The best way to solve the problem of cramped kitchen, which is especially pressing for residents of Khrushchevs, is considered to be redeveloped. However, not all owners of apartments with small kitchens have the opportunity to make it. For those to whom the redevelopment for some reason is not available, the output will be the repair of the kitchen aimed at making a small room in the area as functional and presentable as possible.
We start with a design project of future kitchen
Where to start repairing the kitchen in Khrushchevka? From a design project, as in the case of repair of any other room. Here you will need to decide which kitchen should ultimately become. Take the sheet with paper and draw the exact plan of the room. Then cut out the elements of furniture and household appliances from colored paper (on the scale of the sketch and exactly in size). By laying cut elements on a sketch in different variations, select the option of their exact arrangement. Plan on the sketch the location of electrical appliances in order to repair the kitchen in the apartment, install sockets in the right places. At the same stage, select the types of finishing materials.
When compiling a design project of a small kitchen, experts advise taking into account the following points:
Do not use decorative or plastic panels for wall decoration, since their frame requires a certain space. When planning the repair of the kitchen in a house of the Khrushchevka type, it is better to dwell on ceramic tiles in the working area and wallpaper/painting in other places.
For the interior of a cramped kitchen, hanging cabinets that do not take places on the floor are best suited.
To save space, working surfaces should be located continuously and in one plane.
Instead of an ordinary interior door in a cramped kitchen, it is better to install a folding or sliding.
Kitchen repair – step by step
Stage 1
Regardless of whether the repair of the kitchen is ordered or carried out on their own, work begins with the release of the room from furniture and household appliances, dismantling old communications and finishing materials, and sometimes also windows (if it is planned to replace it).
Stage 2
New electrical networks are laid in the second step, water supply pipes are mounted. Even if you want to carry out the most inexpensive kitchen repair, it is better to entrust electric networks to a specialist who knows all modern requirements and norms. And the laying of pipes in the presence of some skills can be carried out independently.
Stage 3
Now the ceiling and the walls of the kitchen must be prepared for subsequent decoration. You need to start with the preparation of the ceiling: to examine it for the presence of irregularities and defects and when detecting to get rid of them using plaster, putty or mounting foam. Repair of the kitchen, small or large – it does not matter, requires mandatory alignment of the ceiling if at the next stage it will be painted or glued with wallpaper. If you planned the installation of a suspended ceiling, you can do without careful leveling.
After the ceiling, walls are prepared for the decoration. Having caught all the defects, you need to apply a primer on them and leave for 5-6 hours to dry out. Then, to align the difference of the plane on top, the first layer of putty is applied. After drying it (about a day), the walls are again primed. The next step is to apply the finish layer of putty and, after drying, primer. Repair of small kitchens also involves the alignment of the floors, but this process is much simpler – a small cement screed will make a flat and strong surface.
Stage 4
Four stage is the finish of the kitchen. It should start with the ceiling: paste it with wallpaper, whitewash, paint or install a hinged structure. After that, the walls are finished with the materials planned in the design project. The repair of the kitchen is completed by laying the flooring, which can be used by ceramic or porcelain tiles, laminate or linoleum.
If the design project was compiled correctly, taking into account the need to save space, then after the repair and installation of furniture with household appliances, a small kitchen will certainly become more spacious, more functional and presentable.