5 Tips for Giving a Narrow Kitchen Broad Appeal

By: Brad Mee | Photos by: Scot Zimmerman
Savvy design frequently has to flex its muscle to make room perform well and look great. This certainly holds true in the kitchen where function and form must work together to make the most of this much-used space. Such was the case in Robert McArthur’s charming Bountiful kitchen. While the room is not cramped, its long-and-narrow shape required some clever decorating moves to make it look and feel comfortable. Fortunately architectural designer McArthur was up to the task.

1) End-of-Room Focal Point

McArthur used the wall behind the range as well as its hood to create focal point at the end of the kitchen. This draws the eye through the space so that it doesn’t linger on the side walls that form its narrow space. “This shortens the room visually making it feel larger,” the designer says.

2) Open Storage

The kitchen’s glass-front cabinet doors, open shelves and a walk-in pantry loaded with lots of open storage and display space helps the kitchen feel light and airy. Too many doored cabinets adds bulk to a room, McArthur explains. Of course, open storage requires strong organizational skills because there’s no hiding a mess behind closed doors.

3) Wallpapered Ceiling

Rather than relying on the walls to provide a canvas for pattern, Robert looked to the ceiling instead. He papered the overhead surface in an ditsy-print pattern that adds interest and sense of texture without adding visual weight or noise to the room “It’s a timeless treatment that harkens back to olden days when wallpaper was used on ceilings as well as walls,” McArthur says.

4) Light and Bright

McArthur chose white countertops throughout the kitchen to keep the flat surfaces from weighing down the décor and integrated skylights to provide lots of natural light for the entire space.

5) White-and-Wood Palette 

Much of the room is finished in light-reflecting white, helping to make the room feel wider and more spacious. To give the kitchen visual weight and character, McArthur inserted large statements of wood — stained cabinets on one side wall and, on the opposite wall, a large armoire as well as unique molding around the door and windows that’s painted in a rich green-brown hue. “The darker finishes on each side help balance the largely white room,” he says.
To see more of this home, click here.