How to Style a Kitchen for Everyday Enjoyment

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Welcome to the last week of Summer School! We’ve talked all things styling the past few weeks, from how to style an entry, to how to style a bedroom, to how to style a living room. And here we are on week four, tackling perhaps the most unexpected room to style: the kitchen!

In the past, kitchens have been tucked away as more private spaces, but now most kitchens become the natural hangouts of the home. It’s a meeting place where friends often gather to catch up with you during dinner prep, a site to chat with in-laws while washing dishes, and a spot to share a snack with your kids during homework time. I believe that kitchens are one of the most personal areas of the house, where you can show off your love of cooking or your collection of English tea plates.

Since the kickoff of this series, I’m emphasized that we’re styling your home for you, at the end of the day. This isn’t about how you make your kitchen shine for anyone else but you. The kitchen is often a well-loved part of the home, so let’s make it more beautiful and inviting for every day!

Collecting Pieces with Form AND Function

Chris Loves Julia | Kitchen island styled with a wooden bowl filled with artichokes

The best thing is that you can style an entire kitchen with beautiful versions of necessary things as functional decor. Everything from fruits and vegetables to pots and kettles. Yes there are a few added things that aren’t exactly functional for cooking, like stems or flowers and candles or art, but they bring me joy.

And this is my key lesson for kitchen styling: If it’s out in sight, make it pretty. You won’t be spending additional money styling your kitchen with things you maybe don’t need. And all the things you actually use, you won’t have to put away.

I love the idea of books in every room, and the kitchen is obviously a great spot for cookbooks, if that’s something that you love to collect. That’s actually the main reason we put the bookshelves in our kitchen: In previous homes, we didn’t have a spot for them, and they were often mixed with other books and not reached for as much. When we were designing this kitchen, we really went through the thought process, “What do we have and what do we want on display? What do we need stored away?”

The Styling Pieces I Love

A lot of the things we use everyday, we put on display. We made little nooks in our range hood for frequently used spices and little wooden spoons that Chris uses for seasoning as well as a mortar and pestle. Another item that most people have out is a crock for their utensils. You’re only going to buy one of those, so make sure it’s one that you really want!

Lamps count as another item that doesn’t help you whip up salads, but they really create a vibe! I love a kitchen lamp, any sort of flower or stem, art, and candles are things that I bring into my kitchen to add to the functional decor. When we’re buying things for the kitchen like pans or another bowl or even spice jars, I always think it’s worth getting the one that is easy in the eyes, the one we wouldn’t mind seeing out and, yes, the one that meshes well with our kitchen! There’s no shame in getting a pretty set of measuring cups or passing on the bright purple spatula that would stick out like a sore thumb—even in a drawer. Once, a set of neon green washcloths appeared in our towel drawer and they only lasted a couple days before I said, THESE SIMPLY WILL NOT DO! I can’t look at them! Our kitchen shelves are filled with pots and pans, and serving dishes and bowls and copper canisters—all things we use day to day and all things we cherish. Even a cloche for baked goods can be so pretty on display, even if it’s empty!

Mixing Metals and Colors

My piece of advice when it comes to mixing metals? Mix them freely! The very first time you bring a new metal in to the kitchen, you’re going to be like, “This doesn’t match!” But you’re going to add to it. Our kitchen has copper pots on shelves with brass rods in front of them and a brass picture light overhead. We have stainless steel appliances. Our faucet is polished nickel. Maybe that first piece is going to feel out of place, but then as long as there are two representations of the same metal, then you’re fine.

The tricky thing is when you start bringing in different colors that aren’t metals, like a mixer or a dutch oven. I would say think about those purchases in the realm of your whole kitchen. If you already have a really colorful KitchenAid Mixer and you want to leave that out, that will dictate the color scheme of your kitchen. You can bring the color in again in a little print on a cafe curtain or a lamp.

I tend to stick with metallics or a neutral color for things that will be left out. We have a lot of cast iron pots on display, and almost all of them are a white, cream, or black.

The All-White Kitchen Conundrum

I’ve heard a lot of people ask, “How can I bring color into my kitchen in a sophisticated way?” Let’s say you’re starting with an all-white kitchen (a very popular choice that can be beautiful!). If you want to bring some character to it, I would add art, I would add some wood butcher blocks you can keep on the island or counter, I would add a vintage rug or one that has some vintage tones in it, and a really beautiful flat bowl that you can keep out. I also love the idea of adding a cute cafe curtain with a small pattern on it.

When I’m purchasing fruit or vegetables to use as a styling piece (that we’re also going to eat, mind you), I focus on one piece of fruit at a time. I’m guilty of this myself: I thought I was supposed to have a fruit bowl filled with all sorts of fruit to style a kitchen. Now I’ve learned to stick to one type of fruit or vegetable in a bowl and it will increase the appeal. My go-tos are a bowl of apples, oranges, artichokes, mangoes, or pears. I think pears are one of the most beautiful fruit to have on display — plus they’re just delicious to eat. Just stick with one of those, and you’ll have a beautiful setup with a pop of color!

Scents and Sensibility

I love to have a candle in the kitchen as well — it can help mask strong cooking odors and add a cozy vibe. Now, there are scents that tend to go in a kitchen and wouldn’t necessarily go anywhere else. I’ve seen tomato leaf candles and then there’s a salt candle that smells good anywhere. MadeIn makes a Kitchen Candle Set – the Tear of Basil scent that is sooo great for a kitchen, but I wouldn’t necessarily use somewhere else in my house. I feel the same way about any sort of lemon, sweet cookie, or pumpkin pie aromas. Yes, I love them in seasonally in the kitchen, but I don’t want to smell them anywhere else. Or you can get a candle that’s more “evergreen” so to speak, meaning it can go from the kitchen to another room with ease (I like scent notes like figs, amber, or bergamot).

There are so many things you probably already have that you can use to style your kitchen. Here are some of the things that I use to set a welcoming scene:

Things I Use To Style Kitchens:

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Shiny: brass oil cruet, kettle, pots/pans, cabinet hardware, dinner bell, candlesticks
Texture: dish towels, vases, cafe curtain, runner, wooden spoons, cutting boards, mortar & pestle
You: small art, recipes, cookbooks, calendar, framed photos
Lighting: pendant lights, sconces, picture light, table lamps
Inviting: bowl with fruit or vegetables (real or faux), candle, soap/lotion, music speaker
Necessary: chopping board, salt/pepper shaker, crock for wooden spoons/spatulas, pretty (and useful) appliances, clock
Greenery: stems, small plant