Start with how you use the kitchen

When we are designing a kitchen, one of the big things we look at is how the client is actually going to use it. Some people cook a lot. Some entertain a lot. Some want kids sitting at the bench doing homework while dinner is being made. Some want to keep the main kitchen looking less cluttered and have better storage for all the everyday bits and pieces. That is what should drive the layout more than anything.

If somebody has a small kitchen, usually they are asking how they can best use the space they have got. That is really the right question to be asking, because a small kitchen does not necessarily need to be bigger, it just needs to work better.

Do not get too fixated on the kitchen triangle

People tend to fixate on the kitchen triangle, and while it's ideal in a lot of scenarios, for a small kitchen it does not necessarily have to be in a triangle just as long as you have those separate zones. Not all kitchen shapes can accommodate the perfect triangle, but that does not mean they cannot function well.

Usually you want to think about the kitchen in zones. You would have a food storage zone, which would consist of your fridge and your pantry, a food preparation zone where you would cut up vegetables and do your prep, a wet zone where you would have your sink, dishwasher and bin, and then a cooking zone where you would have your oven and cooktop. As long as the kitchen is zoned well, that is the main thing.

That is a much more practical way to think about a small kitchen layout, because sometimes the room just is what it is. You are not always going to get the textbook version of a layout, but you can still get a kitchen that feels easy to use.

Access makes a big difference in a small kitchen

One of the things that can make a small kitchen feel worse than it really is, is poor access. A lot of older kitchens only have one entry and exit point, and that can make them feel cramped very quickly. If someone is standing at the fridge and blocking the only way in and out, it becomes annoying to use, even if the kitchen itself is not tiny.

That is why people often like layouts that open the space up a bit more, because you have got better access and better flow. It is not just about how it looks. It is about whether people can move around properly without getting stuck in each other's way. In a family home, that matters a lot.

Sometimes the flooring decides the layout for you

This is a big one that people do not always think about straight away. If people do not want to redo their flooring, then quite often we need to put the new kitchen on exactly the same footprint as the existing kitchen, or sometimes even further over, so that you do not end up with any gaps in the floor.

That can affect your layout options quite a bit. People might come in wanting an island, but if they are keeping the existing flooring and changing to an island would mean plumbing chasing through the floor or patching tiles that do not match, then quite often it makes more sense to keep a similar footprint and improve the layout another way.

So when you are planning a small kitchen, one of the first things to think about is whether you are changing the flooring or keeping it. If you are keeping it, that can really guide what is possible with the layout.

In a small kitchen, storage has to work hard

A small kitchen usually cannot afford to have lazy storage. The storage has to work properly. That is where things like more drawers instead of cupboards can make a massive difference. We quite often say that you can fit 30 percent more into a drawer than you can into a cupboard. With a cupboard, you have to leave air space so that you can get your hand in and grab things. With a drawer, when you pull it out, you create that access, so you can stack things much more efficiently.

Drawers are also just easier on the body. You are not squatting down and reaching into the back of a cupboard. You are pulling the drawer out and everything is there in front of you. In a small kitchen, that makes the space feel easier to use straight away.

Other things that can work really well in a compact kitchen are drawers inside the pantry, pull-outs for herbs and spices and oils and sauces, built in bins, and corner mechanisms to make awkward spaces easier to access. Those sorts of things make a big difference because they help you get more usable storage out of the space you already have.

Make the room feel bigger without actually making it bigger

Sometimes you cannot physically make the kitchen any bigger, so the next best thing is to make it feel bigger. Anything that reflects light is obviously going to make a room appear bigger. So even if it is a high gloss tile, a mirrored glass splashback, anything like that can help. Lighter colours are also going to make it feel bigger than if you went for darker colours.

Less patterning helps as well. The more lines, pattern and visual busyness you have, the smaller the kitchen can start to feel. So in a smaller kitchen, flat doors, minimal lines and lighter finishes can work really well. If you went for something like a shaker style door, obviously it has more patterning and more lines in the kitchen, which can make it feel busier.

That does not mean a profile door can never work in a smaller space, but it is something to think about if your main goal is to make the room feel as open as possible.

Sometimes the best small kitchen idea is combining spaces

One of the smartest ways to improve a small kitchen is not always changing the kitchen itself, but changing what sits next to it. We had a project where the clients had a small kitchen and a tiny laundry, and the two spaces just were not working. So we took out the wall and opened it up into one space, incorporating the laundry as part of the kitchen. We put a roller timber door in front of the washer and dryer so that they could close it off when they were not using it, and that created an additional sink and coffee machine area, almost like a little butler's pantry style zone.

That is a really good example of thinking beyond just replacing one set of cabinets with another. Sometimes the real improvement comes from rethinking the room properly and making two small, awkward spaces into one much more functional one.

Custom cabinetry can make a small kitchen work much harder

This is where custom really helps. With custom cabinetry, you are not constrained by modular sizing, so you do not have to build a layout out of standard cabinet widths and then fill the gaps with wasted space. If you need a cabinet a certain size, that is the size it can be made.

That matters even more in a small kitchen, because every little bit of space counts. If you can avoid wasting space on filler panels and voids, you can usually get more working storage and more workable bench space out of the room. In a compact kitchen, that can be the difference between it feeling frustrating and it feeling really functional.

The best small kitchen layout is the one that suits your home

There is not one perfect small kitchen layout that works for everybody. It really comes down to the room you have got, whether you are keeping the same footprint, and how you want the kitchen to function. If it is zoned well, easy to move around in, and has good storage, then a small kitchen can work beautifully.

A lot of the time, it is not about doing something dramatic. It is about making better decisions with the space you have got, so that the kitchen feels more open, more usable and more suited to the way you live. If you get that right, even a small kitchen can end up being one of the hardest working spaces in the house.

Book a showroom tour at MKN

If you have got a small kitchen and you are not sure what is going to work best, booking a kitchen showroom tour at MKN is a really good place to start. It gives you the chance to talk through your space, look at different layout ideas, and start working out what is actually going to suit your home, your style and the way you use the kitchen day to day.