Stair Renovation Ideas

Learn How To Make A Small Kitchen Seem Larger

Where, in your home, do you spend the most time? If your family is like mine, it’s most likely in the kitchen. It seems that no matter how large your kitchen is, it never feels big enough.

Finally, after completely redesigning the floor plan, several years ago I was able to remodel my kitchen. First, we knocked down a wall (which was a lot of fun) and installed a garden window over the sink, even with the countertop.  Then we added both an island with an overhang, with room for three chairs or stools, and a food-prep peninsula at table height, also with an overhang with room for three or four stools.

Here are several ideas for you to consider that will make your kitchen feel and look larger. You don’t have to implement all of them, but even following one of these suggestions will make a big difference in your kitchen.

Create More Storage
Better storage saves space. Try installing a base cabinet where the door is attached to roll-out shelves rather than swinging open on hinges. This convenient cabinet is a great place to store your most-used appliances. With pull-out shelves, you can easily reach those items stored in the back of the cabinet.

Redo Your Cabinets
Add glass fronts to your wall cabinets.  Even better, replace those solid cabinet doors with glass fronts along one of your walls. What a great way to give your kitchen a more open feel!

Add Light
Choose under-the-counter lighting—it will make your kitchen appear larger. Another great option is to use light colors when decorating, especially with your cabinets and countertops.

Create Height with Taller Wall Cabinets
Remove those soffits and install your cabinets to the ceiling. You might also try “stair-stepping” the cabinets. You can accomplish this look by first starting with a taller cabinet, then lining the others progressively shorter. The open space above the shorter cabinets makes a great place to display collectibles, baskets and teapots. The hard-to-reach top shelves of the taller cabinets make a great place to store all those holiday dishes and serving pieces you seldom use.

Bring the Outdoors In
Wherever possible, enlarge those windows.  Another great way to get more light in is to replace one with a garden window, installed at countertop height. For an even brighter kitchen, add a skylight or sky pipe.

Streamline Your Kitchen
Once or twice a year we all go through our closets, getting rid of those clothes we no longer use. The same should be done in the kitchen. It’s a good idea to regularly reorganize your kitchen, getting rid of all those items you no longer use. This is an easy way to make your kitchen feel much larger. Clutter always makes a room feel smaller.

Build a Useful Island
If you have an eat-in kitchen but there’s no room for an island, you might want to consider replacing the entire kitchen table with an island. This will give you, not only an eating area, but you will gain added storage for seldom-used items. You’ll be surprised at how easy of a do-it-yourself project this can be. Start with base cabinets. Choose ones that are either table height or traditional counter height. Then simply top them with a countertop material. To make room for chairs or stools, extend the counter 12 to 16 inches beyond the sides of the cabinets.

Install Storage Trays
This can be easily done on the back of false drawer fronts at the sink and cooktop. Specially made narrow trays are available at hardware stores and home centers. By doing this, you can significantly reduce your clutter around your sink and stove, thereby creating a larger-looking space.

Free Up Counter Space
One contributor to a cramped-feeling kitchen is cluttered counters. You can easily solve this by installing an under-the-counter microwave, can opener, spice rack or toaster.

Open Up Those Walls
In situations where the dining room is next to the kitchen, knocking out the adjoining wall is often a wonderful way to create space. Check to see if the wall is load-bearing. If not, then this could be an easy do-it-yourself project.

Create Open Shelving
Add open shelves to your kitchen, especially if you have colorful plates, glasses, teapots or other collectibles to display. Open shelving always makes a small kitchen look larger. One option is to simply remove the doors from your cabinets and paint the inside a bright color. Another way to go is to take down the cabinets altogether and instead add colorful shelves to make the room feel more open.

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Basement remodel ideas

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