Small kitchen remodels

Small kitchens are common here

Many houses in Croton-on-Hudson and the older river villages were built with compact kitchens, often a galley or an L along two walls, with a back door and a window that limit where cabinets can go. Harmon's smaller-scale homes and the older houses near the village center are good examples. These rooms can work very well, but every inch has to earn its place.

Because the room is small, the cost per square foot is often higher than in a large kitchen. Fixed costs like plumbing, wiring and the contractor's setup are spread over less area.

Ideas that add space without adding square feet

Run upper cabinets to the ceiling for storage you use less often. Swap base cabinets with doors for deep drawers, which hold more and are easier to reach. Use a narrower range or a counter-depth refrigerator to win back counter space. Replace a swinging door with a pocket door. Move the microwave off the counter into a drawer or above the range.

If a closet, pantry or back hall sits next to the kitchen, folding part of it into the room can add more usable space than any cabinet trick. A contractor can tell you whether the walls involved carry load.

• Pick slim appliances made for small kitchens
• Use light colors and good task lighting
• Add a shallow pantry cabinet where a full one will not fit
• Keep the sink under the window if the plumbing is already there

Keep the plumbing where it is

In a small kitchen the biggest savings usually come from leaving the sink, dishwasher and range where they are. New cabinets, counters, flooring and lighting can change the room completely without moving a pipe. Save layout changes for problems that cannot be solved any other way.

What to ask

Ask the contractor for a drawing with measurements and appliance sizes before you order anything. In tight rooms, a few inches decide whether the dishwasher door can open past the corner. Ask them to check the clearance for every door and drawer, including the oven door and the refrigerator door against the nearest wall.

When a small kitchen needs more room

Sometimes no amount of clever storage fixes a kitchen that is simply too small for the household. The options then are borrowing space from a neighboring room, opening a wall to a dining room, or building an addition. An addition is a much larger project with its own design, zoning and permit steps, and costs far more than a remodel inside the existing walls. Ask a contractor to sketch the inside options first, then decide whether an addition is worth exploring.

Typical small kitchen costs

Published ranges. Not quotes.

These rounded ranges come from the sources below and are not quotes. Cabinets, counters, appliance choices and any plumbing moves change the price.

Sources: HomeBlue, Westchester kitchen remodeling cost; Angi, kitchen remodel cost