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Where to put the fridge if the kitchen is small? Learning to save space: 120+ Photo locations in design

Natalya Surkova

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Installing a refrigerator in a small kitchen should be thought out. After all, the room should be enough free space.

Content of this article:

Work Triangle Rule

Normal linear arrangement of objects of furniture and home appliances are considered not too rational. The refrigerator should fit into the "golden" triangle "food-washing-cooking." In principle, linear layout in small kitchens is permissible, because the distance between workers zones with this placement is minimal. But still the triangle is more convenient for work.

Small kitchen with refrigerator

Barriers in the form of a dining table or other furniture in its path should not be. The distance between adjacent zones is no more than 1.2 m, the minimum is 0.6 m. If you violate this rule, the cooking process will turn into flour - you will spend a lot of time and effort on it.

Make a good distance between work areas.

The process of working in the kitchen should look like this:

Try not to litter the desktops in a small kitchen, the whole place should be used efficiently.

Modified versions of the "golden" triangle

Sustaining the sides of the working triangle (ideally isosceles) in a small kitchen is unlikely to work. In practice, modified versions of such a layout are often used:

L-shaped option

U-shaped kitchen in bright colors

Kitchens in Khrushchev

With a thought-out arrangement of furniture and equipment, even in a small kitchen you can place everything you need. As a rule, in a compact room, if the width of the room allows it to be done, use a two-row version of the layout. Along one wall a stove, a desk and a refrigerator should be located only as a last resort.

For the right-handed hostess, the most convenient option is to place the devices from left to right: first the refrigerator, then the sink, the last cooker. Left-handed people will be more comfortable if they go in the reverse order, from right to left: in the very left corner there is a refrigerator, etc.

With a thoughtful arrangement of furniture and equipment, even in a small kitchen, you can place everything you need.

Consider the necessary and safety requirements. If there is a hot stove next to it, more intensive equipment operation will be required to cool the products to the desired temperature. This can lead to a quick failure.

At the window next to the battery in order to avoid overheating, it is also better not to place it. Plus, the installation of bulky equipment in this place will drag over attention to itself.

Stylish option for a small Khrushchev

If you do not divide the oven and refrigerator using a desktop or cabinet, the equipment must be moved to another place away from heat. You can put on the side of front door.

Corner kitchen set

Corner furniture with a built-in refrigerator is a ready-made workspace in which equipment can be easily placed according to the rules of the triangle. On the one hand is the working area, on the other - the dining area.

When the refrigerator is located at the entrance, it can serve as an additional partition.

A bulky refrigerator is better placed in one of the vertices of an imaginary triangle - in the corner at the window or at the entrance. If the unit is located at the door, it will be more convenient to unload the packages brought from the store.

When the refrigerator is located at the entrance, it can serve as an additional partition, zoning the space. The door is dismantled. As a result, a wide, convenient for passage portal is formed.

Most large stores have the opportunity to choose the right amount of cabinets made in the same style. This will be problematic only if there are non-standard projections or recesses on the walls.

Corner furniture is roomy

Corner furniture is not only compact enough, but also roomy. After all, all angles are used that are not counted in standard kitchen units. Additional space can be obtained when using the swing-out shelves.

It is difficult to select such furniture only for small kitchens of non-standard forms. To completely close the wall, you have to select the manufacture of a pair of cabinets of the required dimensions. It makes no sense to buy a corner kitchen set for a narrow room of great length. It is better to build furniture in one line.

Compact corner furniture

Where to install the refrigerator just not worth it?

So, briefly list the most unfortunate options for its placement:

Try to place the refrigerator further from the stove.

Try not to place home appliances too close to the sink.

Visually link the fridge to the kitchen

Convenient locations

It makes sense to place such a large unit:

Option location in the corner of the kitchen

Refrigerator hidden under the facade

Habit is important too. For someone it is more convenient if the refrigerator is located closer to the cutting table. Someone prefer close proximity to the sink. However, when choosing the most rational option, you will quickly get used to innovations.

Corner installation

Such an installation option is acceptable if the length of the wall is not less than 5 m, so that in one row you can install not only a sink, a worktop, a stove, but also a refrigerator. It must be separated from the plate at least by a small table.

This arrangement is suitable if the length of the wall is at least 5 m.

To save space and install the stove next to the sink is impractical. Water splashing on the hob will cause burns. Plus, as we have already noted, this option is also fire-hazardous - if moisture gets on the contacts, a closure is possible.

Most housewives use in cooking only a couple of rings. The rest are used only on holidays. Therefore, to save space, you can install a 2-comfort oven, separating it from the sink with a small work desk. In case of unforeseen situations, additionally purchase a light 2-comfort tile. With this arrangement, the place for the refrigerator in the corner by the window will also be free.

Placing the stove near the sink is not practical.

If there is not enough space for simultaneous placement along the wall of the kitchen set and refrigerator, it is better to refuse this arrangement option and install the unit at the entrance to the room or in the opposite corner.

Another option is to install the refrigerator in the corner under the tabletop.. This will help increase the surface area. A small compact unit at the bottom of the table absolutely will not interfere with work.

Stylish kitchen in retro style

Refrigerator by the door

When the unit is located to the right or left of the entrance, at the adjacent wall, it will not be evident. So that it interferes with the entrance-exit from the kitchen, the door will have to be removed. It is desirable to expand the doorway itself - due to the resulting open portal, the space will look visually more spacious.

The location of the unit near the door

In the doorway

To equip this piece of equipment can be in the former doorway, if you close up the old, and cut a new door in the partition between living room and kitchen. This technique is often used. in Khrushchev to expand the space of a tiny kitchen.

Small option in light green tones.

Before starting work, it is necessary to clarify in the architectural department of the management company whether the wall is capital. After all, its dismantling is fraught with consequences up to the appearance of cracks in the building and even collapse.. Therefore, even partial demolition of the main wall is strictly prohibited.

Any redevelopment with respect to the original plan issued by the BTI, including the dismantling of the curtain wall, must be coordinated with the local administrative authorities. We recommend to do it right away - there will be less trouble. Otherwise, according to the Code on Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, you will be obliged to pay a fine and force you to fully restore the destroyed wall or legitimize the redevelopment.

Hi-tech style

In the absence of the necessary permission to run, there will be a lot - a technical conclusion about the security of the changes already made will be needed. You can get such a document only from the author of the building project or in the architectural department of the city. Inspection and drafting of the act will cost a round sum.

Installation in a niche

When you insert the refrigerator in a special niche from drywallmounted on metal profiles, the unit will look as one with the wall and less conspicuous. This option is most practical. In a niche on the refrigerator will not get direct sunlight and dust. To do this, you need only a few sheets of drywall and aluminum or wooden profile (rail) to assemble the frame.

This option is considered convenient.

Before starting the installation, it is necessary to carefully measure all dimensions and calculate them so that the door can open freely. In a niche, even above a high fridge, there are several small shelves for small items. If there is enough space, narrow vertically arranged lockers are attached to the side.

Installation in a niche

Refrigerator in the hallway

In some houses the size of the kitchen simply does not allow installing a small-sized refrigerator in it. In this case, it is taken out to the nearest premises - most often in corridor. If there is an interconnecting door between the living room and the kitchen, you can also install it in the next room.

Unit installed in the corridor

When moving the refrigerator to another room, it is necessary to remove the interior door; otherwise, opening and closing it with products in hands will become a real problem. You can not remove the door, but always keep it wide open.

If there is a spacious storage room in the corridor, it can be installed in it. Do not just forget that it is forbidden to install a refrigerator close to the walls - it is necessary to leave some free space for air exchange.

Option for a very small kitchen, combined with the hallway

But to transfer this item of household appliances to another room is only as a last resort - because you have to constantly run there for every little thing. Yes, and the crumbs of products will fall on floor, and after cooking you will have to do the cleaning not only in the kitchen, but in the whole house. Plus, even the most modern refrigerator is unlikely to decorate the living room.

Unusual option for storing food in the hallway

Installation rules

In order for the refrigerator to serve as long as possible, you should heed the following tips:

For uniform cooling of the equipment, the distance from it to the wall should be 2-3 cm.

Do not locate the unit in high humidity areas.

Is it possible to make a bulky unit on the balcony?

Unfortunately, only residents of the southern regions of the country, where the temperature does not fall below 10 ° C, can do this. The refrigerator is afraid and elevated temperatures - with frequent overheating it in the sun above 30 ° C, it will fail, not having worked for six months.

Storage on the balcony is only suitable for residents of the southern regions of the country.

Not afraid of the cold only models of special climate class. Slightly less capricious and units with the system No frost. But in these cases balcony it is necessary to warm, protect from the damaging effects of moisture through the vents. To protect against direct sunlight on the windows adjacent to the equipment equip blinds or curtain them with thick curtains.

In recent years, balconies or loggias are often insulated and combined with living rooms or kitchens.In this case, it is possible to achieve a significant expansion of space.

Balcony combined with kitchen

Please note that heating with the central heating system of balconies and loggias is strictly prohibited. As soon as the operating organization finds such an innovation, it will immediately force you to dismantle the accumulated batteries. If you are determined to combine the kitchen and the loggia, the latter will have to be heated with electricity, and the cost of it will increase significantly.

Small kitchen with column and fridge

The geyser takes away precious space from a small kitchen. In this case, literally every centimeter will have to be counted. And close to the refrigerator next to it, as, however, and with other electrical equipment and furniture, it is forbidden to install it. According to the safety rules, the distance to them should be at least 40-50 cm.

Geyser takes away precious space from a small kitchen

It can be made only after obtaining permission from the management company. And all the work is done by the specialists of the gas company.

It is much easier to shift the column by no more than 1.5 m. If this distance is greater, this will no longer be considered a normal transfer, but a complete replacement of the gas pipeline. Approval of this action will require much more effort - it will be necessary to collect signatures in more than one instance.

But under the gas water heater a low fridge can be placed. In modern models, the burner is located at the top, and the bottom does not heat up. Plus a large space to access it is not required - because it is equipped with an automatic ignition system.

Installing the column in the cabinet without walls and bottom

Specially designated area for the column

Furniture in the small kitchen

So that after installing all the necessary furniture and a refrigerator, the room does not seem too crowded, It is worth using the following tips:

Use the niche under the windowsill

Choose light finish colors

Built-in refrigerators

For a small family, it is better to buy a compact mini-fridge that fits easily even in tight spaces.It will be possible to store in it only the most necessary, and to buy in addition other products.

Kitchen set with built-in fridge

For example, you can stay on a narrow, 45-55 cm wide, but high (up to 170-180 cm) refrigerator. Above the vertical model will fit the shelves or wall cabinets. It will easily fit under the countertop in the same way as, for example, a dishwasher or a washing machine. However, for all its aesthetics, the built-in models have a smaller internal volume, and this option is suitable only for a small family.

The box of furniture into which refrigerators are embedded must be strictly sized. It may have to be made to order. There is no back wall in such cabinets - it is replaced with a grid. The facade of the furniture is hung on the door using a special system of fasteners.

Provence style kitchen set

Excellent, but, unfortunately, not the best option - the use of suspended built-in refrigerator. It will fit perfectly into the empty niche at the place of the hanging cabinet, and its facade will close with a door and will not be visible. However, such models are rare, they will have to be ordered. Commercially available units do not always have dimensions that coincide with those that are needed.

There are also compact models without a freezer, only with a cooling chamber. It will easily go under the tabletop. Freeze at any time, you can buy in the store, the benefit of a shortage of products in them.

An interesting option for a mini fridge

If the freezer is still required, it is better to purchase it separately. Such models are more compact, as they have a smaller compressor and an insulation layer. In this case, a small cooling chamber can be placed in the kitchen, and the freezer can be moved to another room - after all, frozen food is needed not so often. Such a device can be easily integrated into any of the cabinets, similar in design with the furniture installed in a living room.

Original models

Since traditionally refrigeration units were installed separately from kitchen furniture, some manufacturers suggest using unusual models with bright extraordinary finish for these purposes. Hiding them and embedding them in furniture is no longer necessary - after all, they can become a true decoration of the kitchen.

Color should be combined with the rest of the interior

Naturally, when purchasing a refrigerator with a bright color panel, do not forget that it should be combined with the rest of the interior and fit perfectly into the overall style. It is necessary to be especially careful when choosing such a model for a small room - products with large prints or too dark panels will visually narrow the room.

For a compact kitchen, you can choose a refrigerator with a transparent door - because glass is able to visually move apart the space. By the way, for such premises it is desirable to select furniture with open or glass shelves.

Retro style

In a modern kitchen, a model with stainless steel trim will be appropriate. In combination with other household appliances:

• microwave;
• exhaust hood;
• washing machine.

It forms a rather original symbiosis.

You can try to experiment and paste over the old model of the refrigerator of standard white color with bright vinyl film and even decorate it with crystals or rhinestones. Naturally, when choosing a print and color solution, it is necessary to focus on the overall color scheme of the room.