January 29, 2026

Five of Amsterdam’s Best Small Homes Under 60sqm/645sqft

From canal-side lofts to compact apartments, these five Amsterdam homes explore flexibility, light, and clever design within small footprints.

In a city defined by narrow plots, historic buildings, and dense neighbourhoods, Amsterdam has long demanded inventive approaches to small-space living. This compilation brings together five of our favourite Never Too Small featured homes, each offering thoughtful layouts, adaptable elements, and considered design decisions.

Writing:

Camilla Janse van Vuuren

Photography:

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Space in Amsterdam is precious, as it has been for centuries. Rather than chasing size, many homes in the city prioritise adaptability, smart use of volume, and layouts that respond to life within tight footprints. As Liya Yang, owner of the Jordaan apartment, puts it, “We believe that living in a small space is not a limitation if you are creative and innovative.” From plant-filled canal-side lofts to compact apartments tucked into historic buildings, these are homes we keep coming back to, each offering a distinct approach to living small.

Jordaan Apartment – 48sqm/517sqft

Designer and carpenter Marijn Kruikemeier took a once-empty shell in Amsterdam’s Jordaan and turned it into an elegant yet casual ground-floor home. Working within the constraints of a long, narrow plan in a 1905 social housing building, Kruikemeier and his partner Liya Yang built the apartment around a central, custom-built oak unit. The unit houses the bathroom, kitchen appliances, and technical systems, dividing the space without enclosing it. The result is a series of generous-feeling rooms that flow from the street-facing dining area to the kitchen, living space, and bedroom, with light entering from both ends. This sense of generosity is reinforced by the choice of full-size furniture, a long galley kitchen designed for cooking and entertaining, and a bedroom that opens directly onto a private garden at the rear.

A custom dining nook is set into the street-facing window. The couple designed and custom made all the cabinetry, furniture and joinery in a workshop in Amsterdam.

A full-size kitchen runs along one wall, while the curved slatted oak joinery that sits opposite contains storage, larger kitchen appliances and even the bathroom.

In the lounge, a floor-to-ceiling built-in cabinet provides storage and shelving, with a TV concealed inside that rises and disappears via an electronic lift, so keeping the living space visually calm when it’s not in use.

The bedroom sits at the rear of the apartment and opens directly onto the back garden. Integrated storage keeps the room feeling pared back.

Amsterdam Loft – 60sqm/645sqft

“I wanted to maintain the spacious feeling we experienced when we first entered the loft”, artist and interior designer Michiel Hilbrink says of the former attic shell in Amsterdam’s East End. The apartment takes its cues from the existing structure of the 1920s social housing building, prioritising light, openness, and restraint. A minimalist palette, low-slung furniture, and built-in storage keep the space feeling airy, while a mezzanine bedroom and compact nursery carve out privacy without closing things off. “In a small space, you have to choose what matters most,” Hilbrink explains. Here, those choices prioritise light, warmth, and comfort over excess.

Designed by artist and interior designer Michiel Hilbrink, open living and built-in furniture shape this calm and considered home.

The kitchen block holds a fridge, a freezer, an oven and a dishwasher. An induction cooktop sits on top of the block, which is finished in black high-pressure laminate.

“It’s fun to look down and see what is going on below,” Hilbrink says. He was inspired by the existing qualities of the building, like the wooden beams and the shape of the roof.

The Richard Lampert lounge chair and the sofa both have low designs, allowing them to fit neatly under the mezzanine roof. Hilbrink’s inspiration for the furniture pieces comes from minimalist and modernist design. “In that way, the space has a somewhat timeless quality,” he says.

Scheeps – 45sqm/484sqft

Scheeps belongs in the Never Too Small Hall of Fame as an endless source of inspiration. “My philosophy when it comes to creating small spaces is to iterate until it feels right,” says designer Koen Fraijman, an approach that is evident throughout the waterfront loft in Amsterdam’s Eastern Harbour District. Shared with his partner Fadime Gökkaya and their cat, Sok, the apartment is defined by high ceilings and expansive harbour views. These form the backdrop for Fraijman and Gökkaya’s custom-built furniture, movable elements, and playful handmade details.

Light streams in from the south-facing windows of the plant-filled lounge and dining area.

Fraijman’s favourite design feature is the TV, suspended on a movable rail so it can be pulled out or pushed back against the wall as needed.

Mirrored storage in the bedroom helps to amplify the light and sense of space.

Apartment 33 – 33sqm/355sqft

Designed and lived in by Carla Radoll and Bruno Graça of Hum Studio & Gallery, this apartment reimagines small-space living through a hotel-inspired lens, prioritising calm, light, and tactile comfort. Natural materials set the tone throughout, creating what the designers describe as “a special opportunity to be creative and thoughtful in the use of space”. A bold reconfiguration brings the bathroom into the bedroom to draw in natural light, while a linear kitchen, floating sofa detail, and carefully layered lighting allow the living and dining area to coexist without feeling crowded. Retained parquet flooring and handmade tiles ground the space in warmth and craft, reinforcing a design approach that balances practicality with an indulgent sense of retreat.

Carla Radoll and Bruno Graça designed the linear kitchen and dining area with a hotel-like mindset, keeping it pared back and integrated as part of the apartment’s open-plan layout. Travertine is used for the benchtop, and the dining table was designed by the pair themselves.

Radoll and Graça sourced the sofa from a vintage market. “The sofa has metal plates on the bottom and they reflect the floor and give the illusion that the sofa is floating,” Radoll says.

The bath and shower sit openly within the bedroom, reflecting the apartment’s hotel-inspired layout. With views of the sky, the bathtub is Radoll and Graça’s favourite place in the home. The shower continues the spa-like feel, clad in Japanese handmade tiles.

In contrast to the rest of the home, the toilet is defined by a bolder colour palette. Kept separate for privacy, the space features wallpaper designed with input from Graça.

Cabin ANNA – 30–50sqm/322–538sqft

Not technically in Amsterdam, but impossible to leave out, Cabin ANNA sits nestled in a wildlife reserve about an hour’s drive from the city. It remains one of the most thoughtful small living experiments to come out of the Netherlands. Designed by Caspar Schols, the cabin was born from the memory of his father and created as a home that can physically open itself to nature. Two manual sliding exterior walls allow the compact structure to expand and contract, turning the space into a sheltered room one moment and an open pavilion the next.

Inside, clever details keep the footprint flexible: the bed and bathtub disappear into the floor, storage folds away, and a mezzanine adds sleeping space. Demountable, off-grid, and carefully engineered to leave no trace, Cabin ANNA shows how a small home can be both technically ambitious and beautifully poetic. For Schols, that ambition ultimately means something simpler: “ANNA is just a place to be. That’s it. A place to be.”