Kitchen size and what it comes to
| Layout | Running feet | Essential ₹19,500 | Considered ₹26,000 | Fine ₹35,500 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Straight run, 1BHK | 6 – 7 ft | ₹1.2 – 1.4 L | ₹1.6 – 1.8 L | ₹2.1 – 2.5 L |
| L-shape, typical 2BHK | 8 – 10 ft | ₹1.6 – 1.9 L | ₹2.1 – 2.6 L | ₹2.8 – 3.5 L |
| L-shape with a balcony run | 10 – 12 ft | ₹1.9 – 2.3 L | ₹2.6 – 3.1 L | ₹3.5 – 4.3 L |
| Parallel, 3BHK or Link Road tower | 12 – 15 ft | ₹2.3 – 2.9 L | ₹3.1 – 3.9 L | ₹4.3 – 5.3 L |
Ex-GST. Excludes appliances, sink, tap and chimney, which add ₹60,000 to ₹1.8 lakh. Add 4–6% in a walk-up building.
The storage arithmetic of a small kitchen
In forty square feet, every decision is a trade. What we have found works in this stock, in order of value returned: deep drawers rather than shelves in every base unit, because a stack of steel vessels on a shelf is retrieved by moving four other things and a drawer is not; a full-width loft above the wall units for the festival vessels, the bulk tins and the annual items, which is where the volume actually is; a tall pull-out larder beside the fridge position, converting dead depth into front-facing storage; and a corner mechanism rather than a blind corner, which recovers about 1.6 cubic feet that is otherwise lost. What we would leave out: a breakfast counter, a glazed display unit, and any base unit under 300 mm wide, which holds almost nothing and costs the same to make as one twice its size.
Forty square feet, and every one of them working
Worked example: 8 running foot L-shape, Eksar 2BHK
A 1979 four-storey building, second floor, no lift. Existing masonry platform with a tiled face. Cylinder gas, a window over the sink, and a narrow balcony off the kitchen used for drying.
| Scope | ₹ lakh | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Demolition of the masonry platform | 0.09 | Platform and tiled face removed, bagged and carted down |
| Civil work and plumbing | 0.13 | Sink line replaced; drain re-fallen; cylinder cabinet vent formed |
| Base and wall carcass | 0.54 | BWP under the sink, 710-grade elsewhere; flat-packed for the stair |
| Shutters — matt laminate | 0.36 | Full overlay, PVC edge-banded |
| Hardware | 0.26 | Soft-close throughout; corner carousel; two deep vessel drawers |
| Granite counter and dado | 0.21 | Two-piece counter, joint under the hob; 600 mm dado |
| Loft over the wall units | 0.10 | Full width, 450 mm deep — the actual storage gain in this kitchen |
| Tall pull-out beside the fridge | 0.07 | 600 mm larder with five tiers |
| Total, ex-GST | 1.76 | ₹22,000 per running foot |
Add 18% GST. Excludes appliances and chimney. Everything in this kitchen was designed to clear a 1,850 mm stair turn, which is why the tall unit arrives flat.
Three constraints in this stock
- The staircase caps the module. A typical Eksar or Shimpoli stair has a half-landing turn that will not pass anything over about 1,850 mm. Tall units are flat-packed and built in the flat, counters come in two pieces with the joint under the hob, and the carcass sections are sized accordingly. It adds 4–6% and two days.
- Deliveries are pre-dawn. Chandavarkar Lane, LT Road and the surrounding streets are parked solid from early morning. Kitchen material arrives before 7am and is inside within twenty minutes. We consolidate a whole kitchen into two loads because a third load means a third 6am start.
- Old wiring behind the dado. Anything wired before the mid-1980s is likely aluminium and will not carry a chimney, a microwave and a fridge on the same circuit. Test it before the cabinets go in; rewiring the kitchen circuit afterwards means removing a finished dado and a run of wall units.
Cooking for six on a festival day
The design brief we get here is almost always framed around the everyday kitchen and then tested by the occasion. Twice or three times a year, this kitchen feeds twelve to twenty people, and everything that matters on that day is storage and counter continuity: somewhere to put the large vessels that only come out then, an uninterrupted run of counter at least 1,200 mm long for prep, a second cooking point that a portable burner can sit on with a socket nearby, and a loft that does not require a stool borrowed from the neighbour. Designing for the everyday and ignoring the occasion is how a perfectly good small kitchen fails three times a year.
For Borivali as a whole, see interior designers in Borivali. For our kitchen materials and warranty across Mumbai, see modular kitchen designers in Mumbai.
Compact-kitchen work by Greenbox Design Studio.
Frequently asked questions
Drawers or shelves in a small kitchen?+
Drawers, without hesitation, in every base unit. A shelf holds the same volume and makes you move four things to reach the fifth. Deep drawers on heavy-duty runners cost around ₹3,500 more per unit than shelves and are the single biggest usability improvement available in a forty square foot kitchen.
Is a loft worth the cost?+
In this stock it is usually the best value in the whole kitchen. A full-width 450 mm loft above the wall units holds the festival vessels, the bulk tins and the annual items — the things that otherwise occupy prime base storage all year. On an 8 foot kitchen it is around ₹10,000 and it changes how the rest of the kitchen works.
How do you get a granite counter up a building with no lift?+
In two pieces, with the joint designed to land under the hob where it is invisible, cut in the yard rather than improvised on site. A full-length slab will not clear an Eksar half-landing. We plan the joint into the stone order at design stage.
Can the cylinder go inside a cabinet?+
Yes, in a dedicated base unit with a louvred front and a floor-level vent, positioned for changeover without emptying a drawer. Never in a sealed cabinet. If your society is switching to piped gas, say so — the design would use that base unit differently.
How long does a Borivali kitchen take?+
Two to three weeks from final measurement. Demolition and civil work take two days, carcass installation two more, then the counter is templated and cut over about five days, and shutters and hardware follow. A rewire of the kitchen circuit, which this stock often needs, adds three days at the start.