My kitchen is 2.5m x 2.5m in size, north-facing and in London. Let me share with you 3 clever ways to open up a kitchen without changing its footprint. This is what I did with my tiny kitchen in my narrow Victorian house in London.
But first, let me show you what my kitchen looked like before. I had (and still have) teal glossy cabinet units, dark wood laminate worktops, walls painted in an almost black colour and black leafy wallpaper.
This was my kitchen from 2017 and over the pandemic. Dark and dramatic. Cosy too. However, being cooped up at home during those years made me feel claustrophobic and I started wanting to go light again.
We had decided against digging up and extending the kitchen – something we could not afford in this current financial climate. We live in London where prices are skyrocketing and much higher than most places. I had to think of a clever way of opening up my kitchen whilst retaining the same footprint.
This happened gradually as most of the things I did were DIY. First, I repainted the walls in a lighter colour, changed the wallpaper to a lighter pattern and covered the black slate floor with geometric black and white vinyl. All these helped to reflect what little light my kitchen gets. In the winter it gets very dark in here with only one small north-facing window as the main source of natural light.
This year I felt it was time to tackle the bigger jobs and I made a moodboard. Moodboards help me in planning and designing spaces and saves me making expensive mistakes!
Big Progress
On this link you can see my recent progress before it was all completed, from when I removed the wall cabinets to make space for open shelving. I know open shelving is not for everyone but hear me out here. 2.5m x 2.5m north-facing kitchen with a tiny north-facing window and wall cabinets hogging space? The cabinets had to go. I went with open shelving and it has transformed my tiny box kitchen.
Still a few things bothered me: the big extractor fan, the broken and half-broken appliances and the dark brown worktop that seemed to dominate the space. So here’s what I did to finish it off completely!
3 Clever ways to open up a kitchen
1. A venting induction hob
Yes they exist and they are AMAZING! Mine is the Smeg 70cm Venting Induction Hob. It’s an intelligent piece of technology but so simple to use, very user-friendly. It’s super high tech made simple and made in Italy.
For years I had been hesitant to get an induction hob because my only experience with it is my mother-in-law’s very old induction hob. It’s tricky to use and temperamental; you never know what it’s doing or when it’s ready to cook.
Early this year I came across the SMEG venting induction hob collection at one of their events. A venting hob has a built-in extraction fan that sucks the steam and smell so efficiently. The hobs work instantly too! You can even boil water on them in an instant! There’s a very simple but clever timer that works for each hob. There’s also a pause button when you just need to pause but want to retain your heat settings. There’s also a child lock button for safety.
I was so impressed with it that it gave me the idea and the confidence to remove my overhead extractor fan and completely open the wall space. This is the biggest game-changer in my new kitchen. It has truly transformed the space through and through.
2. Light colour marble worktop
I went from a dark worktop to a light coloured one. Dark surfaces absorb light whereas white surfaces reflect light. Horizontal surfaces reflect light upwards. This dramatically gave a bright and airy feel to my tiny kitchen.
The worktop on one side of our kitchen was rotten on the edges so it needed replacing. However, real marble worktops were much thinner compared to my brown laminate. I didn’t want to remove or damage the tiling or re-tile / change the backsplash. I decided to get a new laminate worktop to replace the rotten worktop. The worktop I chose is entirely laminated on all sides so it’s all covered and protected – I didn’t want to risk it rotting underneath again.
The worktop on the other side of the kitchen however, the L side, was still in tip top shape – it has no damage and still very sturdy. To remove it would have meant a bigger upheaval with the cabinets, tiles and appliances all of which I wanted to avoid. I decided to keep the dark brown laminate worktop on the L side and cover it with heavy duty worktop vinyl instead. I chose a simple white marble design and also covered the new laminate worktop on the sink side to match.
I am so pleased with the result. In terms of design elements, I wanted to juxtapose contemporary and classic elements:
*marble design against reclaimed oak shelves on the wall,
*floral Bocage wallpaper from my own collection with Feathr against plain teal tiles,
*minimalist hob and oven (Smeg 60cm Classic Pyrolytic Single Oven) and super sleek Smeg integrated dishwasher against Smeg retro 50s style small appliances in pastel blue (variable temperature kettle, 4 slice toaster, drip filter coffee machine, stand mixer),
*and industrial feel Smeg stainless steel Mira sink and stainless steel Smeg retro 50s style mixer tap against a classic pastel stripe roman blind.
All these elements pulled together made for a modern vintage country look.
3. Extended the worktop to a breakfast bar
I had a good chunk leftover from the new laminate worktop so I butted it against the L shape top to create a proper breakfast bar. I used one of the wall cabinets that I took down as storage underneath the breakfast bar table top. This meant we were not losing much storage at all from removing the wall cabinets.
The leftover worktop piece that became the breakfast bar has enough overhang for my 2 breakfast stools to perfectly sit underneath it. I now have a proper breakfast bar with storage underneath at no extra cost! I’m delighted with the result!
BONUS
Adding Geometric patterns trick the eye and provide an illusion of space.
I used stripes for the fabric curtain covering the storage underneath the breakfast bar. For the floor I used a checkerboard pattern.
So there you have it I hope my 3 Clever ways to open up a kitchen. I hope this post has given you some ideas and inspiration! This post is part of a collaboration with Smeg – Italian-made technology with style. Needless to say I am a big fan and love all things Smeg!
Don’t forget to download my free resources that will help you design your own interiors and grow your Instagram account! Let’s chat on Instagram Layered.Home and together get inspired!
