unifying background.
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Place the longer side of a large kitchen table against the wall unless you actually always need seating for six people; remove any extra chairs that aren't being used daily. With the table against the wall, you are not only saving floor space, you are also creating a decorating opportunity on and above the table. Line the edge of the table against the wall with baskets containing small items such as flatware, rolled cloth napkins, wooden spoons or other items you use regularly.
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Hang pots and pans. If your ceiling is high enough, a hanging rack for pots and pans not only saves cabinet space and puts needed items at your fingertips, it also creates an instant "a-chef-lives-here" decorative accent. From one of the hooks hang a fluffy chef hat; nearby hang a colorful apron from a wall hook.
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Use pegboard storage. Measure any available vertical space that is at least two feet wide and have a piece of pegboard cut to fit. Paint the pegboard the same color as your walls. Use metal hooks for hanging only metal kitchen items to give the area a unified look. For example, you might display a whisk, an eggbeater, metal measuring cups and spoons, small cookie sheets or cake pans.
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