Secondary Fridge Placing a beverage fridge or fridge drawer in your island can be a great way to let people grab a drink or snack without disrupting the main work triangle in your kitchen. A good spot is at or near the island end that’s farthest away from the main action, as in this New York kitchen by Thyme & Place Design.
Add an Island When planning your kitchen layout, it’s worth exploring whether you have space to add an island parallel to your single-wall kitchen. With careful planning, this will enhance the layout. It can also make the single-wall layout work for larger spaces since, in effect, it reconfigures the room into a galley kitchen with the same functionality. While this depends on your space and how you want to use it, generally speaking, the additional work surface and storage an island introduces can be extremely beneficial.
Choose Appliances to Suit a Small Space Though a single-wall kitchen may be small, this doesn’t keep you from including the appliances you want. Many modern kitchen appliances are specifically designed for small spaces. For example, you can find integrated compact dishwashers, plus compact ovens, microwave ovens, steam ovens and warming drawers.
Max Out Your Storage Storage is important in any kitchen, large or small, but it’s particularly key with a single-wall kitchen, where there are fewer cabinets than in other layouts. Ensuring generous cupboard space is a must, but also consider whether there’s potential for more storage elsewhere in the kitchen. The designer of this small cook space cleverly added storage underneath the seating area and packed in even more with upper cabinets above it.
Install Bridged Upper Cabinets Depending on the available space, another option is to introduce a run of bridging cabinets along the top of your upper cabinets. These usually have tall cabinets on either side. Apart from extra storage, this creates a sunken effect for the upper cabinets through subtle changes in depth. The upper cabinets are about 14 inches deep, and the top cabinets are about 26 inches deep. The overall feel of this is a framed kitchen look, or a feature wall effect.
Plan an Efficient Design With any kitchen, careful planning is important, but it’s even more so when space is limited, as it is in this layout. Typically (but not always), a single-wall kitchen includes a fridge on the far end of the kitchen run. This would have the sink next to it, with counter space on either side, and your dishwasher and storage beneath. The oven and cooktop are usually located on the far side of this. Again, there should be counter space on either side of the range to allow you to safely place food after cooking. More storage space would be provided beneath. Alternatively, as long as they don’t block the light source, you could have tall cabinets bookending the kitchen. This would usually include an oven in tall housing on one side and a fridge-freezer on the other.
Embrace a Sociable Layout While its small footprint may at first seem to be a drawback, the single-wall kitchen encroaches less on an adjoining living area compared with other layouts, freeing up more space for you outside the kitchen. The layout in the picture, typical for a single-wall kitchen, complements contemporary open-plan living.
Waterfall counter. We usually see this design element used on a large island, but it’s an overlooked strategy for a small kitchen. In this case, the kitchen nook is open to the living room. Extending the counter material to the floor enhances the design of the entire space.
Eye-catching vent hood. By going cylindrical, interior designer Jacqueline Brynjolfson was able to make a vent hood work in a kitchen with limited space and a tricky vaulted ceiling. She also used a European range and refrigerator (both 24 inches wide), which helped her fit in everything her client needed.
Corner of windows. This one may take some sacrifice — you’ll have to stash seldom-used items in storage and purge those you don’t really need. In return, your kitchen will expand and feel so much less cramped thanks to your new views and all that wonderful natural light.
Add a pantry to prep in & open shelves in kitchen
Unwrap Your Hood You may not want to eliminate any true upper cabinets, but the partial cabinets that wrap around a hood fan usually have little function other than hiding ductwork. Choose a beautiful range hood that is meant to be seen, and let it create a little visual break from the upper cabinets. Even this small bit of depth can make a kitchen feel less claustrophobic.
Use a Short Backsplash So you’ve carefully configured your storage, and now you’ve got some beautiful open wall space. To make that wall look 10 feet tall (even if it’s only 8), try using a short, minimal backsplash in a color that blends with the wall. The lack of an obvious dividing line between where the tile stops and the plain wall starts keeps the planes of the wall looking taller, so your open space looks positively vast.
Install Cabinet Lighting The importance of good lighting cannot be stressed enough, and in kitchens especially the lighting is often insufficient, coming just from ceiling fixtures in the center of the room. Add lighting under, above and even inside the cabinets to make the room feel much brighter and bigger, as the dark shadows around the cabinets would otherwise visually shrink the space.
A few open shelves on one wall will perfectly hold daily-use tableware, storage jars and bins, and cookbooks, and give the room a much more open feel. It can also give a beautiful window a little more space to breathe so the whole room feels less stuffed.
Galley or “pass through” kitchens should have at least 40 inches of clearance between opposing surfaces, according to ADA guidelines.
Focus on Clearance Space The standard clearance between cabinets, walls and appliances is 36 inches, which is enough room to comfortably pass in a walkway and have access to drawers and doors.
Choose Standard Counter-Depth Appliances and Cabinets Without Any Frills Designing an age-proof kitchen isn’t the time to get fancy with decorative legs, ornate refrigerator panels or angled counters. Though these eye-catchers add personality, they can transform your space into an obstacle course. You’re more prone to bump your knees, legs and hips on appliances and cabinetry details that jut out from the counter.
Place the Microwave at or Below Counter Height Whether your microwave is free-standing or built in, having it at counter height is best for your back since it minimizes bending and reaching above your shoulders.
Opt for a Shallow Sink While we’re on the subject of sinks, buy one that isn’t too deep (preferably only 6 to 8 inches). It’s much easier to rinse vegetables and dishes in a shallow sink bowl.
Keep the Sink Close to the Stove As we age, it’s harder on our arms and backs to carry big pots full of water to and from the cooktop. If any spills on the way, it becomes a slipping hazard.
Savvy Interiors used white oak cabinets, a wood island with a custom-stained pattern and waterproof light wood flooring by Shaw Floors to create a breezy, inviting kitchen.
Wellborn Cabinet showcased several storage systems, including this pull-down option, which allows a user to bring items in upper cabinets down to a more reachable level. Grip the handle and pull, and the shelves swing out and down for easier access.
Drawer and cabinet organizers. It’s getting rare these days to open a cabinet and see a basic cavity with a shelf, or a drawer that’s merely empty space. Inserts, rollouts, pullouts and dedicated dividers maximize capacity and organize everything efficiently.
Sharp’s new convection microwave drawer and oven features an air fry option and has voice command technology.
Sharp’s new microwave drawer has a touchless feature that allows you to wave a hand in front to open it. The sensor detects only up and down motion so it isn’t activated when a person or pet walks by.
And Samsung’s new Slim OTR (over-the-range) microwave, available in summer, offers style and function in a sleeker footprint. The appliances comes with Wi-Fi and voice connectivity.
Samsung’s new Bespoke 4-door Flex refrigerator comes with customizable front panels in eight colors and two finishes. Shown here is White Glass and Matte Black Steel.
Instead of altering the original layout of the house by completely opening up the kitchen to the dining room, the designer created this wide pass-through that serves as a breakfast bar too. It’s topped by a leaded-glass transom that also suits the home’s period style. Limiting the opening to the pass-through allowed the designer to load up the space around it in the kitchen with cabinetry.
single barn door on basement pantry
use for basement pantry
11" Two-Tier Pull-Out Wire Organizer, Gray $265.99
Rev-A-Shelf, 30" Undersink organizer, Chrome by Rev-A-Shelf $139.99
Turntables Have a tricky corner space to work with? Turntables (aka Lazy Susans) are a great way to make an awkward corner more usable. If you don’t want to have turntable shelving installed, furnish your current shelves with a Lazy Susan or two and twirl away.
Labeled Drawers Deep pantry drawers hold a lot of goods — but they can also quickly become a mess. Keep yours in order with drawer dividers and reusable chalkboard labels so you know exactly what goes where.
Add a sleek, mirrored backsplash. Alternatively, a built-in mirror that doubles as a backsplash behind the cooktop almost creates a window in this modern kitchen. If you’re designing from scratch, and it’s feasible, aim to have a mirrored backsplash opposite a window to boost light and also to reflect some greenery or rooftops and sky into the kitchen.
Love your wall space. More drawer or cabinet space isn’t always the answer. With just a half-day of DIY and a collection of rails, hooks, pots, baskets, magnets and racks, a blank wall can be transformed into a storage powerhouse. A painted pegboard is a good multifunctional alternative.
Turn on the heavy metal. Similar to glass or mirrors on a wall, metallics bounce light around and add the sort of larger-than-life glamour one might not expect in such compact surroundings.
Used in 12" beside DW. Think outside the drawer. A cutlery drawer may be a luxury you can’t justify in a teeny kitchen. If so, look at other options. This clever pullout storage for utensils makes use of a slim gap between cabinets.
Back-painted glass. If you want a really simple white backsplash, a sheet of glass back-painted white might be the way to go. There are no grout lines, and you get a wipeable and smooth-looking surface.
Hexagon with dark grout. Hexagon tiles bring clean geometry to this loft kitchen in Los Angeles. Dark grout underscores the honeycomb pattern.
Oversize herringbone. Large backsplash tiles arranged in a herringbone pattern bring a classic tile layout to this contemporary kitchen. Subtle gray coloring adds interest.
Put Everything Away Put the contents of your kitchen cabinets and drawers in their new homes, prioritizing what you plan to use most in the most accessible spots and placing rarely used items, such as seasonal platters, out of the way. “This is what the top shelves are for,” Cohen says.
Drawer dividers for kitchen tools. Standard drawer tray inserts work great for silverware, but kitchen tools can be a little more challenging to corral; they’re not uniform in size and not everyone has the same kind. “My best suggestion is [a set of] drawer dividers, and not a tray. That way you can create the sizes of spaces you need,” Cohen says. Look for adjustable dividers, which can be expanded to fit your kitchen drawers. As you have done with the rest of your organizing, group kitchen tools by type before placing them in drawers.
Storage on the outside of an island.
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