Looking for rustic small kitchen design ideas? Rustic kitchen design is a timeless choice for modern interiors. Knotty wood, rough-hewn and handmade furniture and cabinetry, and other distinctive touches can create quite a bit of visual interest. It’s also a great choice for smaller kitchens. Historically, kitchens weren’t necessarily all that spacious, and the warmth and intimacy of rustic decor pairs well with smaller spaces.

These rustic small kitchen design ideas can help inspire you for your next home makeover. Small kitchen design doesn’t have to be boring and bland — you can create something truly unique that reflects your own individual aesthetics.

Here are Our 3 Great Rustic Small Kitchen Design Ideas

Rustic Small Kitchen Ideas #1: Cabin Style

Cabin style rustic kitchens are a popular choice, evoking the atmosphere of the rural Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest. This timeless style evokes 18th and 19th century pioneer architecture, without sacrificing any of the amenities you need for a modern kitchen.

This kitchen provides quite a few rustic small kitchen design ideas. The cabinetry, made from knotted wood, evokes the appearance of old wine or whiskey barrels. The combination of wood and stone on the walls and ceiling really brings together the room as a gestalt, creating an unmistakable mountain cable ambiance. The countertops coordinate seamlessly with the counters below them, maintaining the old-fashioned rustic decor scheme while still providing the functionality you need for cooking and entertaining. This space may be relatively sizeable, but the same design elements can easily be applied to a smaller area.

This rustic cabin kitchen, on the other hand, takes a slightly different approach. While the finish on the wood, and the design as a whole, are distinctively rustic, it feels a bit more recent than the one above. Touches of color, with a carefully aged look, pair with metal light fixtures to create a space evocative of the 1930s or 1940s, rather than the 1850s.

Rustic Small Kitchen Ideas #2: Elegant Black & White

This subtly rustic small kitchen design evokes the early 20th century, with shades of industrial decor sensibilities as well. The black and white floor feels classic, while the intentional faux weathering and antiquing creates a distinctively rustic look and feel. You’ll notice that faux antiquing has been used extensively on the metal and wood surfaces,

Rustic Small Kitchen Ideas #3: Modern & Rustic Meet in This Hipster Kitchen

To get new rustic small kitchen design ideas, why not think outside the box and incorporate industrial and loft elements? This small kitchen design borrows undeniably rustic elements, yet at the same time, it feels distinctively modern, even vaguely urban. Glossy granite countertops add a sleek element, balancing the rustic dark wood cabinetry below them. A mason jar with an evergreen sprig, cups hung on the wall, and an old-fashioned “Bakery” sign further add an old-fashioned, homespun feel to this decidedly eclectic design. Ceiling beams and period metal light fixtures complete it.

Temporally speaking, this kitchen is all over the place, but in the best possible way. Rustic, weathered white brick and ‘20s-era cabinetry contrast sharply with bright green acrylic chairs, which introduce a midcentury modern element.

This kitchen, on the other hand, goes all the way with rustic. It’s hard to say where “rustic” ends and “industrial” begins — both styles feature antiquing, weathered wood, and a vintage aesthetic — but this rustic small kitchen design certainly incorporates a masterful blend of the two. Deeply textured red brick walls complement a black metal stove hood and accompanying metal elements, with the knotted wood cabinetry adding an additional touch of the past.

There are quite a few rustic small kitchen design ideas to choose from, and your own design will depend strongly on your own preferences. “Rustic” is a design term that can encompass quite a few different stylistic elements: country farmhouses, Northwest cabins, shabby homes during the Great Depression, and more. A “rustic” interior could channel the Middle Ages, the mid-19th century American West, or the countryside of Southern France. Rustic kitchens are versatile, and they have the advantage of an inbuilt eclecticness that provides an impressive breadth of choices for style-conscious homeowners.