Tips and materials to decorate a small kitchen and make the most of every centimetre
A small kitchen is not a problem of square metres, but of decisions: which layout to choose, which colours and finishes make the space look bigger, where to store what is currently sitting on the countertop and which materials let you renovate it without building work. In this guide we go through each of those points with concrete figures and criteria, so that every centimetre of your kitchen works in your favour.
If you also want to change the covering on the walls or the splashback without removing the tiles, at the end you will find the three DIY solutions we use at Smartcret, with their real prices: wall paint, tile paint and the microcement for kitchens, which creates a continuous surface with no grout lines and is the option that adds the most visual space in a compact kitchen.
Ideas for decorating a small kitchen without sacrificing style
The best-resolved small kitchens share one principle: everything that is not used daily stays out of sight, and what is used stays within reach. From there, these are the decisions that make the biggest difference.
Multifunctional furniture for small spaces
A drop-leaf table fixed to the wall, a bench with a storage chest under the seat or a trolley on wheels that doubles as a work surface and slides under the countertop each solve two needs with a single piece. The practical rule is that no item should take up floor space if it only performs one function: in a 6 m² kitchen, a fixed 80 × 80 cm table takes up more than 10% of the floor area.
Make the most of natural and artificial light
If there is a window, keep it clear: roller blinds or light sheer curtains instead of heavy ones, and no tall unit up against the opening. Artificial lighting works better on two levels: a general ceiling light and LED strips under the wall units, which light the countertop without shadows and stop the work area from going dark when you stand in front of it. Neutral colour temperatures (around 4000 K) show food in its real colour and make light tones look cleaner.
Compact and built-in appliances
Appliances 45 cm wide (dishwashers, single-door fridges) and compact ovens with a microwave function free up 15 cm of run each compared with the standard 60 cm format. Building them in behind a panel that matches the units makes the run read as a single piece, and a continuous surface always looks bigger than one broken up into sections.
Use mirrors or glossy surfaces to visually expand the space
A mirror on the wall opposite the window reflects the light coming in and doubles the perceived depth. If you would rather not have a mirror in the kitchen, high-gloss lacquered fronts or a splashback in a satin finish achieve a similar, more discreet effect. It is best not to combine more than two glossy surfaces in the same small room: too many reflections create a sense of clutter.
What colour to paint a small kitchen to make the most of it
Colour is the cheapest decision and the one that changes the perception of size the most. Light tones reflect more light than dark ones and, applied continuously on walls and ceiling, they blur the limits of the room; dark, saturated tones absorb light and visually bring the walls closer. This does not mean a small kitchen has to be white: it means intense colour should go on small, controlled surfaces.
Light and neutral tones
Off-white, beige, sand and light grey are the safest base. They reflect light, hide daily use better than pure white and go with wood, steel and any colour of units. Applied on walls, ceiling and the main units, they create a continuous background against which the few coloured elements you choose stand out.
Vibrant colour accents
Intense colour works well on a single small surface: the splashback between the countertop and the wall units, the inside of an open shelf unit or the stools. A band of colour on the splashback adds personality without taking away any sense of space, because the eye reads it as a detail and not as a limit of the room.
Matt or satin finishes
A matt finish hides small irregularities in the wall and gives a calm look, typical of current kitchens; satin reflects some light and is easier to clean, which is why it is the usual choice in the splash zone. The most balanced combination in a small kitchen is matt on walls and ceiling, satin on the splashback.
Storage solutions, or how to organise my kitchen if it is small
In a compact kitchen clutter shows twice as much, and it almost always comes from the same thing: occasional-use objects taking up the space of the ones used daily. These five solutions tackle that problem in order of effectiveness.
Open shelving
A shelf 25-30 cm deep above the countertop holds what you use every day (oil, salt, jars, the everyday plates) without the bulk of a closed wall unit, and it leaves the wall looking lighter. It works if you keep only uniform objects on it: matching jars, crockery in one colour. If it tends to collect everything, a closed unit will be the better option.
Pull-out drawers
A full-extension pull-out drawer shows 100% of its contents; a base cabinet with a door and a shelf makes you crouch down and leaves the back unusable. In corners, carousel or swing-out systems recover a spot that would otherwise be lost. With internal dividers, each drawer can hold anything from the cutlery to the frying pans.
Hooks and hangers
A steel rail under the wall units with S-hooks frees up a whole drawer: ladles, skimmers, mugs and cloths move to the wall. It is the cheapest solution on the list and it takes less than an hour to fit.
Floor-to-ceiling cabinets
If the kitchen cannot grow sideways, let it grow upwards. Upper units that run to the ceiling use the 30-40 cm usually left free above the wall units, and they are the natural place for what is used a few times a year: the food processor, the baking tins, the guest crockery. They also remove the strip of dust on top of the units and make the run look taller.
Pegboards
A pegboard with hooks and small shelves turns a free wall into flexible storage: knives, spatulas, chopping boards and even herbs stay visible and within reach. It can be reorganised in minutes when your needs change.
Three small kitchen layouts that look bigger than they are
The layout determines how much free space is left to move around in, and that free space is what the eye reads as spaciousness. Kitchen design guides agree on two measurements: the passage between runs should be between 90 and 120 cm (roughly 35–47 in: at 90 cm one person works comfortably, at 120 two people can pass each other) and the sum of the distances between sink, hob and fridge, the so-called work triangle, should stay between 3.6 and 6.6 m. With those two figures in hand, these are the three layouts that work best in a small floor area.
Small kitchen with an L-shaped layout: all advantages
It is the most common layout in kitchens of 6 to 10 m². The units occupy two adjoining walls, normally between 3 and 4.5 linear metres in total, and the rest of the room is left free to circulate or for a small table. The corner, which tends to be the weak point, is solved with a carousel unit or by setting the sink at an angle.
U-shaped planning, a very complete small kitchen
If you need to store every last utensil, the U is the layout with the most capacity: it uses three walls and can add up to between 5 and 7 linear metres of units in a compact room. It requires a room at least 2.4 m wide (around 3 × 2.4 m in total): once the two 60 cm runs are deducted, a central passage of 120 cm is left; below that width, the two facing runs end up too close together.
Small kitchen with two runs to save space
This is the solution for narrow, elongated kitchens. The units are split across two parallel walls, with the water and the hob on one run and the fridge and the storage on the other, and the central corridor is left clear. With 90 cm of passage it already works; with 120 cm, two people can cook at the same time. Keeping the same colour on both runs and a continuous surface on the walls reinforces the sense of width.
The best materials to transform your small kitchen without building work and on a low budget
Changing the units or the layout means building work and budget. Changing the surfaces does not: walls, splashback and tiles can be renovated in a weekend with ready-to-use products, without removing tiles or generating rubble. These are the three solutions we manufacture for that, with their September 2026 prices as they appear on each product page. If you want to see more ideas of this kind, in renovating the kitchen without building work we compare all the options with their costs.
Renew your kitchen walls with odourless paint
For walls and ceilings in plaster, plasterboard or render, Smartcover Indoor is a water-based paint with a washable matt finish, odourless thanks to its low VOC content and with an anti-mould preservative in the film, useful in a room full of steam. It is touch dry in 20 minutes, takes the second coat after 3-4 hours and covers between 8 and 12 m² per litre and coat: the 4.5 L tin, £47 (shown in your currency at checkout), covers between 18 and 27 m² with two coats, that is, the walls of a small kitchen. It is available in 20 colours, a good number of them in the range of light, neutral tones we recommended above.
See Smartcover Indoor, with its technical data sheet, the colours and the step-by-step application.
PAINT YOUR KITCHEN WITHOUT ODOURS
Transform the tiles in your small kitchen without building work
If the tiles are in good condition but their colour dates the kitchen, painting them is the quickest and cheapest option. Smartcover Tiles is a water-based tile paint that bonds to ceramic, stoneware and glass mosaic without a primer, is touch dry in 30 minutes and is applied in two coats 8 hours apart. The 2.5 L tin costs £71 and covers about 16.7 m² with two coats (a usage of 0.15 L per m²), around £4.25 per m²; the splashback of a small kitchen usually comes in under that area. It is available in 11 colours with a satin finish, which is precisely the one that suits the splash zone. The grout lines stay visible, but as they end up the same colour they blend into the wall. Bear in mind that it reaches its final resistance after 7 days, so it is worth planning the application for when you can do without that wall for a few days.
See Smartcover Tiles and its application guide. If this route interests you, in kitchen tile trends you will find which colours are being chosen this year.
Gain space and continuity with microcement
When the goal is to make the kitchen look bigger, microcement is the material that contributes the most: it covers the tiles and their grout lines and leaves a continuous surface, with no lines breaking up the wall, on walls, splashback and floor. Smartcret's ready-to-use microcement comes prepared, with no mixing, and is applied in layers a few millimetres thick over tiles, plasterboard, plaster or cement, so nothing has to be removed and no space is lost. It is washable, stands up to the daily use of a kitchen and comes in 20 colours. Every kit includes a matt finishing varnish; if you prefer satin, the satin version of Smart Varnish is bought separately. A good part of the colour chart falls within the range of light, neutral tones that make a room look bigger.
The microcement kit for kitchen includes primer, microcement, varnish and sanding discs for a given surface area: £26–43 per m² of material, depending on the square metres and the substrate. The 4 m² kit covers the whole splashback between the countertop and the wall units in most small kitchens, and the 8 m² one is enough for the splashback and a whole wall. The tools (trowel, roller, tray) are sold separately in the Smart Tools kit. In the UK, a professional applicator charges around £120–200 per m², labour included; that is why applying it yourself is what really changes the budget of a small renovation. In microcement in the kitchen you have real examples area by area, and on the ready-to-use microcement page, the full explanation of the system.
With these three solutions you can completely renovate the surfaces of a small kitchen without building work, in a few days and with a fixed budget from the start. If you live in a small flat and the kitchen is not the only room you want to make better use of, in decorating small apartments we apply these same criteria to the rest of the home.
MAKE YOUR KITCHEN FEEL MORE SPACIOUS WITH MICROCEMENT
