How well a small kitchen works comes down to its layout, not its floor area. Two kitchens the same size can feel completely different depending on where the sink, stove and fridge sit relative to each other, and how much of the wall is doing useful work. Before spending on finishes, it's worth getting the layout right, because that decides more than anything else whether the room works.
Get the layout right before anything else
Most small kitchens in older Illawarra houses run as a single wall or a narrow galley, and for a tight room that's usually correct rather than a compromise. Keeping the sink, stove and fridge within a few steps of each other cuts down wasted movement, and it avoids losing floor space to a second run of benchtop and cabinetry you don't have room for.
An L-shape suits a room that's closer to square, using a corner to add bench and storage without needing much extra floor. A U-shape needs more width than most small kitchens have, and forcing one in usually leaves the middle of the room too tight to move through comfortably.
Where the sink and stove currently sit matters more in a small kitchen than a large one. Moving either means new plumbing or gas run through cabinetry that's already tight on space, and in a small room there's rarely a spare wall to run it to cheaply. Keeping both roughly where they are and spending the saving on cabinetry and finishes is usually the better trade.
Storage that doesn't cost floor space
A small kitchen has less bench and less cupboard run than a big one, so the storage it does have needs to work harder. Cabinetry to the ceiling turns the space above eye level into storage for things used a few times a year, rather than dead air over the fridge. Deep drawers hold more than the same width of cupboard with shelves, because everything in a drawer is visible and reachable at once instead of stacked behind whatever's at the front.
An appliance garage, a cabinet with a roller or lift door that hides the toaster, kettle and microwave, keeps the benchtop clear without those appliances needing their own separate cupboard. A pull-out pantry beside the fridge does the same job as a walk-in pantry in a fraction of the footprint, which matters in a kitchen too small to spare a whole room for one.
Light finishes and fewer visual breaks
Colour and material choice do real work in a small kitchen, separate from anything structural. Pale cabinetry and benchtops reflect more light than dark ones, and a splashback that runs the same material and colour as the benchtop reads as one continuous surface rather than two competing ones. Handleless cabinetry and a rangehood built into the joinery cut down the visual clutter a small room shows up more than a large one does.
A run of pendant or under-cabinet lighting matters more here too, because a small kitchen usually has fewer windows relative to its floor area and needs the difference made up artificially. If the room simply lacks daylight, that's its own question, covered in skylights, glazing and borrowed light.
When to open the kitchen up, and when not to
Opening a small kitchen into the room next door is the other common move, and whether that's a quick job or an engineered one comes down to the wall, covered in full in removing a load-bearing wall. Either way, it's worth being clear about what it buys you: sightlines and a sense of space, not extra bench or storage. Where a kitchen's real shortage is bench and storage rather than a bigger room to look out into, that money is usually better spent on cabinetry and layout than on the wall.
What it costs
A small kitchen that keeps its current layout and uses entry-level or semi-custom cabinetry generally lands in the $12,000 to $25,000 range, the lower end of what we've set out in full in kitchen renovation cost in NSW. What a small room doesn't discount is the trades: plumbing, electrical, tiling and painting all still have to happen, and a call-out for each costs much the same whether the kitchen is three metres long or eight. Moving the sink or stove is the one change that reliably pushes a small kitchen's budget past what the floor area would suggest.
Treat that figure as a starting point rather than a quote. The real number depends on your layout, what's behind the existing cabinets, and the finishes you choose, which is what a fixed-price proposal after we've seen the room is for.
A tight kitchen is worth thinking through in person before you commit to a layout. Call 0434 037 851 or send the details through the contact page; our kitchen renovations page covers how we run the build end to end.
Common questions
- What is the best layout for a small kitchen?
- A single-wall or galley layout suits most small kitchens, because it keeps the sink, stove and fridge close together without eating floor space on a second run of cabinetry. An L-shape works when the room is closer to square and there's a corner to use. A U-shape needs more width than most small kitchens have and usually leaves the middle of the room cramped rather than efficient.
- How do you make a small kitchen feel bigger?
- Light colours, a continuous benchtop and splashback rather than a change partway along, and cabinetry that goes to the ceiling all help, because they remove the visual breaks that make a room read as smaller than it is. Handleless cabinetry and a rangehood built into the joinery rather than sitting proud of it do the same thing from a different angle, cutting down the clutter the eye has to process.
- Should you remove a wall to open up a small kitchen?
- Only if the wall is actually the problem and it's safe to do so. A stud wall with nothing structural in it is a straightforward job. A load-bearing wall is a bigger one, covered in [removing a load-bearing wall](/blog/removing-a-load-bearing-wall), and it's worth confirming which kind you have before you plan around losing it.
- What does a small kitchen renovation cost?
- A small kitchen that keeps its existing layout and uses entry-level or semi-custom cabinetry generally sits in the $12,000 to $25,000 range, the lower band covered in [kitchen renovation cost in NSW](/blog/kitchen-renovation-cost-nsw). Moving the sink or stove, or upgrading to custom joinery and stone, pushes it up from there regardless of the room's size.
Want a hand with this at your place? Get a free quote or call 0434 037 851.