If you have a small kitchen, designers urge you to make this one key design decision

An open-plan kitchen-diner with wooden cabinets, white walls, and a countersplash.

While there are no rules on how to design a smaller space, a more compact kitchen can benefit from certain designs, especially those that give the illusion of greater space and feature fewer visual divides.

Cue the 'countersplash', a designer favorite for small kitchens, which sees your countertop material continued up the wall into a kitchen backsplash. It's striking, versatile, and brings a sense of calm and continuity to your scheme.