Though normally kept in the bedroom or bathroom, a mirror is a common household element that you can find quite a bit of use for in the kitchen. Reflective surfaces in general are a great design element because of their ability to reflect light, which helps to brighten up a room.
In some instances, they can help to give the illusion that a space is bigger than it actually is, which, when combined with the ability to reflect light, makes it perfect for small, dark, cramped kitchen spaces. Of course, larger kitchens can also benefit from mirrored surfaces in many ways. From the functional to the purely aesthetic, mirrors are a subtle yet effective way to instantly improve your kitchen space.
Backsplash Mirrors For Small Kitchens
Photo Source: The Glass Shoppe
Combine LEDs and backsplash mirrors with our Pepper Shaker kitchen cabinets for a gorgeous look!
The easiest way to instantly make a small kitchen look larger is to install backsplash mirrors. Mirror tiles may fit the look that you’re going for, but if you truly want to give the illusion of a larger space, installing a seamless, singular sheet on each wall will better do the trick. Glass cabinet doors add necessary depth and under-cabinet LED lights add brightness to help complete the optical illusion.
Antique Mirror Tiles
Photo Source: The Glass Shoppe
Not a fan of the plain mirror backsplash style? In larger, monochromatic kitchens, a backsplash mirror might actually over-accentuate the room’s chosen color. Depending on lightness or darkness of your color scheme, this may cause your kitchen to look either too bland or too brash. If your kitchen is also already quite big, too many mirrors may cause the kitchen to look intimidatingly large.
However, you can still benefit from the reflective, room-brightening qualities of a mirrored backsplash without having everything in your room reflected back to you. The aesthetic of these antique-style mirror tiles are a great way to enhance more traditional kitchen styles.
Mirrored Cabinet Doors
Photo Source: Decorpad
White cabinets like our Uptown White kitchen cabinets are great for smaller spaces! Shop Now!
Glass cabinet doors are very popular because they’re a great way to add visual depth to the kitchen and because they’re great for showing off sleek stemware or antique china. However, if glass doors don’t necessarily appeal to you and solid cabinet doors don’t quite do it, you may want to consider using mirrors instead. Like backsplash mirrors, cabinet door mirrors can help smaller kitchen spaces look larger.
The cabinet door mirrors in the kitchen above are particularly helpful because of the kitchen’s corridor-style setup. Corridor kitchens have two parallel runs of cabinets, with one or both ends of the kitchen leading to another room. Smaller corridor kitchens can certainly feel quite cramped, and a backsplash mirror may not do much to alleviate that. Adding mirrors to the cabinet doors, however, brings the mirrors to eye level, which will better reflect light from above and across from it. This helps to create the illusion of a wider space.
Mirrored Pendant Light Fixtures
Photo Source: Elle Decor
For a modern, more subdued way to utilize mirrors in your kitchen, mirrored pendant light fixtures can add a unique touch to your kitchen. These pendant lights are probably not going to make your kitchen look bigger, but they work double duty at making your space brighter. A properly lit kitchen should have a combination of ambient, task, and accent lighting, and pendant lights are a great way to provide task lighting to the island. Above the pendant lights you’ll more than likely have recessed lights whose radiance will be reflected by the mirrored light fixture below, giving your kitchen space an alluring, ambient glow.
Mirrors On The Ceiling
Photo Source: Peter Salerno, Inc
This design option is great whether you have a short ceiling or not. If you do have a low ceiling, adding mirrors is a great way to give the illusion of vertical expansion. However, it’s also a great opportunity for some unique designs. Because mirrors can be shaped in infinite ways, they can be used in any kitchen design style, from ornate Old World designs to simpler, more modern kitchen designs.