Some kitchens, especially studio apartment kitchens and galley kitchens, have a lot going on in just a few square feet. We turned to kitchen design pros and asked them for their best tricks to make a small kitchen feel twice as big.

Their solutions range from big-impact features in the planning stage, such as cabinets that extend to the ceiling and stone countertops with gentle veining, to smaller and less expensive elements like good under-cabinet lighting and cohesive metal finishes.

If your small kitchen feels cramped, here are the eight fixes that designers say maximize small kitchens.

Extend Cabinets to the Ceiling

In a small kitchen, extending upper cabinets to the ceiling is a great trick for making the space feel bigger.

“That extra height pulls the eye up and makes the whole wall feel more complete,” Jeannine Bogart, founder and principal designer at Epic Interiors, says.

The designer shares that full-height cabinets also make a kitchen feel more custom-built and eliminate dead space above the cabinets that typically turns into a dust shelf and collects clutter.

If the cabinets stop short of the ceiling, Bogart recommends intentionally finishing the gap and suggests using a soffit, a simple trim detail, or a cleanly done filler panel.

“What I would not do is leave it open and decorate the top with baskets or random objects—that almost always makes a small kitchen look more crowded,” Bogart says.

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Stick With Soft Colors and Simple Silhouettes on Cabinetry

Bogart explains that small kitchens get crowded fast when every surface is trying to say something. For that reason, the designer keeps the materials quiet.

“Warm white, soft greige, or a light putty cabinet color usually works better than a cold bright white, which can feel flat and a little harsh once the sun shifts or the room relies on artificial light,” she says.

In addition to sticking with soft colors in a small kitchen, the designer prefers simple door fronts to prevent visual clutter that only makes the already small space feel tighter.

“Heavy profiles, deep paneling, and busy detailing add more visual weight than people realize,” she says.

Choose a Stone with Calm Movement

“Busy slabs with strong speckling or several colors tend to dominate a small kitchen,” Gina Saran, the president of Precision Stone Design, says.

To help the space feel more open, Saran recommends selecting lighter stones with gentle veining or soft movement. She adds that warm whites, light taupes, or pale neutrals reflect more light and keep the space from feeling visually crowded.

Run the Countertop Stone into the Backsplash

When you stop the countertop and switch to a different backsplash material, Saran says it creates a visual break across the wall. What this does in a compact kitchen is make the room feel smaller.

“Using the same stone on the counter and backsplash helps the wall read as one continuous surface, which often makes the kitchen feel more open,” the designer shares.

Pay Attention to Countertop Seams

Given a small kitchen’s limited square footage, every detail matters. Saran says one such detail is how the countertop slab is laid out.

“In smaller kitchens, slab layout becomes more noticeable and if seams fall in awkward places or the movement in the stone breaks abruptly, the surface can feel visually fragmented,” Saran says.

The designer explains that careful layout keeps the countertop reading as one surface, which she says helps the kitchen feel calmer and slightly more spacious.

Keep the Countertop Edge Slim

It may not seem like the thickness of countertop edges makes a difference in how large or small a kitchen feels, but Saran says it has more of an impact than people expect.

“Heavy, built-up edges can make the counter feel bulky in a tight layout,” the designer explains.

On the other hand, slimmer profiles give countertops a lighter feel so they don’t carry as much visual weight along the perimeter of the kitchen.

Be Consistent with Metal Finishes

One of Bogart’s design tricks for small kitchens is to keep metal finishes consistent.

She notes that when you mix hardware and faucet finishes and add too many accent materials, you end up with a space that feels scattered.

Invest in Good Under-Cabinet Lighting

Lighting plays a significant role in how large and open or dark and confined a kitchen feels.

Bogart explains that shadows make tight kitchens feel tighter, which is why she recommends investing in good under-cabinet lighting.