How To a Design Small Kitchen for Maximum Function 

Hey all! This is my (future) kitchen! Very surreal to see it posted here. Just for a little context the space is a 740 sq ft ADU being built on the back half of a property. The long wall faces a back fence. The window seems to be quite polarizing but I think it will let in light, a bit of scenery and I think gives a cool architectural detail to a small space. I'm likely going to end up with a version of the design he shows around the 7 minute mark. Thank you, Mark! I could not be more grateful for your help on the project.

My kitchen space is even smaller. I love to bake, have no dishwasher, no pantry, etc. Planning a redo is so difficult. I need someone like you.

I love my counter depth refrigerator, which I think helps a lot with visual flow as well as ease moving around the kitchen. My dad, when he was building his house, added extra depth into a portion of the kitchen wall, so his standard refrigerator could back up into it, and look counter depth. The room he stole space from was modified so it looked normal. His solution was better than mine, in that regular refrigerators are a lot less expensive than counter depth, at least that I've seen, but altering the wall is not always an option. I wish I'd followed you on youtube when I did my kitchen remodel 9 years ago. This was another great video.

Another tip for organizing a small kitchen is to take utensils commonly stored in drawers that are not used very often, but are needed for the few times a year you use them and put them in a bin or basket on a high shelf to free up the most used real estate in the kitchen. Some items (such as measuring cups and spoons) can also be removed from drawers and hung with command strips or a pegboard mounted to the inside of a cabinet door.

Great video- I’d love to see more of these problem solving workshops on actual designs.

Ahh... yet another example of why Mark Tobin is one of the Masters of the Universe in kitchen design! Thoughtful options, lots of ideas generated. Thanks so much for doing what you do!

My 50 year old kitchen is a 72 sq. ft. galley style kitchen, but I must say the builder, Del Webb, designed it rather well. They must have consulted Mark Tobin! LOL!! I live in a retirement community, Sun City, AZ, and many people my age make reservations, not food, for their main meals. I cook a fair amount, and the kitchen has functioned quite well for the 11+ years I've lived here. Railroad dining car galleys were miniscule, yet the chefs in those kitchens cooked hundreds of meals from scratch daily, so size doesn't always mean much in terms of the number of meals that can be prepared. My kitchen has all lower drawers (except under the sink) and there's enough landing space in all of the important places. One thing your last rendering didn't do was take the door swing next to the stove into account - a detail that's been discussed on the live stream.

I can't imagine a kitchen that small but you've packed a kitchen with a lot of storage. Good job!

🤣🤣🤣🤣keeping it relevant is just your gift, Thanks for making something as mundane as kitchen info and reno so entertaining… 👌🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻thumbs up all day everyday Mr Mark Great blessings to the Tobin crew 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻& Gammy too🌺🌸❤️

Great transformation. Yes we Americans love our big appliances but as you have shown us in this kitchen, bigger may not be better. Great idea about downing sizing the fridge and relocating it as well for more landing space.😊

I lived in a VERY high end house built in the 1950's. There were windows like that over the sink and under the cabinets. Unless you enjoy spending your life bending over and trying to see outside DON'T put in windows like that! They just take away all of your privacy yet give you no view.

really great video, loved hearing your thought process!

Is that short window a common thing? I always thought it was preferred to have nice big windows at the sink for natural lighting and something to look at while doing dishes. Honest question, it just seemed oddly short with all that space available

Great points and transformation. I don’t understand why such a limited window since there’s room to make it taller. 🤔

I LOVE my shallow tall pantry! It’s my favorite cabinet in my kitchen. Not only have I adjusted the heights of the shelves in it, I’ve ADDED shelves to it, nearly doubling its capacity! Besides being shallow like a wall cabinet, instead of being 36” wide it’s made of two 18” wide cabinets and though I didn’t choose it (it was here when I bought the home) I’m so very glad they went this route. My wider wall cabinets are a pain to adjust the shelves and I have to adjust for the tallest item stored in the entire width. The 18” wide units seemed to be the perfect size, no matter what I tried to store there. It came with 3 shelves in the lower portion and 1 in the upper on both sides, so 8 shelves total. Instead of buying wire shelf racks I bought plywood cut to size and added 7 more shelves. The taller portion has metal shelf standards instead of peg holes every inch or so. This means I can adjust shelves to within the nearest 1/4” or so that I need for the items stored, leaving lots of space to add more shelves by just getting more clips and plywood.

We are designing a small kitchen for our get away home in a suburb. The dead corner space is the issue. I like the ideas presented in this video. Thank you so much!

Great video. Designing our new kitchen now.

I hope the home owner watches this. Great ideas to consider.

I have not finished watching yet, but I have a suggestion about the corner/counter/fridge situation. Don't put the base cabinets next to the fridge against the wall. Move them out so a normal depth fridge can look like a counter depth fridge. The countertop will be deeper. You can put an appliance garage across the whole width of the counter and because the countertop is deeper, you'll still have a useful counter.

Mark, These are great ideas. My biggest change would be removing a wall. If I did I could move the fridge like this. Then I'd move my sink under the window beside the dishwasher. I could even have an island without that wall. Dreams are one thing finding the money to do it is another. Thanks for a great video

Great video Mark!

My kitchen is from '59 that we added 8' to but because of mechanicals, a stairwell and two existing windows can't be changed to make it more functional. (it comes in around 200 sq feet total) I love to torture myself by watching kitchen videos and wish for magical changes to happen in my own kitchen, haha. Love this shorter format video instead of the lives, thank you!

I have a bungalow with a kitchen thats its own 120sq ft room. We used 24in counter depth fridge. Went vertical with cabinets. Used mirrors to help with light reflection.

You also can use dead corner space for garbage bins.

In my small U shaped kitchen I have doorways on 3 walls so 2 corner cabinets with lazy susans were a must for storing appliances and pots & pans. I wish I had done the same on the upper cabinets! Blind corners are a waste of usable space when storage space is at a premium.

Very inspiring ideas. I'm currently working on redesigning my galley kitchen, I need inspiration. ^__^ About cabinet to the ceiling, I did that in my main bathroom, both above the toilet and beside the sink unit. I really needed the extra storage. I'll probably do the same when I'll redo the laundry room.

I have 132 sq ft of tiny space!! Maybe a few opportunities: for now moving the layout around… and later (🤞🏼) to claim an additional 33 sq ft. You presented a few ideas that I didn’t think of:thanks! As I move forward- I’ll be reaching out to make sure it’s right!

Very nice explanation. Thank you. Have anybody tried a kitchen layout for elders(who is not in the wheelchair). Have anybody tried sitting and cooking layout with main necessities at a hand's reach. Assuming that the elder wants to sit, but not move frequently like any wheelchair user.

Lots of options getting better with each one. To me the pantry was the biggest blockade. If there was any way to move it ,even to another room it could help. An angled corner cabinet counterdepth upper, with an appliance garage would also work. A fantastic mental exercise!

I woud put a small cupboard on either side of the kitchen and wrap the cupboards around the far corner and more storage plus counter space on either side of the stove

That kitchen is way bigger than mine, even with a small fridge. 😅

What about a galley style using essentially an island? Essentially shorten the wall to the left along the long wall so that it is a little longer than fridge depth, that leaves room for people to walk around it and have an island with no cabinets above. Also lets you leave the window and have no corner cabinet. Not sure if there would be enough storage, but I think that would add some. Another thing I have seen is to have cabinets above the long window, just make them white and have no hardware so that they disappear into the wall. That gives it a modern aesthetic while also adding more storage. Since htey do not mind hiding the hood (at least the images showed the hood inside cabinets) there would be no break in the cabinet.

I prefer your option at minute 7:00. When I think of a kitchen layout, I think of the order in which I'll be retrieving the food, preparing it and then cooking it., So it comes out of the pantry and fridge, gets washed at the sink, then cut up and cooked so it should be pantry, fridge, landing zone, sink, prep area, stove, and stove landing zone.

@mark for the blind corner cabinet access, what should the cabinet size be? sounds like 11 3/4 inches is too small. also, what are your thoughts of having a drawer above a magic corner? i know it can be done with or without the drawer above it. thanks in advance!

But I want a big fridge!

Oh man, love your accent, WOOF!

9:02 Standard depth fridge? I would flip the hinge on the fridge to the left side so there is better access to the fridge landing counter instead of having to navigate around the door.

Are there any devices, apart from a ladder, which make accessing those really high cabinets any easier? Thanks.

Hi Mark, can you point me to the link to schedule a 60 min consultation with you? Thank you!

Everyone always talks about maximizing space by going vertical, and normally I’d say that is a good idea, but as a paraplegic who is self sufficient and lives alone, anything above 4’ I can’t see into and anything above 5’ I can’t reach.

Those slimmer fridges are also available with more height then shown in the video.

Reducing the fridge's size may be fine if it's just for one person. But if it is for two or more, it may not work as well. I don't. use much canned food, I do use a lot of fresh food with prep done on the weekend. Smaller fridges always make it a bit more difficult especially since I try to limit my shopping to once every week or two.

We have a double oven to install and are in a dilemma where to put can you help

Anyone with a small kitchen needs to think about ...how they actually cook. Not how they wish they cooked, or should cook. Be honest with yourself. Your designer isn't your shrink or your priest. Second thing is to consider which appliances can do more than one job or are used 2x/year at most. Got rid of my stand mixer because of that. Bought an Instant Pot because of that. Finally, weed out the old utensils, pots, and baking pans. Own as few as possible. You can always buy more if you got rid of too much. But that won't happen, I promise you. And be realistic: if you really need a bigger kitchen, then you are gonna have to build it by adding an addition or carving space from another room.

I haven't had any luck finding smaller appliances. Where/how can they be found? My fridge widthwise is about 30" but it sticks out like a sore thumb. The same goes for the over the-stove microwave. The dishwasher is average size but I would prefer small and have more storage.

Where do the broom and mop go? It’s entirely possible that this house has a utility room that they go in, but since mine doesn’t, it’s on my mind. My current house (moving soon!) has no place for broom, dustpan, mop, and pail , so they are always in the way. I feel that it’s something that is often overlooked as I’ve had other houses that lacked a place to put them. Edit: if this was my house, I’d see if I could put a broom closet to the left of the pantry, unless there’s space for it already somewhere else. If that isn’t possible, then maybe to the right of the stove, but that closes the room off.

Why not put a counter depth fridge against the wall and the pantry on the right of it. I question that par cause Who wants to go across the fridge to get to the pantry?

Us empty-nesters could consider a smaller dishwasher.

Why is there that extra wall space that's not used?

No one wants a backsplash window. Such a pain to clean etc.

I would leave the appliance garage out of this design. Appliances can be stored elsewhere. I have a coffee maker out . That’s it.

I didn't think that a window above the stove was code-compliant.

What do you think of the corner pantry in this video at 13:45: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NRLMWNXWNIA.html

Yeah, a smaller fridge was a necessity here.

I don't *_ever_* want a small refrigerator, *or* one of those little dishwashers.