Is your house too small or indoor appliances, gadgets eat more space

Smaller Nairobi homes are driving demand for compact appliances and smarter space-saving designs. [iStockphoto]

If there is any piece of interior design that always catches the eye whenever you walk into a traditional Kenyan home, it is the television cabinet.

These pieces of furniture may come in all shapes and colours, but one size - huge - stretching from one corner of the living room to the other, with the shine on their varnish finish always blinding, no matter the time of day.

One contributing factor, understandably so, is the cathode ray tube (CRT) television sets that decorated households for the better part of the 90s.

Their huge protruding backs necessitated these cabinets.

This explains why many houses had to be large in size just to accommodate them.

But as the population grows and demand for housing increases, developers would rather have more units on the same size of land or floor space.

For this reason, as a millennial or Gen Z looking for a unit to buy or rent, with the visualisation of the set-up they grew up in, they might conclude that houses are getting smaller.

And that is true, but justifiable.

Technology has also improved, and appliances that would normally occupy half the room now can neatly fit in some corner or hang artistically on the wall.

Take, for example, the television set. From CRT technology to ultra-slim screens such as the LG OLED evo W6 wallpaper TV that is just 9.9 mm thick and hangs on the wall like a piece of art.

Such technologies and innovation partly explain why, while house sizes might be shrinking, they could still be made fit for purpose.

It is the business model that LG Electronics says it has adopted through its LG Home Appliance Solution subsidiary.

Senior Public Relations Manager for the subsidiary, Chaerim Ji, says the Seoul-based manufacturer is moving beyond just being a product manufacturer to a solutions provider.

“We are transforming the kitchen from a place of cooking to a living space that reflects the customer’s lifestyle and needs as well,” she said during a tour at the company’s headquarters in Seoul.

Ji was referencing the Fit & Max business line of the firm, where appliances and furniture are blended together to maximise living spaces.

An example is the refrigerators, which are fitted with special hinges that allow doors to open freely without the risk of hitting the adjacent walls.

It also involves designing refrigerators or cookers (induction plates) that can fit perfectly within the cabinetry, giving a vanishing edge view.

As such, a unit that is indeed small in size has the illusion of a bigger living space. “We are focusing on being a solution provider,” she said.

LG has a showroom in Nonhyeon-dong, Seoul, where it showcases how exactly these solutions work.

It has even gone ahead and merged some of the appliances into one, such as the washer tower (a combination of washer and dryer) and the microwave oven that is a microwave, oven and air fryer tucked into one device, saving even more space.

These innovations may be the solutions needed in today’s real estate market, considering the size of a one-bedroom in Nairobi has reduced by more than 30 per cent in the last 25 years.

Analysis by Willstone Homes shows the average size of a one-bedroom in the city was 65 sqm in 2000, but in 2025 it was 40.

A two-bedroom that was 90sqm in 2000 is now 60 sqm, and a three-bedroom that was 120sqm is now 85sqm.

Willstone Homes says developers argue that smaller apartments are not necessarily worse — just smarter.

“Through design innovations such as open-plan layouts, foldable furniture, and shared amenities, they maintain comfort within compact spaces,” the developer says.

It cites Optiven Real Estate’s analysis, which says developers save up to 15 per cent on material costs and boost revenue by up to 30 per cent through space optimisation.

For buyers, however, smaller units are a double-edged sword.

On one hand, they offer an entry point into prime neighbourhoods, but on the other, they limit future family expansion and comfort.

The developer also points out that rental yields on smaller apartments remain higher — often eight to 10 per cent annually, compared to five to six per cent for larger homes — making them appealing to investors rather than end users.

In the article, Why Kenyan developers keep shrinking apartment sizes, Willstone Homes says the trend in Nairobi reflects Kenya’s urban evolution — where affordability, land scarcity, and modern aspirations collide.

“As the city grows upward and inward, the challenge lies not in reversing the downsizing, but in ensuring livable, efficient spaces for the millions calling Nairobi home,” it says.

“Compact or not, the city’s pulse remains strong — but its breathing space is getting smaller every year.”