If your kitchen feels like you can barely turn around without bumping into a cabinet, you’re definitely not alone. Millions of homes, especially apartments and older houses were built with kitchens that, let’s be honest, were designed for a very different era of cooking.

Whether you’re renting and can’t touch the walls, working with a galley kitchen, or just tired of feeling cramped every time you cook dinner, this guide is for you. Catch up on previous and more home decor related posts.

15 Tricks to Make your Small Kitchen look Bigger.

Paint It Light (and Watch Your Kitchen Breathe)

This one might sound obvious, but it’s the single most powerful transformation you can make, and it costs very little. Light, soft colors like white, off-white, pale grey, soft sage, or warm cream reflect light around the room, making walls feel like they’re farther apart than they actually are.

Dark colors absorb light and make surfaces feel closer, which is cozy in a living room but suffocating in a kitchen. If you’re bold enough to paint your cabinets too, going for the same shade as the walls creates a seamless flow that tricks the eye into seeing a much bigger space.

Pro Tip: Don’t stop at the walls. Painting your ceiling the same shade as your walls (or even one shade lighter) blurs boundaries and makes ceilings feel higher.

Maximize Every Drop of Natural Light

Natural light is the best friend of any small space. The more light that flows in, the more open the kitchen feels. Start by ditching heavy curtains or blinds that block the windows. Swap them for sheer panels, Roman shades in light linen, or nothing at all if privacy isn’t an issue.

If your kitchen window sits above the sink, keep the sill completely clear. A cluttered windowsill blocks precious light. Even moving a plant pot that’s partially blocking the glass can make a noticeable difference.

Recommendation: Nicetown Sheer Kitchen Window Curtains

These sheer curtains let in 90% of natural light while still giving you a soft, finished look at the window. The lightweight fabric diffuses sunlight beautifully across the whole room, creating that glowy, airy feel that makes a kitchen feel twice its size. They’re also machine washable, because kitchen curtains get dirty fast.

Use Mirrors to Double Your Space (Yes, Really)

Mirrors aren’t just for bathrooms and bedrooms. A well-placed mirror in your kitchen creates an instant depth illusion that makes the room feel genuinely larger. You can go subtle, like a mirrored backsplash or more decorative with a framed mirror on a blank wall opposite a window to bounce that natural light around.

Even a small mirror leaning on a shelf or propped on the countertop near a light source can make a surprisingly big impact. The key is placement: mirrors work best when they reflect something bright (a window, a light fixture) rather than a cluttered countertop.

Recommendation: Decorative Wall Mirror — Geometric Copper

This geometric mirror does double duty: it adds architectural interest to a plain wall AND creates that light-bouncing magic that opens up small spaces. The warm copper finish works beautifully against white or neutral kitchen walls, adding a touch of warmth without feeling heavy. It’s the kind of thing guests immediately comment on.

Swap Upper Cabinets for Open Shelving

This is one of those tips that designers absolutely love, and it’s having a major moment right now. Traditional upper cabinets feel like walls closing in on you. Open shelving, on the other hand, creates visual depth because your eye can travel past the shelf and see the wall behind it.

The trick is keeping open shelves intentionally curated. You don’t need to display everything, just your prettiest everyday items. Think a stack of matching white plates, a few glass jars of dry goods, a plant, and your most-used mugs. Suddenly it goes from “storage” to “styled kitchen.”

Recommendation: WELLAND Floating Wall Shelves — Set of 3

These floating shelves are the ultimate kitchen upgrade hack. They install cleanly with no visible brackets, hold up to 25lbs each, and come in beautiful natural wood tones that photograph incredibly well. The depth (9.5 inches) is perfectly proportioned for a kitchen, wide enough for plates and bowls but not so deep they eat into your workspace.

Clear Those Countertops

The single fastest way to make your kitchen feel bigger? Remove half the stuff on your countertops. Cluttered surfaces make a small kitchen feel chaotic and cramped. Every item sitting on the counter is eating into your visual space.

Go through everything on your counter and ask yourself: is this used daily? If not, find a home for it inside a cabinet, pantry, or storage bin. Keep only the essentials out: coffee maker, toaster, knife block and style them intentionally.

Recommendations: iDesign Linus Kitchen Cabinet & Pantry Organizer Set

Moving things off your counters only works if your cabinets aren’t already a chaotic mess. This organizer set transforms jumbled cabinets into beautifully efficient storage: stackable bins, turntables, and pull-out drawers that make everything accessible without the pile-up. Once your cabinets are organized, clearing countertops becomes effortless.

Go Vertical: Think Up, Not Out

When floor space is limited, your walls are your best friend. Tall storage draws the eye upward, which creates the illusion of higher ceilings and more square footage. This is why you’ll often see kitchen pegboards, tall pantry units, and wall-mounted pot racks in small kitchens designed by professionals.

Start by identifying every blank stretch of wall from counter height to ceiling, that’s prime real estate. Add a pegboard for tools and utensils, hooks for mugs, magnetic knife strips, or a wall-mounted spice rack. Getting these items off the counter and onto walls is transformative.

Recommendation: Pegboard Kitchen Wall Organizer System

This is the kind of kitchen upgrade that makes people stop and say “wait, where did you get that?” A pegboard system is endlessly customizable: hooks, shelves, baskets, and bins all slot in wherever you need them. It turns a blank wall into a fully functional command center for your kitchen, freeing up an enormous amount of counter and cabinet space in the process.

Embrace Reflective and Glossy Surfaces

Glossy cabinet finishes, mirrored backsplash tiles, stainless steel appliances, glass-front cabinet doors, all of these bounce light around the room and create visual depth. The more light bounces, the bigger the space feels.

If your cabinets are matte and dated, consider painting them with a semi-gloss or high-gloss finish. It’s one of those subtle changes that you might not consciously notice, but you’ll absolutely feel the difference when you walk in.

Recommendation: Smart Tiles Peel-and-Stick Mirror Backsplash Tiles

These peel-and-stick tiles are an absolute game-changer for renters and budget renovators alike. They create the look of a genuine mirrored glass backsplash for a fraction of the cost and they come off cleanly when you move out. The light-multiplying effect they create in a small kitchen has to be seen to be believed.

Light from Above: Pendant Lights Change Everything

The type and placement of lighting profoundly affects how big a space feels. Overhead fluorescent lighting (the kind most small kitchens are stuck with) creates flat, shadowless light that makes a space feel boxy and closed-in. Pendant lights draw the eye upward and create warm, layered illumination that makes the whole kitchen feel more intentional and more spacious.

Even a single pendant over an island or peninsula immediately changes the visual dynamic. If you have an eat-in kitchen, a pendant light over the table defines the dining zone without using any floor space.

Recommendation: Rattan Woven Pendant Light

Rattan pendant lights have an almost magical quality in a kitchen: they’re lightweight, visually open (light filters through the weave beautifully), and add warmth without visual heaviness. This particular style creates stunning light patterns on the ceiling that make the whole room feel like a dreamy, spacious bistro. Works over islands, dining areas, or even as a single statement piece.

Choose Furniture That Fits

If your small kitchen has room for a table and chairs, oversized furniture will eat the space alive. A large farmhouse table and chunky chairs might be dreamy, but in a small kitchen they’ll make the room feel impossibly cramped. Go for a round table (corners take up psychological space), slim-profile chairs, or even a fold-down wall-mounted table that you only use when needed.

Transparent furniture; acrylic or lucite chairs, glass-top tables is another designer trick. Your eye passes through them instead of stopping at a solid form, which keeps the space feeling open.

Recommendation: Foldable Wall-Mount Table

A wall-mounted drop-leaf table is the smartest possible solution for a small kitchen that needs a dining surface. It folds completely flat against the wall when not in use (taking up literally zero floor space), then unfolds in seconds when you need it. This style seats 2-4 comfortably and turns a kitchen into a proper dining space without permanently sacrificing the floor plan.

Run Flooring Continuously Through the Space

If your kitchen flooring is different from your adjacent dining or living area, there’s a visual “stop” at the transition point that makes both spaces feel smaller. Running the same flooring continuously through connected spaces eliminates that boundary and makes the whole area feel like one cohesive, larger room.

If you’re renovating, this is worth doing. But if you’re not, choose flooring with a longer plank or tile direction that runs toward the longest wall. It visually extends the space in that direction.

Pro Tip: Large format tiles (12×24 or 24×24) have fewer grout lines, which makes floors feel more expansive. Avoid small mosaic or checkerboard patterns, they chop the floor into tiny sections that make a room feel smaller.

Mount Appliances to Free Up Counter Space

Every appliance sitting on your counter is taking up square inches of visual and physical space. Mounting your microwave under the cabinet (or in an upper cabinet), adding a wall-mounted pot filler, or using a magnetic knife strip instead of a knife block makes an enormous difference in how much breathing room your countertops have.

You can even find under-shelf mounting kits for paper towel holders, small baskets, and spice racks, getting all of these off the counter and onto your cabinets is one of the most impactful things you can do.

Add Glass or Acrylic Wherever You Can

Glass-front cabinet doors are a classic trick for a reason: they let the eye travel through the door and see the depth of the cabinet behind it, rather than stopping at a solid surface. Even replacing just two or three upper cabinet doors with glass fronts makes a significant visual difference.

Similarly, swapping out a solid cutting board for a glass or acrylic one, using clear storage containers, or choosing a lucite bar cart instead of a wood one all contribute to that airy, open feeling.

Recommendation: OXO Good Grips Glass Food Storage Container Set

When pantry items live in clear glass containers on open shelves, something magical happens: it looks organized, intentional, and beautiful rather than cluttered. This OXO set is the gold standard for a reason: the lids lock tight, the glass is thick and durable, and the clear sides mean you always know what’s inside at a glance. Stack them on your open shelves and watch your kitchen transform.

Install Under-Cabinet Lighting

Under-cabinet lights illuminate your work surface AND create the illusion that your upper cabinets are floating, which opens up the space visually. It’s one of those touches that makes a kitchen look like it was professionally designed.

LED strip lights or puck lights are inexpensive and can often be installed without any wiring, just plug them in and they’re done. Warm white tones (2700K-3000K) look the most natural and flattering.

Recommendation: Brilliant Evolution Wireless LED Under Cabinet Light — Set of 3

No wiring, no electrician, no fuss. These wireless puck lights run on AAA batteries or a USB adapter, go up with adhesive in minutes, and produce a warm, even glow that looks completely natural. The dimmer makes them infinitely adjustable; bright when you’re cooking, soft and atmospheric when you’re just making tea at night. Three pack covers most kitchen cabinet runs easily.

Embrace a Monochromatic Color Scheme

Too many contrasting colors in a small kitchen create visual noise that makes the space feel busier and smaller. A monochromatic approach; using varying shades of the same color or keeping everything in the same tonal family, creates a seamless flow that reads as more spacious.

This doesn’t mean everything has to be white! A kitchen done entirely in warm sage tones, or all soft sand and cream, is just as effective, and a lot more interesting. The key is keeping high contrast to a minimum.

Pro Tip: Add texture (woven baskets, wooden boards, linen tea towels) to keep a monochromatic kitchen from feeling flat or clinical. Interest comes from texture, not contrasting colors.

Keep Walkways Clear

In kitchen design, the “work triangle” refers to the space between your stove, sink, and refrigerator. If the walkways between these three zones are cluttered with bins, appliances, chairs, or rogue items that have no permanent home, the kitchen will feel perpetually cramped, no matter what else you do.

Aim to keep at least 36-42 inches of clear walkway in every direction. If you have an island that’s causing bottlenecks, consider a rolling cart that you can move out of the way when needed.

Recommendation: Rolling Kitchen Island Storage Cart

A rolling cart is one of the smartest investments you can make in a small kitchen. It gives you extra prep space when you need it, extra storage always and rolls neatly out of the walkway when you don’t. This Seville Classics model has a butcher block top (a legitimate prep surface), two shelves, and a drawer, and rolls smoothly on locking casters. It’s genuinely functional furniture that earns its keep every single day.

Quick Wins You Can Do Today.

• Clear every item off your countertops and only put back what you use daily
• Remove heavy curtains from your kitchen window entirely
• Relocate the fruit bowl, cookbook stack, and paper towels to a cabinet or pantry
• Clean your windows, dirty glass blocks 20-30% of natural light
• Rearrange items so visually heavy pieces are at counter height and lighter ones go up high
• Replace a single cabinet door with an open shelf to test the look before committing
• Move your kitchen table a foot closer to the wall to open up the walking path
• Switch out your bulbs for a warmer or brighter temperature to change the entire mood
• Add adhesive hooks inside cabinet doors to hang measuring cups, potholders, or lids
• Group small appliances together in one zone rather than scattering them across counters

The secret to a spacious-feeling kitchen isn’t more square footage, it’s smart design choices that work with light, color, and visual flow. Even picking just three or four of these tips and implementing them this weekend could completely transform how your kitchen feels to live in.

Start with the free stuff (clear those counters!), then work your way up to the bigger changes. Small tweaks add up fast, and before you know it, you’ll have a kitchen that feels genuinely open, organized, and a joy to cook in.

Have a tip that worked wonders in your kitchen? We’d love to hear it, share in the comments below.