Kitchen design can be tricky but some smart adjustments can make your kitchen appear bigger and spacious. The size of kitchens in the city are shrinking with time. What used to be the most important area in the house has now been limited to only utilitarian purposes. However, when it comes to doing up your kitchen, you can work wonders with limited space at hand.Small kitchens can be difficult to work in, specially for individuals who want everything to be accessible and neat. They can be made to look big with a few adjustments.“There is no fixed dimension for a kitchen. When it comes to individual houses we can do anything and everything according to the customers need. But apartments have limited space. Putting an accessory in a small kitchen will not help save space.Open shelves make better sense because of the ease of access. It helps in utilising 100 per cent of the space in the kitchen. Modifying a kitchen with open shelve increases the space. You not only have more storage space, the room looks a lot bigger,“ says S Selvapathy, chief executive, Master Design Kraft Modular Kitchen.Woodwork plays a significant role in kitchen fittings. The right kind of wood for your kitchen depends mostly on weather and climate. P Aravindan, designer, Amphaa Projects, talks about three types of wood. He says, “Rubber wood, a light-coloured tropical hardwood is obtained from the rubber tree. It is commonly known as an environmentally friendly wood. Plywood, is a sheet material manufactured from thin layers of wood and membrane wood is manufactured using optimum quality wood. Moisture resistant plywood is widely used in Chennai kitchens.“You have to choose your colours wisely if you wish to give a spacious look to a small kitchen. “Choosing light colours like white, cream or soft beige for your kitchen will reflect light and make the space feel bigger. The wall colour should be in contrast with the cabinets and the floor colour. You can also go for pop-colours. Just choose a color that is equally light, like pale yellow, sky blue, or blush.This will make the space to open and airy, not dark and congested,“ he adds.Good lighting helps by allowing you to make the best use of the space you have. “My husband and I wanted to make our kitchen space look big and bright. We painted the walls in light blue colour and opted for open shelves instead of upper cabinets which makes our kitchen look spacious. We also installed cabinet lights which makes it bright,“ says Swetha Reddy, a housewife from the city.