4 Easy Things You Can Do to Make Any Size Kitchen Better

Written by

Adrienne BreauxHouse Tour Director at AT Media
Adrienne BreauxHouse Tour Director at AT Media
For more than 10 years, I've led Apartment Therapy's real home content, producing thousands of house tours from around the world. Currently, I live in my maximalist dream home in New Orleans, Louisiana, with my partner, a perfect dog, and a cute cat.
published Sep 23, 2015
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(Image credit: Natalie Jeffcott)

Looking for easy things you can do to make your kitchen better, look nicer and feel more comfortable? You want it to be an inspiring space you want to use. There are lots of improvements you can make; these four things are easy and work with any size or style of kitchen.

1. Put function on display

What are those things you use everyday? The things you’d have to open a door or drawer to get to (or maybe even dig out of some container)? Saving time in your day could be as simple as taking out the step of locating the item or kitchen tool you need to use and putting it in a place you can reach easily. And thanks to all the affordable organizing tools available for purchase (or DIY) it’s easier than ever before to add a magnetic strip on a wall for knives or a rod for hanging a few tools you use every day. Instead of hiding coffee mugs in a cabinet you could install a few hooks under a cabinet or shelf.

2. Brighten it up

Even kitchens with big windows can benefit from a brightening. Good light is everything in a kitchen, from making it look cleaner and fresher to feeling bigger to of course making it safer and easier to do your kitchen tasks in. There are a lot of ways you can do some brightening up if you kitchen. You can make sure your windows (if you have any) are unobstructed and cleaned. You can also clean your overhead lighting. But you can also add lighting, from table lamps to affordable, clip-on industrial lights that you place where you really need some extra task lighting.

3. Take out the stuff you don’t need

Yes you knew it was coming. Decluttering your drawers and cabinets of kitchen stuff you had aspirations of using but are now collecting dust is a very easy (and free) activity that can make a kitchen better instantly. But extend that same thought to the decorative elements you added in just because you felt like you needed something on top of the kitchen cabinets. And the stuff that came with rental that you don’t ever use and could get away with removing for the length of your lease (we’re thinking about terrible rental lighting or even cabinet doors).

→ 5 Simple Ways to Start Decluttering

4. Add non-kitchen-y things

It’s a way to instantly make a kitchen feel more homey and like a place you want to use more. Especially if you take our advice from the first tip and add in a lot of function to your room that becomes visible. Adding simple stuff like rugs, art and accessories (in moderation) will instantly personalize a kitchen. And it can be a completely free exercise if you shop the rest of your space and incorporate unused items from other rooms.