Is your kitchen less than 120 square feet? Have you made it more beautiful, healthy, or functional? We want to showcase your kitchen, with all your improvements, smart ideas, and the challenges you've overcome. Enter for a chance to win great prizes, and to share your ideas with over 3 million fellow readers.
Contest Divisions
- RENTED - Kitchens under 120 square feet, in a home rented by the contest entrant
- OWNED - Kitchens under 120 square feet, in a home owned by the contest entrant
- INTERNATIONAL - Kitchens under 120 square feet, in a home located outside of the United States. (Non-US entries not eligible for prizes, for tax and legal reasons.)
Submission Deadlines
- Submissions for the Small Cool Kitchens 2012 Contest will be accepted beginning Friday July 6 (7/06/2012). The deadline for entering the contest is Sunday July 22 (07/22/2012) at 23:59:59 EST.
What to Submit?
- 5 Photos + Floorplan - Send us 5 great photos of your kitchen, plus a floorplan. (The floorplan can be a quick sketch, an architect's blueprint, or anything in between. We just want to get a sense of how your kitchen is laid out.) Check out these 4 good tips here for taking great photos of your kitchen.
- Show a Major Improvement - One of the 5 photos must be of a challenge overcome, a beautification, or a smart improvement in the kitchen.
- Contest Form - Make sure you complete all the required fields on the contest entry form.
Contest Schedule
- Friday July 6 — Submission form opens.
- Sunday July 22 — Submission form will close and no entries will be accepted after 23:59:59 EST
- Monday July 9 through Thursday August 2 — Selected entries will be posted. Each posted entry will include a "Favorite" button to register positive reader feedback.
- Friday August 3 — SEMI-FINAL TALLY: "Favorites" support will be tallied and the top 2 entries (those with the most "Favorites") from each kitchen division (OWN/RENT) will be included in a final survey vote to determine the grand prize winner.
- Friday August 3 — FINALS VOTING: Voting begins in the finals. Readers can vote in the survey for their single favorite kitchen out of the top 4 U.S. entries.
- Tuesday August 7 — WINNERS ANNOUNCED: The top winner (regardless of original own/rent category) will be announced as the Grand Prize Winner.
- The top international entry (as determined by "Favorites") will be recognized as the International Winner.
Contest Rules
- We’re collecting entries from July 6 through July 22, 2012. Submission forms will close and no entries will be accepted after 23:59:59 EST. No late submissions will be accepted.
- Selected entries will be posted beginning July 9. Readers may respond by choosing their favorite entries. Readers may mark as many entries as they like as favorites during this period. Readers may mark each entry as a favorite only once. This initial round of selecting favorites will conclude on August 2 at 23:59:59 (midnight) EST.
- We will announce 4 finalists (the top two favorites from each RENT/OWN division) based on reader favorite feedback on August 3.
- An international winner will also be determined at this time based on the reader favorite feedback.
- The 4 national finalists will then compete in a final round to determine the National Grand Prize Winner. Votes will be collected through 23:59:00 EST on August 2.
- A National Grand Prize Winner (the entry receiving the greatest number of votes during the final round) will be announced on August 7.
- Read the U.S. Rules or the International Rules for more information.
Contest Eligibility
- The floorplan and 5 entry photos should feature a single kitchen under 120 square feet, a size determined by measuring the entire size of the primary cooking area of the home, including any countertop or storage space. The home must be lived in by the contest applicant—it can be owned, rented or sublet. The home can be designed by a professional, weekend hobbyist or design enthusiast.
- Readers age 18 and up are invited to enter the contest and share their home. Due to legal limitations and shipping costs, only U.S. residents are eligible to win the national contest prizes. International readers are invited to submit entries for exhibition on the site but are not eligible to win the National contest prizes.
- Once submitted, no contest entry may be changed, altered or enhanced.
- One entry per household. Only one Apartment Therapy user account per person.
- Entries may NOT include links to other webpages or Apartment Therapy pages. Reader comments that include links will be deleted.
- Employees of Apartment Therapy Media and their immediate families or household members are not eligible to enter the contest.
- Winner is solely responsible for any and all local, state, and federal taxes incurred upon claiming a prize. Apartment Therapy Media will file a 1099 tax form for prizes valued at or above $600.
- International readers are invited to submit entries for exhibition on the site, but they are not eligible to win prizes. For tax and legal reasons, prizes may only be awarded to US residents.
Prizes
- National prizes: The Grand Prize winner will receive a collection of cooking tools and small electrics. The 4 Division Finalists will receive a collection of cooking tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is my kitchen too big to enter?
All kitchens under 120 square feet (including countertop and cupboard footprints) are eligible.
I think 120 square feet is too big to be called a “small” kitchen! Where do I complain?
We want to allow for modern preferences for open kitchens, which often occupy a disproportionately large part of a home, even in small apartments. We also do not want to focus purely on the size of the kitchen, as the point of this event is to find inspiration and good ideas in all kitchens of relatively modest size. Any questions about contest rules should be directed to the email address below, and not posted in individual entry comment threads. Comments on the administrative rules of the contest will be deleted from contest posts.
When are submissions due for 2012 Small Cool Kitchens Contest?
All entries are due by by July 22, 2012, at 23:59:59 EST.
When are entries posted on The Kitchn?
Selected entries will be posted beginning Monday, July 9.
I received confirmation that you received my entry. Why wasn’t my entry posted?
Our system does not automatically post entries as they are submitted. Our team selects the best entries to post. Not all submissions may be posted due to space limitations and it is up to The Kitchn to post the strongest submissions. Entries are posted through July 29 so please do not inquire about the status of your submission until that date.
Can I promote my entry to my friends, family, Twitter followers, Facebook friends, and beyond?
Absolutely! Invite people to come and support you. However, you may not offer any payment, goods, or services in return for votes or support from others.
Someone cheated! What happens now?
Each reader can favorite a single entry only once. Each reader can vote for a finalist only once. In response to recurrent issues of cheating in our past contests, we now have tools and systems in place to detect when a single reader signs up multiple times to favorite or vote repeatedly for a single entry. (We take into account households sharing a single IP address.) In cases of obvious cheating, we remove the duplicate votes from the entry's favorite or vote count, but the entry itself is not disqualified from competition. Cheating is bad karma. It's not worth the trouble.
How are finalists/winners chosen?
National division finalists and the International favorite are chosen by the readers during the favoriting process and then a final vote will determine the National Grand Prize Winner.
Still have questions?
If you need help or have more questions, please email help@apartmenttherapy.com
