Modern Small Kitchen Design Ideas – Every item on this page was selected by an ELLE beauty editor. We may earn a commission on certain items you choose to purchase.
Is the cooking space in your house tight? Inspired by a little sculpture? You are not alone. In fact, the kitchen is one of America’s top (and most expensive) renovation priorities, according to Hughes’ 2023 study. If you rent, or you just don’t have the budget to start knocking down walls, you’ll have to deal with the usual frustrations that come with small kitchens: an oven that’s conveniently sized; A preparation area is the diameter of the stamp. And kitchen cabinets with an inadequate capacity for a dinner spread (we blame your landlord’s cheap contractor, not your tender records).
Modern Small Kitchen Design Ideas
Still, designers have a few tricks up their sleeves to make a small kitchen look and feel more spacious—even if you’re the kind of person who uses the oven as a closet overflow “always extending your cabinets to the ceiling.” No matter the size of your kitchen,” advises Lauren Buxbaum Gordon, a partner at ELLE DECOR A-List firm NetBricks Associates, it will make the room feel bigger. She recently added a local trick to a Manhattan apartment with a small kitchen.
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According to Buxbaum Gordon, the little things (ironically!) count, too: “Invest in details that add visual appeal and feel effective. Whether it’s beveling or a brass band on the face of a countertop. What Adding or bringing in old hardware, use them to create your own personal image.
Other more budget-friendly hacks include changing your kitchen paint color to a lighter, brighter color on your cabinets, among countless other hacks. That’s why we’ve collected 60 small kitchen ideas from our archives to show you how it’s done. Read on to see these beautiful homes that make the most of their small layouts with upper cabinetry, bold cabinetry, double-duty accent pieces, sleek lighting solutions, and more. Now, let’s eat!
This tiny kitchen can be found in ELLE DECOR A-List designers Eric Hughes and Nathan Turner’s ranch-inspired home in Ojai, California, but there are plenty of lessons to be learned for the interior kitchen as well. Instead of a stainless steel faucet, for example, they installed a rustic brass version. Instead of cabinets, they hang their pots and pans on rails. But our favorite detail is the charming skirt that hides plumbing and other items under the sink. Just dig up your hinges and doors, and put up a beautiful curtain of your own.
As much as we love that kitchen cabinets elevate the cooking space, they can also take up too much visual real estate, especially if you’re working in a small room. We love how designer Timothy Brown ditched bulky cabinets in favor of industrial stainless steel shelving in his New York City apartment. Not only does it provide a spot for clip-on lights to illuminate a crop (or for that matter, a flower arrangement!) it also lends itself to illuminating collections of vases and small framed pieces of art.
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This kitchen is as modern as can be. But the designers at Studio DB also wanted to add a fashionable edge. In fact, this small New York kitchen was inspired by the color palette of Prada stores. But nothing says “wet kitchen” like a pair of portholes in a pink pocket door. It can easily cover a chaotic dinner party or serve as a style statement on its own. Hey friends!
At first blush, this kitchen designed by ELLE DECOR A-List firm Pappas Miron might look like your standard-issue white kitchen. But it’s the shimmering light, like the beautiful and seductive peppermint, that takes it to the next level. If you have room for a ceiling, install one that steals the scene in the same way.
If you’re sick of an all-white kitchen but still want a look of light and exotic magic, take a page from designer Mark Gretton’s book: He used white cabinets and tiles in his Mexico City apartment but updated it. Look for travertine countertops, gold rugs and clay plant stands with pops of gold and terra cotta. And, if your space and light levels allow, why not add a tree?
A black kitchen is the antithesis of most whites. And here, in her Milan apartment, hospitality designer Errigan brings all the drama. Not only are the countertops made of unusually textured porphyry stone, but the back wall is entirely mirrored, giving this pint-sized space a positively cavernous feel. As for the funny cabinet? They are from Ikea!
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When architecture firm Method Design and interior designer Nina Barnia Blair worked on the design of this 490-square-foot Manhattan apartment, they needed to make the most of every square inch. The solution? A kitchen island that serves multiple purposes during the day – from an ad hoc office to a dinner party space. A white palette of glossy cabinets and surfaces helps shine through the flat’s greatest asset: natural light.
When you’re working with a 16th-century townhouse, as French designer Eric Allart did, you have to embrace the quirks of that era. This kitchen comes complete with terra cotta tiles. Instead of taking them out, Allart kept them in place and created a quirky kitchen in unexpected colors to complement them. Here, an inky tile backsplash reflects sunlight, and a peplum-pink shade on the walls and ceiling serves to draw the eye upward.
This space, in a Beverly Hills home designed by Gary McBurney, could be a butler’s pantry, but it provides plenty of inspiration for a small kitchen. If it’s within your budget, choose cabinets that offer a little Hollywood Regency glamour, like here. If not, paint your current one in a ready-to-ship color such as a bright key lime. The sunburst light fixture reminds us that it’s always happy time!
The client of this Manhattan apartment doesn’t use her small galley-style kitchen often, but that didn’t stop designer Lauren Buxbaum Gordon from making it a showpiece. His signature move? Extend the cabinet to the ceiling of the extended period. Light countertops and a bright white paint job bring sunshine into the room, but it’s the shiny gold hardware and accents that really make this small kitchen a winner.
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Sometimes it’s better to embrace the chaos. And we can’t think of a better example than this delightful kitchen by Jean Design Studio’s senior designer William Klum and his partner Jeffrey Rhodes. A hot-pink Victorian-era pie houses vintage servingware, while a goat sculpture (formerly a display fixture on Saks Fifth Avenue) guards the fridge (hidden in interspersed artwork) against midnight snack thieves. . Anything really goes in this space, as long as you create it.
One of the best design silhouettes of the hand? Distraction So if your cabinets or counters are sinfully ugly, create visual interest with your floor. While we have no complaints about this sharp Ibiza kitchen designed by Studio Muñoz (take a look at this ceiling!), the ocean blue tiled floor is a simple but effective style statement. Although renovation may not be in your cards, a colorful kitchen rug will do the trick.
The apartment, designed by New York firm HusbandWife, follows the larger principle of kitchen cabinets by Buxbaum Gordon. But instead of resorting to the usual white color, the designer covered the walls with marble and covered the cabinets in a dreamy shade of bright cream. It is the perfect blend of classic and contemporary.
We love that this kitchen, in a family-friendly Brooklyn apartment for Soline’s cofounders, is detailed with plenty of storage. A custom island with a charming piece of marble to store cookbooks and dinnerware, while a cherry red hood (custom) adds an interesting postmodern pop.
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This Victorian farmhouse in Oxfordshire, England, by Toast CEO Susie De Rohn Willner’s Diggs, may be on the small side, but it sings with country charm. Bright green lower cabinets help the eye zip around the space, while open shelving allows for smart storage and display of chic knickknacks.
This Brooklyn apartment is blessed with extremely high ceilings and tons of natural light. Designer Daniel Fenney of Ramp Interior Design added vibrant pops of jewel color to the combined kitchen and dining area, including this emerald green backsplash (which replaced the original, white subway tile installed by the developer). And retro check. The Knoll dining chairs are re-upholstered in red, “nightclub ready” ultra leather.
A small area didn’t stop Nate Bricks from adding a small table and chairs (an old architect’s desk and school chairs) to a former Chicago kitchen. The metal cabinets in the 1929 apartment were original and filled with just the right amount of industrial-chic storage.
You’ll never believe it, but this Provincetown, Massachusetts, cottage started life as a humble fishing shack. Designer David Caffero embraced the nautical theme throughout the home, including this pint-sized wet kitchen, which was modeled after a boat’s cooking space.
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