Happy Monday, everyone! Hope you guys had a fabulous weekend! I’ve received quite a few emails lately, and I’m still pushing through them, one at a time with replies. So if you haven’t seen yours, thank you for being patient and I promise to get back to each one shortly. It’s been such a blast hearing from all of you, and the response from my opportunity with Nate has been wonderfully overwhelming. So thank you all so much.
Speaking of emails, I received a few that were actually pretty similar, and went a little something like this: “I have a smaller kitchen, and really, a smaller home. I am curious if you have any inspiration for those tighter kitchen spaces? I’d love to see some well done, smaller kitchens. Thanks!”
I thought it would be super fun to lightly touch on this subject matter. A topic that is near and dear to my heart, I’m a product of the 80′s and 90′s. Like many of you, my parents were chasing the american dream. We now find ourselves in charge of our own households, and in a completely different situation: an unsure world on the verge of a recovering housing market, and limited real estate options… I believe that square footage in itself, is no longer king. But clever use of every single inch of it, is.
We’re living in a society where it now most definitely pays to think outside the box and in terms of DIY.
Jamin and I were discussing the issue of space recently in our own home, and I was reminded that families once lived in spaces as large as our bedroom. That people in other countries, or larger cities, live in tiny apartments paying more than our mortgage, and that it’s really all about perspective.
We live in an age where there’s not much to be said about a big house with bland taste…but more for the home with excellent, original character. A well loved space with beautiful features. A happy, crowded family in a warm, well thought out home. I’d most definitely rather have the latter.
I’ll always prefer the cozier feel. There’s always a way to think outside the box, no matter what your situation. And this especially applies to kitchens.
I love looking at the clever way people treat their spaces. At the solutions they’ve come up with, for thinking smartly.
backsplash and bar treatment? Yes, please.
My blog pal, Joni’s clever kitchen. See some more of her beautiful home, here.
I love the impact of large, graphic frames repeated in a small space. It makes it seem larger. via
via
SO many smart ideas in one shot. via
Yes, I’ll take that piece on the right. via
Sooo there you have it. Which is your fave? It’s your turn: I know some of you awesome people, no matter what your situation is, live with limited space. Please do tell what system you’ve developed or ideas you’ve adopted that work best for you! Feel free to leave a link to your kitchen spaces as well, in the comments! We’d love to see.
Oh girl, THANK you for rounding up those photos! You would not believe our tiny kitchen. The builders actually bumped it IN two feet from the rest of the house on that side; still boggles my mind why they would shrink it in comparison to the other rooms! These pictures are AMAZING! The photo with the glass front cabinets and the fridge tucked in really close to the sink…with the butcher board topped island; we are going to have to tuck our fridge in like that to get it out of the way. I’m pinning that right away! Yay!!
Love these!!!
But I have an unrelated concern… for the past two days your posts haven’t shown up in my google reader. Any idea why??
Hey Erin! Thank you SO much for letting us know! I have my handy dandy web guy looking into it. would you mind maybe letting me know if it doesn’t correct? thank you so very much!
I just got both today’s post and yesterday’s post in my reader about an hour ago, so it seems to be fixed. Thanks!
Great Ideas!
We have a small, rented kitchen. I’ve been trying very hard to figure out how to make it more beautiful without painting the cabinets or adding hardware. I keep thinking & looking. These are all beautiful! I must figure out a way to make mine beautiful too!
I rent, too, and I’ve been thinking about taking down a couple of my cabinet doors completely and lining the inside of the exposed cabinets with pretty shelf liner. I already used a super cute green scrolly shelf liner from Target as the backsplash in the whole kitchen. Instant cute, and it comes right down when we leave! Much better than the hideous gold and brown striped wallpaper it’s covering!
I wonder, do you have any idea how your friend Joni made her hood work with the open shelving. This solution would be PERFECT for my kitchen, but I haven’t found anything like it elsewhere. Thanks.
Hi Jill! Sorry for the late response – we bought an under counter mounted hood. There are several different models out there for a range of pricing, so you can probably find something that will work for you. It is something similar to this: http://www.lowes.com/pd_75745-14-QS136SS_0__?productId=1100343&Ntt=under+counter+hood&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dunder%2Bcounter%2Bhood&facetInfo=
Before we installed it the open shelving, there were cabinets up high with a microwave/vent combo below. We just removed all of it, installed the shelves, and mounted the hood below the shelf. It works great for us, and I do stovetop cooking a lot and haven’t had any issues with grease, etc. I hope that helps!
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you just helped me fall back in love with my kitchen
it is tiny and it always seems so inadequate when i see the kitchens of other bloggers. a few of the pics inspired me to move some things around! thanks so much.
Wow! There are so many terrific ideas here! Love the liberal use of open shelves, innovative tilework, and utility as decor! Beautiful images! Thanks for sharing.
THANK YOU for the inspiration on small, our family of 7 children live in a 1500 square foot Habitat home. We have a big eat in kitchen that opens into the living room space, that is really where we struggle. For when in the kitchen we talk loud to drown out the tv/video game/kids converstation going on in the living room and visa versa.
A good design layout w/ all the doorways, 12 foot opening between kitchen/living room, and the furniture needed for all 9 of us, has made this open room layout a love/hate relationship.
If you have anything to share to help w/ this size of family/space it would be greatly appreciated….
Thanks
Deb
I luuurv these kitchens, all are so beautiful and I am looking at bench seats myself, so this one built in the corner of the benches, what great use of space…they are all beautiful. Thanks for the inspiration!
Deb