Compact Apartment Kitchen using Ikea Cabinets

The Design Brief:

A kitchen for a converted tenement block apartment in Scotland. My client had already decided that she would like to buy a budget friendly Ikea kitchen but wanted help to utilise the compact space in the best possible way.

A keen cook, my client wanted a kitchen with plenty of storage and food prep space, and somewhere with a comfortable relaxed feel where she would be happy to spend time preparing food for friends. She also initially requested seating space with a single stool. Overall quite a challenge within a compact space which also needed to house the boiler and washing machine, and all within the restrictions of Ikea’s cabinet sizes!

We initially looked at several options with ideas such as a fold-out table and small stool, a shallow step up to the window cill to create a window seat, removing the door into the room or changing the door to a bi-fold option, tall open wall shelving for larder storage, and so on.

Ultimately we agreed that the seating in the kitchen was too great a compromise on the other practical space, and decided on the layout shown here.

The Design:

• A white shaker style Ikea kitchen with practical grey laminate worksurfaces.
• White subway tiles running into the deep window cill so it could also be used a space for countertop appliances.
• Rustic reclaimed floorboards to soften the look and give the relaxed comfortable feel that the client desired.
• Microwave built into a wall cabinet to free up countertop space.
• Clear glass doors to the wall cabinets to soften and feel less “built-in”.
• Mirrored glass splashback on the sink elevation to make the room feel more spacious.