What Colour Cabinets Make a Kitchen Look Bigger?

What Colour Cabinets Make a Kitchen Look Bigger?

Cabinets can make a major difference to how a kitchen looks and feels. They make up most of the room’s infrastructure and help define and frame the space. They are also a major design feature, helping set the overall style.

This is particularly true in a small kitchen, where the cabinet choice is especially important. In addition to maximising storage, the right cabinets should help make the space look larger. But to do this, special attention needs to be given to their colour and design.

Here we look at the best cabinets for a small kitchen, including which colours can make the space seem bigger.

Light and bright is best

Light and bright is best-kitchen

When you’re working with a small space, light is everything. Having plenty of natural light flowing into the space will instantly make it look larger and more luxurious. Failing (or in addition to) that, having surfaces that bounce light around creates a similar effect.

With that in mind, choosing a lighter colour for your kitchen cabinets will help open up the space. Ideally, white is best as it reflects the largest amount of light. An overall white-on-white colour scheme takes this a step further, making it harder to see the kitchen’s edges and lines.

That being said, any lighter shade will help make the space seem larger. So, if you’re not a fan of an all-white colour scheme, you may want to consider a light grey or green. These tones will add more visual interest, while still keeping the space looking quite airy and open.

Keep contrast to a minimum

Over the last few years, two tone kitchen cabinets have become quite popular. This style generally uses highly contrasting colours to create depth and visual interest. While this can look great in a larger kitchen, it can make a small kitchen look even smaller.

This is because the contrast highlights the lines of the kitchen and creates a visual break. This can trick the eye and make the space appear smaller than it actually is. It can also draw attention to the lack of space, accentuating the tightness of the kitchen design.

Other kitchen cabinetry tricks

It’s not just the colour of your cabinets that can help make your kitchen look larger. In fact, many elements of your cabinet design can significantly impact how your kitchen feels. For example:

  • Higher gloss finishes can help make the space seem larger – similar to lighter colours, gloss finishes reflect more light, helping make the kitchen seem brighter and more open.

  • Going handle-free will keep the lines of your kitchen cleaner – this will minimise the visual breaks, tricking the eye and making it look like there is more space.

  • Open upper shelving shows off the height of the room – this will make the kitchen seem larger and keep the cost of your cabinets down, without compromising on the total storage space.

  • Varying the depth of your lower and upper cabinets can make the room look wider – this can make the lower cabinets appear deeper than they are, creating a sense of additional space.

  • Under-cabinet lighting accentuates the depth of the room – but it’s best to keep this soft as bright lighting will make the edges of the cabinets clearer, further enclosing the space.

Need help planning your small kitchen?

If you’re considering updating your small kitchen and want to get the most from the space, give Kitchen Shack a call. We are experts in working with restricted floor plans and can provide creative solutions to meet all your practical and aesthetic requirements. We also offer a free kitchen design consultation service and can work with you to develop a design that suits your kitchen space and personal style.