Kitchen Design Tips: Making Your Kitchen Appear Larger and More Inviting
As the heart of the home and a go-to gathering place for many families, the kitchen is more than just a place to prepare food: A kitchen can become the social center for games, homework, working on your laptop, and the setting for many meaningful conversations with family and friends. If your home features a smaller kitchen space that you wish had a little more room, there are still many savvy ways to make your kitchen appear larger and more inviting. Use natural light, thoughtful angles, specific materials, and familiar patterns
when you are designing a dream kitchen to open the perspective and maximize space. Whether you have an older home with less square footage or a tricky floorplan, here are a few of the best design tips to make a kitchen feel larger:
What Flooring Will Help A Kitchen Feel Larger?
You can without a doubt select flooring that makes a kitchen feel larger! By using longer, wider waterproof hardwood, laminate, luxury vinyl planks, and the largest luxury vinyl tile sizes, you can reduce the number of seams in the finished floor to create a more open visual. Also, many installation patterns can enhance the perspective of a smaller kitchen while lending tremendous visual interest. A diagonal stripe plank installation from the corner of the kitchen to the entranceway can direct the viewer’s eye toward the furthest point. Both herringbone and chevron plank installations will highlight angles, color, texture, and flair to make small kitchens feel more luxurious. Consider running longer plank lengths along the shortest kitchen wall to minimize the amount of lines in the finished floor. Determining the best plank or tile size and installation pattern for the specific dimensions of your kitchen will ultimately produce the greatest effect.
How Can Lighting Make A Kitchen Feel Larger?
A proper combination of natural light and artificial light sources will brighten your kitchen as much as possible and make it seem bigger than it actually is. First, let all the sunlight in that you can, and then add extra lighting to help illuminate and display more of the room. This could be dimmable recessed lights that make design elements stand out more, under-cabinet lighting that highlights your backsplash, or task lighting, track lights, or pendants over prep stations and countertops. Installing airy kitchen flooring will also help use light effectively and make a tighter space feel less constrained. As a general rule, remember that ‘light and bright’ will help avoid feeling ‘cramped and tight!’
What Color Schemes Make Kitchens Feel Larger?
When selecting colors for smaller kitchens, medium and darker floor color options can potentially make your room feel even less spacious. Lighter kitchen color palettes and shades such as cream, blondes, light greys, greige, light brown, and whitewashed tones can help reflect sunrays and boost perspective. Consider color-matching cabinets and kitchen flooring to create a visual that erases lines but achieves textural contrast between the two elements to keep the layout from feeling flat. You can then add pops of bold or darker colors with decorative furnishings, kitchen towels, and backsplash to contrast appropriately. The more light that your kitchen receives, the more color options you will be able to select from. Patterns can also help break up a monochrome feel while helping your kitchen feel memorable and less confined.
How Can Appliances, Fixtures, and Materials Make A Kitchen Feel Larger?
Balancing your kitchen appliances, fixtures, and material finishes with your kitchen flooring and lighting will make all the difference. Appliances with matte and low-gloss finishes will enhance natural lighting and blend in seamlessly to avoid a cluttered feel. You can then select a standout countertop appliance like a top-of-the-line espresso maker or vintage blender that adds pop to the space without overwhelming it. Matching kitchen floors to cabinets is another key consideration to execute perfectly, achieving the ideal contrast or combination complement. A great starting point is matching an undertone to a prominent shade while using textural contrast between your kitchen flooring and cabinet material. Glass cabinet doors can also create depth and make your kitchen feel more open. Between your cabinets, flooring, and countertops, try to select only one surface with eye-catching color and movement and focus on textural contrast and overall harmony to avoid an overall busy kitchen.
How to Make A Kitchen Appear More Inviting?
It goes without saying that a clean, organized kitchen is a more inviting kitchen. Water-resistant and waterproof kitchen flooring options will help you easily clean spills from cooking, eating, and cleaning dishes, moisture from refrigerators and dishwashers, and knocked-over pet food bowls. These easy-to-clean kitchen flooring options help you reduce germs, crumbs, debris, dust, and pet dander, which makes for a completely welcoming space. Kitchen organization solutions like shelving systems and dividers within your kitchen cabinets and drawers, kitchen baskets, and mail holders will all help reduce clutter and keep your room tidy. By prioritizing organization, your kitchen will feel roomier, and you will enjoy cooking, hosting, and relaxing in it even more!
Conclusion
There’s nothing like spending time in an attractive kitchen, enjoying all your favorite aromas and recipes with the ones you love. For the best kitchen flooring ideas that can maximize your space, take our Flooring Genius Quiz to help narrow down your ideal combination of performance and style. Weigh the unique factors of your kitchen and you can achieve a layout that truly makes your heart skip a beat, in the heart of your home!