4 Best Design Tips to Make Tiny Kitchens Feel Bigger

A small kitchen can often feel cramped, dark, and cluttered, but with clever design choices, you can trick the eye into perceiving far more space than is actually there.

It’s not about adding square footage; it’s about maximizing light, minimizing visual clutter, and using continuous lines.

Learning how to make your small kitchen look bigger is the key to creating a space that feels open, airy, and inviting.

Here are the most impactful design strategies to open up your small kitchen.

Tip #1: Embrace the Power of Light Colors and Low Contrast

This is the single most effective trick for expanding any small room.

• The Seamless Palette: Choose a low-contrast color scheme, ideally using variations of white, light gray, or soft beige. When cabinets, countertops, walls, and backsplash are similar in tone, the eye flows uninterruptedly around the room, making the boundaries recede.
• Reflective Surfaces: Incorporate glossy or reflective materials. High-gloss cabinets, polished quartz or granite countertops, and stainless steel appliances bounce light around the room, multiplying the effect of natural and artificial light and enhancing the sense of space.

Tip #2: Maximize Vertical and Horizontal Sight-lines

Clever use of lines can make a room feel taller or wider.

• Go Vertical: Install floor-to-ceiling cabinetry or extend your backsplash tile all the way up to the ceiling. This draws the eye upward, giving the illusion of a much higher ceiling.
• Extend Horizontally: Choose a flooring pattern that runs the length of the longest wall. Using larger format tiles or wider flooring planks (LVP or hardwood) minimizes the number of seams, creating a continuous plane that visually lengthens the room.
• Flooring Continuity: If your kitchen opens into a dining or living area, using the same or similar light-colored flooring throughout both spaces dramatically extends the perceived size of the kitchen.

Tip #3. Clear the Countertops and Cabinets

Clutter is the enemy of a small space. Every item on the counter visually shrinks the working area.

• Integrated Appliances: Where budget allows, use panel-ready refrigerators and dishwashers that hide behind cabinet fronts. This creates a seamless, built-in look that eliminates visual noise.
• Open Shelving/Glass Doors: Replace a few upper cabinets with open shelving or cabinets with glass doors. This creates an unobstructed visual path to the wall, adding perceived depth and openness where bulky cabinets would have stopped the eye.
• Smart Storage: Utilize clever interior cabinet storage like pull-out shelves and deep drawers for pots and pans to keep countertops spotless.

Tip #4. Illuminate Every Corner

Shadows make a small kitchen feel confined and cavelike.

• Under-Cabinet Lighting: Installing LED strips under all upper cabinets is a must. This eliminates shadows on the counter, brightens the workspace, and draws the eye to the reflective countertops, making the whole room feel airier.
• Maximize Natural Light: Keep window treatments minimal or nonexistent to flood the room with natural light.

Don’t Neglect the Role of Flooring!

The choice of flooring is central to how to make your small kitchen look bigger. A light-colored floor (like light oak LVP or a pale gray tile) is crucial for reflecting light and creating that desired expansive feel.

Furthermore, the selection of the right countertop and backsplash color is key to maintaining that low-contrast flow.

Trust The Floor Store’s Products & Expertise to Create the Kitchen of Your Dreams!

We understand that coordinating these materials—flooring, countertops, and cabinet colors—is the biggest challenge in a small space remodel. That’s why we offer the ease of shop-at-home across the Bay Area.

We can bring samples of light-reflecting flooring, cabinet finishes, and countertops right to your small kitchen, allowing you to see how the materials look together under your lighting before you commit to the perfect, space-enhancing design.

Ready to Design a Bigger Kitchen?

Whether you need space-saving countertops or light-reflecting flooring, our team has you covered. Visit one of our 10+ convenient showrooms in Santa Rosa, Sunnyvale, San Francisco, or any of our Bay Area locations.