7 Things That Always Make Your Kitchen Look Cramped, Designers Say

Cramped kitchens aren’t necessarily small ones. Even sprawling kitchens can appear cramped if styled or organized the wrong way. This can include the way the room is laid out, the way it’s designed, or the way it’s used.

But the good news is you don’t need a complete kitchen remodel to make the heart of the home feel more spacious. Ahead, interior designers break down the top reasons a kitchen might feel cramped and how to fix the problem.

Too Many Items on Countertops

This is an easy error to make; after all, you want your everyday go-to items, like coffeemakers and tea kettles, within reach. But having too many things on the countertops limits available workspace.

“People often leave small appliances on valuable counter space, even if they rarely use them,” interior designer Candis Stratton says.

A simple fix to all this counter clutter is limiting the appliances that live there to the ones you use daily, and storing away the rest until you need them.

Bad Lighting

Believe it or not, the mistake of a poorly lit kitchen can contribute to the problem. Lighting that isn’t bright enough or poorly located can make a room feel cramped by visually shrinking the space.

“If the back of the counter against a wall isn’t illuminated, it disappears,” Stratton says.

An easy way to address this is changing out dim lightbulbs. Be sure to check the fixture for wattage guidelines. Or consider adding under cabinet lights to illuminate the dark corners of the kitchen and visually expand the counter space.

You can even pop in some pendant lights over work areas to provide valuable task lighting.

Heavy Wall Cabinetry

When the walls feel visually overloaded, the eye has nowhere to rest.

According to Jaclyn Szerdi Morrison, interior designer, partner and managing design director at Jewel Toned Interiors, “a heavy upper-cabinet line can make the room feel like it’s closing in from above, especially in smaller kitchens or when combined with dark colors.”

Unfortunately, fixing this problem isn’t always straightforward. You can pull out some of the upper cabinets and blend in open kitchen shelves or switch out the cabinet doors for glass-front cabinets. Or, go bold with no uppers at all. Each of these options will give an open impression to the kitchen.

A Poorly Designed Layout

Bad layout is probably the most common problem with kitchens and can be the most expensive to fix, Stratton says.

“If you are building or remodeling your kitchen, consider how people will move through the space,” she recommends.

Do people need to walk into the work triangle to get to another room or go outside? Or does grabbing a drink from the refrigerator require someone to walk into the main work zone?

“Be sure to leave plenty of space for paths of travel,” Stratton says.

A kitchen doesn’t need to be large, but it does need to be well laid out.

Bad Zoning Choices

Every kitchen has its designated zones for pulling out food, meal prep, cutting and slicing veggies, etc. But when these zones are set on top of each other, chaos is inevitable and a feeling of being cramped can creep in. In fact, the whole room feels squeezed.

“Poor zoning—things like food prep, cooking, and cleaning—creates unnecessary bottlenecks and makes the kitchen feel more cramped than it actually is,” says Szerdi Morrison.

Fix the problem by widening the clearances between these zones, especially on the island where clutter feels more on display than in other areas of the kitchen.

Forcing an Island into a Small Kitchen

“There’s nothing worse than a kitchen design that was adamant about fitting the smallest of islands into a space that doesn’t truly allow for it,” says interior designer Chasity Centeno.

This can lead to narrow clearances and facilitate improper circulation through the kitchen. As a solution, think of small kitchen island ideas to optimize your space. Design your kitchen with towers that have appliance garages or base cabinet lifts for things like mixers.

“For islands, make sure there are 42 inches all around for proper clearance, and if you can’t fit a minimum of three stools, nix the island altogether,” Centeno suggests.

Unorganized Drawers and Cabinets

“Opening a cabinet and being attacked by storage container lids can feel like you don’t have enough space to store your things, then your brain says you need more space,” says Stratton.

To improve the situation, pursue kitchen organization ideas to make your space feel less cluttered. For instance, make your drawers and cabinets fitted with organizers. This makes things easy to grab and keeps you from always rummaging through drawers.

Making a kitchen easier to use can make the space feel larger, no matter where this change happens.