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Home decoration

Very small kitchen/diner!

5 replies

Kayleighfish · 25/01/2026 16:30

Hi,

So I do feel like I've got a touch of the ungratefuls'!

I'm pushing 40 and just bought our first home. The best we could afford in the area we wanted to live in and of course, proud of the achievement.

But my kitchen diner is tiny and I'm starting to dislike it. I can't afford a new kitchen for years!

The dining part is 8ft by 5ft wide, it's the top of a 'T' shape, the rest being the kitchen itself.

Does anyone have a similar set up? How have you made it feel a bit more separate to the kitchen and an area on its own?

Thank you!

OP posts:
Thingything · 25/01/2026 17:28

Check out diary of a home designer on insta. She just had some ideas for a small dining room - designing as a dining ‘snug’. In general insta is your friend. You can do soooo much on a tiny budget. For kitchen you can do stuff like paint tiles, change fittings, switch doors all on a shoestring x

LibertyLily · 25/01/2026 18:38

Congratulations on your new home!

In 2024 we downsized to a cottage with small dining room (approx 10'6 x 7'6) that was partially open plan to the living room (chimney breast dividing the two spaces with wide opening to one side). There was also a 6' deep hallway of the same width as the dining space, running parallel to it. We could barely move in the hall due to the staircase and radiator, so had to almost walk sideways to get to the understairs cupboard.

Not only did we take the drastic step to move the kitchen into the reception room, but we removed the (non load-bearing) wall between hall and dining room. The eventual plan is to reposition the hall wall, but as we're DIYing the work, this won't happen for a while!

For now we have a much more user friendly dining space that we use as an extension of the fairly compact kitchen. For example, we don't have a lot of work surface (and had been used to a large island at our last house), so we're installing a marble table for baking etc in the dining space which we can pretty-up with a cloth when entertaining.

Not saying you should do anything as radical @Kayleighfish, obviously, but sometimes needs must!

Our whole reno project is being done on a tight budget, so we sourced second hand pan drawers on eBay and reused some of the existing 1960s drawers from the old kitchen we removed. I've painted walls, cabinets and fireplace in a fabulous colour (Edward Bulmer Pompadour) and we're splurging on solid brass hardware for a bit of bling.

I miss our old huge kitchen (although not the location!), but to compensate, we're making the entire space here cosy and welcoming, embracing the lack of size, and adding loads of stuff we love/collect such as artwork/textiles in the form of tablecloth/curtains - mostly auction/fleamarket finds.

ChurchWindows · 25/01/2026 19:05

Congratulations on your new home. Hope you'll be really happy there.

I had this in my previous house and am posting up a photo of what I did. I was on a tight budget and couldn't afford to move anything around. Everything was white already so I painted the dividing wall in the dining room a bold colour so that when in the dining bit you really knew you were separate from the kitchen.

Then kept everything really minimal and bought a smaller dining table and two benches that slid under the table so the dining bit wasn't cramped. I got them second hand (old pine ones) and painted them white. The whole thing cost less than £100.

Completely get that my choice of pink might not be anyone else's 😂.

Very small kitchen/diner!
Thingything · 26/01/2026 11:51

LibertyLily · 25/01/2026 18:38

Congratulations on your new home!

In 2024 we downsized to a cottage with small dining room (approx 10'6 x 7'6) that was partially open plan to the living room (chimney breast dividing the two spaces with wide opening to one side). There was also a 6' deep hallway of the same width as the dining space, running parallel to it. We could barely move in the hall due to the staircase and radiator, so had to almost walk sideways to get to the understairs cupboard.

Not only did we take the drastic step to move the kitchen into the reception room, but we removed the (non load-bearing) wall between hall and dining room. The eventual plan is to reposition the hall wall, but as we're DIYing the work, this won't happen for a while!

For now we have a much more user friendly dining space that we use as an extension of the fairly compact kitchen. For example, we don't have a lot of work surface (and had been used to a large island at our last house), so we're installing a marble table for baking etc in the dining space which we can pretty-up with a cloth when entertaining.

Not saying you should do anything as radical @Kayleighfish, obviously, but sometimes needs must!

Our whole reno project is being done on a tight budget, so we sourced second hand pan drawers on eBay and reused some of the existing 1960s drawers from the old kitchen we removed. I've painted walls, cabinets and fireplace in a fabulous colour (Edward Bulmer Pompadour) and we're splurging on solid brass hardware for a bit of bling.

I miss our old huge kitchen (although not the location!), but to compensate, we're making the entire space here cosy and welcoming, embracing the lack of size, and adding loads of stuff we love/collect such as artwork/textiles in the form of tablecloth/curtains - mostly auction/fleamarket finds.

Edited

I love the idea of thrifting stuff. I’ve noticed as styles have evolved recently, a lot of houses in magazines and things are quite eclectic, colourful and personal which really lends itself to thinking out of the box on a budget.

I really like Kerry Villiers and Elle the Homebird on insta also - their houses are so warm and gorgeous and the look is totally do-able without spending a packet

soupyspoon · 26/01/2026 11:54

What sort of table and chairs do you have in the dining bit

If you have bench or trestle table design and have benches for seating, you can put the benches under the table when you're not eating and then you have a bit more space around you which has the illusion of space around you

And use the table as part of your worktop when preparing food, get into the habit of doing your chopping and mixing at the table

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