Kitchen interior: Small space style

After living in the small kitchen space of her Victorian row house with her growing family and saving enough money to renovate, Natalie Hodgins (a senior designer at Sarah Richardson Design) also had a huge list of wants and needs for the 10' x 10' room. Sarah and Natalie resolved to think outside the box and create a custom-look kitchen by "twisting stock cabinetry on its ear," she says. "With a little imagination and planning, you can take a big-box kitchen from IKEA and make it completely custom and unique."


Smart solutions
Designer Natalie Hodgins made the most of her tiny kitchen with a light, neutral colour scheme, cheap and cheerful accessories, and practical built-ins like a quartz-composite peninsula table. She and her carpenter get extra points for creating storage-savvy bench seating out of stock IKEA kitchen cabinetry. "We added a kickplate, put flat stock on the top and 'MacGyvered' our own banquette," she says.

Contractor, carpenter pegreno.com. Paint Quiet Hideaway 81YY 81/016 (walls), Natural White 50YY 83/029 (trim), cil.ca. Countertop HanStone in Aurora Snow. Roman shade fabric Majken cotton, Bar stool Glenn, ikea.ca. Peninsula base havaseat.com. Pendant lights greatlighting.com. TV sonystyle.ca.