Spectacular Small Kitchens: Design Ideas for Urban Spaces Paperback – March 9, 2005

Very inspirational. Great way to feel comfortable with small spaces again.

Small can be efficient and practical yet quite charming as we see in Ashley Rooney's Spectacular Small Kitchens: Design Ideas for Urban Spaces. Almost 40 designers address in eye-catching color images the functionality and aesthetic considerations of a small kitchen. They balance the desires of the interior architecture and the client's desires and come up with myriad design solutions: from the Feng Shui Kitchen to the integrated kitchen to the long thin kitchen. The book includes an intriguing narrative by Susan Aiello, ASID, CID, about the exciting opportunities and demanding challenges involved in designing small kitchens in large cities. I was lucky and got to see this book before it is out. With so many wonderful and colorful ideas, it is one that anyone ought to have before starting a kitchen renovation.

This book may have been relevant for 5 minutes or so, when it was published.The quality of the photos is very poor. They are dark and without sharpness. Some are no better than Polaroids.The worst part, though, is the variety of designs. There is one where there are blue cabinet doors. Awful. The great majority of them have dark wood and countertops. It’s really kind of a joke. In one picture, from a fancy NYC apartment, you can see dust on the countertop.This is one of those books that goes straight from the publisher to the bargain bins. Glad I bought it used. Now it’s going to the thrift store.

I would have thought this book would have had some kind of layout in relationship to the photos, but not a single one. Ended up giving the book away was a waste of money.

Well... I know kitchens in the USA are usually larger than the ones in Europe but even then... most kitchens shown in this book are 3 to 4 times bigger than my current kitchen. The book does NOT give you planning tips, no clever cabinet interiors, just pictures of finished kitchens, not even info on how that finished kitchen came to be.So if you are looking for clever ideas for making the most of small kitchens, DO NOT buy this book!Petra

Don't waste your money on this book. The kitchens featured are completely ordinary and really present few new ideas on how to use your limited space. I mean, leave the trash can in the center of the kitchen? Well, I guess you could say that _is_ a novel idea. Beyond the issue of the kitchens, many of the pictures are pretty low-grade. Several of the featured kitchens are almost too dark to see, more like you went in with your digital camera and clicked off a few shots as opposed to staging the room professionally. All in all, this is a few dollars I wish I had back.