Can a small kitchen be made desirable?

[BewareTheBeardedDragon]

I have a small kitchen - 3 x 2.5m galley. It's attached to the dining room - which is also 3 x 2.5m, so sort of eat in, but not exactly because it's not one room - it's two with a large opening to pass between (2m wide opening in the 2.5m width).

Originally I was planning to extend, before covid. Now prices have gone so mad I can no longer afford to do so, and so I'm scaling back plans to just re-do current kitchen.

The galley layout is actually really great for one cook. It gets a bit annoying when more people are in there.

The thing is, I can't see that I will ever be able to afford to extend now, and the kitchen is beginning to fall to pieces. But I feel nervous about investing in such a small space. Can a small kitchen ever be desirable? I'm not planning to sell, this is my forever home barring something completely unexpected, I'll prob be here for 20/30 yrs.

I really want a small kitchen in my next house. I just don't see the appeal AT ALL of loads of people gathered in the kitchen watching me perform my cooking or clearing up tasks!

We have a typical 1930s galley kitchen. I was suspicious at first but it is much more efficient for cooking and a lot easier to keep clean and tidy. I think people seem to have these fantasties of everyone gathering in the kitchen but in reality it just leads to a messy and cluttered space for the cook. Ours is teeny tiny - there is literally just space for one person to wash up and another to eb standign at the frindge at the other end of the room, but you will have to dance around each other.

Ours is efficiently arranged with units and appliances built in. I have put all the pans and food cupboards on the same side as the oven and all the crockery and glass storage on the opposite side. Also lots of drawers as well as cupboards.

Maximising light helps - we have a large window at the end which floods the place with light, the decor is light and airy - the units are white gloss and the splashback tiles are white. The walls are painted a yellowy off white (Dulux Light and Space in Morning Light).

We have a large blind with a large bright yellow flowers - a fifties Sanderson print.

We took the door off so it opens up in to our large hallway giving an impression of more space and it means like shopping bags and washing baskets can be left in the hall whilst they are unpacked.

You have to be ruthless with surface clutter but that is generally a good thing.

Just to say have you considered widening the openings, so not taking the wall down completely which as you say would require a steel but widening the opening(s) as much as possible (whilst leaving a pillar in the middle) to the dining room to make it feel more “one room.” It’s difficult to tell if that would work without a floor plan/ pic but it might be worth doing. I’ve seen some lovely pics of kitchen diners with a central pillar.

A bit like this idea (not my pic)

Some beautiful kitchens/great ideas in that Devol link 😍

@Heronwatcher it's already as open as it can be. The dining room is 3m long and 2.5m wide, with a large opening in the 2.5m wall leading into the kitchen which is likewise 2.5m wide by 3m long.

I'm actually considering now, following this thread, possibly putting some sliding pocket doors in that could be pulled shut to block the kitchen from the dining room when the kitchen is a mess and we're eating. With glass for light. Not sure.

I'm really heartened by people who say they will actively look for a small kitchen in future house. The French doors at the end will obv be glass, and one side has a large window so it's very light.

I think probably thinking of storage solutions elsewhere to maximise the open space in the actual kitchen space will be a good idea.

When I see those big kitchens on TV shows I always think Jeez, they must like cleaning A LOT.

We have a biggish kitchen, with dining and living included BUT the actual kitchen aspect is really just a gally as you describe. If knocking through isn't an option, could you either have a doorway through from the kitchen and close the doorway from the dining room to the hall or could you extend the serving hatch to have a wader, more contemporary connection that just required a lintel? Either way, say you can't do that, I think you can make your kitchen spectacular and special, even in a small space, play around with free online software like 3d floor planner.

That's beautiful @Bs0u416d
LOVE the tiles 😍

@Windingdown so true 😂
I hate cleaning 👀

I have seen a kitchen where they used the wall units which are slightly slimmer in depth on the floor to make it look a bit more spacious.

@BewareTheBeardedDragon our situation is very similar to yours, right down to the dimension of the kitchen. We’ve been in the house 12 years and always planned a big extension but costs have gone up so much and I don’t really want to add to the mortgage now it feels relatively close to being paid off.

I wrestled with similar frustrations over paying a lot of money for something that feels sub-optimal, but have been inspired by lots of pictures of lovely small kitchens online and I’m now feeling really positive about it. We are using a kitchen designer to make the most of the space and I’m determined to choose colours and styles that I really love, not be limited to what you are supposed to do with a small kitchen.

@BangingOn ooh, do you have any ideas from your designer that you could share?

So glad I found this thread! My small kitchen was doing my head in but this thread has given me hope!

@BangingOn we're the same
We've been in our house for 5 years now we always planned on a kitchen extension but the cost for the amount we'd gain just seems so much and we would lose some of our already small garden
Our kitchen isn't that small really and we can fit a table in it although it is tight
Just feel a bit gutted that I won't have the large kitchen diner that everyone seems to have
When I go to friends houses we spend the whole time in the kitchen area and there is room for a sofa as well as a table
Our house is about 25 years old but has a smaller kitchen and then living room at the back which I love and then a room at the front which most use as a dining room but we use as a bedroom
No way of making more space unless we extend the kitchen out into the garden
We had quotes for this in 2019 and they were coming out at about 40k plus the kitchen and fitting on top for a 12m square box really. I dread to think what it would be now

I have a similarly sized kitchen “area” at the end of my one social space.

it’s set up as a peninsula (long run of units on back wall, peninsular island in front). a similar layout would work in a galley and there are definitely people who hate open plan (my sister for one, has put walls back into open plan rooms twice to create a separate kitchen.

it is incredibly functional and looks good. Washing machine is elsewhere in property and there are no storage comprises. In fact I have more storage than I need.

The thing is - it's not the galley layout that is the compromise, it's the galley layout in a small room. A galley layout in a larger room has the social aspect, and feels more spacious (because it is).
I am lucky in having a large window on one side, which opens onto the terrace. One thing I want to do is change that window to either sliding or bifold so it can be opened up a lot more and then in summer people can chat from outside (as well as getting more airflow which is sorely needed when it's baking).

Have you considered a modular or wood extension, instead of a traditional one?

They can come with 50 year guarantees and be cheaper! Mine is technically a wooden lean-to but it's really well built with slightly higher ceilings and is really well-insulated.

She’s completely booked up until June, but will happily share ideas once we have her designs.

in the meantime I’m obsessively researching things like under cabinet storage to make the most of the space we have.

It’s annoying as the rest of our house is spacious but it’s an old, listed cottage so the room proportions aren’t distributed in a way that reflects how we live now.

Lol, ok! Was a bit of a CF request from one who def won't be able to stump up for designer fees myself 😂

Yes - my house isn't listed but is a 60s layout and it shows. Its good in some ways but kitchen werent social spaces back then, in the Uk at least.

She’s not hugely expensive (well under £1k) and recommended loads on here. We’re hoping to save but not putting all new appliances in which will offset the cost.

We had a small kitchen in our flat. If the kitchen carcasses' are sound and the current layout works- then just change the doors. We previously had shaker style which in the small space- collected dust and always looking filthy.

We changed to flat, modern doors and changed the handles. Everyone assumed we'd had a new kitchen fitted. That was 10yrs ago, so I can't recall prices- but a fraction of a new kitchen.

IF you were going to change the cupboards, having 1 wall going right to the ceiling provides additional storage, but also means no space at the top to collect dust.

I still can't imagine the layout but our cupboards wrap around into the dining area and have drawers in with cutlery next to the table and a freezer which helps make it into one room.

Here is a rather bad and in no way accurate scaled layout. The proportions of the worktop to gap between is very wrong, but it shows the idea

This layout is much better than how I imagined. I'd pictured the rooms backing onto each other lengthways. What is the link between the two rooms like at present, is there a door and a door frame or is it just an opening?