How to Maximise Space in a Compact Kitchen using Replacement Kitchen Doors

Regardless of the size of your kitchen, there’s always a way to create a sense of harmony between personality and functionality. Here are some tips to consider.

9 Key Tips For Maximising Your Space

1. Utilise every centimetre

When you’re working with a room with a small footprint, you’ll need to find creative ways to ensure you’re utilising every centimetre of space that’s available to you. This might require a bit of lateral thinking, but it is also a prime opportunity for you to exercise your creativity and put your own stamp on your home. 

Pro Tip: Working with a carpenter to build some integrated seating can help you to create a compact bistro-style eating area, which can be subtly delineated from the rest of the room using soft furnishings and well-placed lighting.

2. Conceal appliances for a streamlined look

If you love the look of sleek contemporary kitchens, integrating your appliances and tucking them away behind kitchen door fronts that match the rest of your cabinetry will help you achieve the streamlined look you desire. 

There are a number of contemporary styles in the Happy Doors catalogue, including the Zurfiz collection, which comes with a colour matched edge for a seamless, high-end professional finish.

3. Illuminate dark corners

If there’s a corner of your kitchen that constantly feels dark or separate in some way from the rest of the space, using clever lighting solutions can transform it into one of the most useful and hardest working elements of your space. 

Pro Tip: Install a pendant light above a dark corner of your kitchen to establish the area below as a food preparation station or to make a feature out of a freestanding bar cart.

4. Keep all the detail below eye level

By keeping all your bold design choices below eye level, you can create the illusion of higher ceilings and ensure that the eye can travel right across the room without getting caught on a particular feature.

5. Experiment with colour drenching

Even the punchiest colours can be used in a small kitchen when everything from the walls to the cabinets is drenched in the same hue. Colours tend to stand out more when they are positioned alongside contrasting colours.

So, by avoiding blocks of colour or smaller accents, your line of vision won’t be interrupted, and you can still take in the whole space without feeling overwhelmed.

6. Make storage a design feature with replacement cabinet doors

Every kitchen needs storage, so why not make a beautiful design feature from this must-have element? Whether you want to invest in an antique sideboard or highlight the fact that you’ve refreshed your existing cabinetry with new kitchen door fronts, there’s no reason why this element can’t be one of the main features within your space.

7. Use runners and rugs to highlight your space

Runners and rugs can be incredible design elements to really highlight the positive aspects of a space. For example, a narrow rug can subtly encourage the eye to appreciate the length of a kitchen or direct the eye towards a main design feature or large window that fills the room with natural light throughout the day.

8. Incorporate light-reflecting surfaces

As your cabinets and work surfaces will take up a considerable amount of space in your kitchen, choosing light-reflecting kitchen door fronts can make the room appear brighter and more spacious.

Pro Tip: Carry this tip through into your taps and cupboard door handles by choosing styles made from highly polished metals, such as copper or brass.

9. Bring elements of the outside in

Nature is all around us, so there’s something about incorporating plants into your kitchen space that feels very grounding and fulfilling.

Whether your kitchen opens out into the garden or to a compact balcony, plants can connect these two spaces with ease.

Happy Doors are here to help

Whether you’re looking for ultra-modern replacement cabinet doors or something that’s brimming with character and charm, there’s something in the Happy Doors collection to suit every kitchen.

If you’d like some personalised advice or further information about anything you’ve seen on our website, please email hello@happy-doors.co.uk or call 01256 845 816, and we’ll be happy to help.