Cool, Compact Kitchens

As you have probably guessed by now, Oliver and I are not exactly swimming in space up here in our third-floor Manhattan ivory tower, or light orange-ish brick low-rise building, as it were. But, such is the price of living in this city, as we mentioned in a previous post (which was a little bit about how depressed we New Yorkers are...heh). Anyway, in these humble abodes/shoeboxes we call apartments, kitchens present a curious design problem. For those of us who not only lack in square footage, but also have limited budgets, cooking at home is an absolutely necessary way of life. We prepare and/or eat just about three meals a day in ours. We are both bring-lunch-to work types and we eat most dinners at home. Needless to say, we need a functional kitchen, despite the size.

Our current apartment features what I like to call an "open kitchen." Some might say it's actually a living room with one wall devoted to kitchen-ry. Details. Our last apartment had a twenty-seven square foot nook with a stove from the 1940s and an unfinished piece of plywood for the countertop. We are told that was our kitchen. And we cooked some great meals in there! So, we're not picky.

All this is to say, we love a well-laid out kitchen and I wanted to share a few favorites that are on the small side but work overtime in the style department. Some of them hardly even look like kitchens, which, in my opinion, is the pinnacle of a successful kitchen.

The kitchen that made me fall in love with Domino Magazine, and made me want a turquoise door in a navy room. I haven't achieved it yet, but there's time!

A kitchen that doesn't scream "KITCHEN" - refreshing!

Clearly, a rental. Loving the stylish use of pattern and color to mask ho-hum cabinets and a large, but generic stove.

Zexy copper pot-hanging solution.

A dresser, a sparky chandelier and a chesterfield sofa in the kitchen? LOVE.

The snakeskin backsplash with the integrated outlet cover is pure genius.

The sophisticated grey and yellow palette really ramps up the simple, clean design.

Perfection in styling.

When open shelving doesn't look cluttered.

We've already written about this one, but I'm still in awe. It was SO GHETTO before! I can't get over the transformation, so it deserves a second shout out.

Ok, so clearly a departure from the whole "small" theme, but so stunning, I had to share.

Via kitchenisms.com

Via Apartment Therapy

You can't go wrong with fine-looking x-benches in the kitchen.

Via Apartment Therapy

This is the absolutely ingenious idea of an Apartment Therapy reader. I want to steal it. Oliver is not amused; I can't get enough of hanging things from the ceiling, but he's the one who has to do the dirty work. We disagree. I win. He hangs. It always looks great. Keep your fingers crossed that I get my way on this one :)