Shaidah recently contacted The Design Tabloid to ask our resident Décor Diva some advice…
“I am building and want to combine a kitchen with the lounge. The whole room is 2.5m x 3m. My plan is to have 1 wall fitted with the kitchen cabinets, stove and fridge and the other wall will play host to a wall mounted plasma and floating shelves. I want dark wood cabinets but I am afraid the whole place will look cramped and dark. Please help!”
Décor Diva says:
In terms of your plans for your lounge and kitchen – the area being small really needs to be kept of light as possible in order to create and maintain that feeling of space. I would venture to say that having all the cabinets in dark wood would be defeating that objective. I would recommend that you either consider a light wood finish or white or cream cabinets with the same colour on the drawers and door fronts.
White would be your better option, but if you are keen on a wooden finish, and then ask your kitchen supplier to show you a few samples along the lighter wood lines.
If you should go the white or cream route, a splash of colour can be added into your kitchen by having one or more of the drawer fronts in either a colour or wood finish. Alternatively there could be one or two doors in a contrasting finish or colour. There is no reason why you cannot mix in the colours and textures. In fact that is the trend in kitchens today and it works well.
All the best with your plans.
Love, Rose x x x
Design Titbit:
Small dual function spaces like Shaidah’s might sound improbable but is actually quite common especially in Scandinavian or East Asian countries where properties are either very expensive or very limited because of overpopulation. It is essential to keep the space light, minimal and free of clutter. Invest in multi-functional furniture and clever storage solutions.
Image – xJavierx via Flickr: here