Get tips to decorate your kitchen countertops practically, while also keeping them beautiful!
My kitchen has gone through so many changes over the years, and now that the space is feeling more complete, I’m so happy to do the fun part: decorate!
When it comes to decorating in the kitchen, it’s so important to use functional decor.
Kitchens are typically the heart of the home and, for good reason. We gather in them. We cook and eat in them. We hang out in them.
We want our kitchen to look nice because of how often it’s used, and there’s definitely a way to do that by using practical and beautiful kitchen decor!
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Before we chat about how to decorate kitchen countertops beautifully and practically, here are some other kitchen-related posts:
- The time we got new white quartz kitchen countertops (our old ones were granite)
- Our extreme DIY kitchen makeover
- Five mistakes I made when designing our kitchen
- Kitchen cabinet color combination
Now, let’s get to the good stuff: decorating our kitchen countertops!
HOW TO DECORATE KITCHEN COUNTERTOPS
There are a few key things to consider when decorating your kitchen countertops. You want to consider the color scheme and the practicality of the items.
Plus, there are several small items in your kitchen you can swap out right away for fairly cheap to get a beautiful and functional look on your kitchen countertops! More on that below.
CONSIDER COLOR SCHEME
The first thing to consider is the colors of the items you’re using to decorate your kitchen countertops.
To keep them looking beautiful, you want the decor and items in your kitchen to have a coordinating palette.
For my kitchen, I use the following color tones: off-white, white, dark gray, light wood, amber, stainless steel, brown and black. Notice that new runner rug pulls all the colors together in the space!
Color schemes are important, but there are definitely a couple exceptions to this!
Flowers are definitely an exception to this! If you have a fresh bouquet of flowers, no matter the color, they’ll look beautiful on your kitchen countertops.
Another exception to this is when you have fresh fruit or fresh vegetables on display!
BE PRACTICAL
When decorating kitchen countertops, it’s important to remember that the kitchen is a place of function. You want all the decor to work for you!
Essentially, you want to decorate with items that are functional! Functional items can also act as decor, in my opinion.
You can to put items on your counters that you’re actually going to use daily. For us, that means keeping out our coffee machine and latte maker.
We use both on a daily basis, so they act as decor for our countertops.
We also use our toaster pretty frequently so it stays out on our kitchen counters as well.
Swap Small Kitchen Items
There are several small items you can swap out right now to create a more sophisticated look on your kitchen countertops.
Those items include:
If you have generic soap dispensers, consider swapping them out with ones like these amber glass soap dispensers. They are an inexpensive update and one really elevates the sophistication level.
I love having one for hand soap and dish soap on the counter so I don’t have to constantly bring my dish soap up and down from the lower cabinet.
If you use olive oil as much as we do, you’ll love having an oil bottle on your kitchen countertops. I have a clear glass one, but I suggest getting a darker colored one or an opaque one.
The reason I prefer a darker one – like this oil dispenser – is because you can see the yellow oil in the clear glass dispenser, which throws off the color palette in the kitchen.
Salt and pepper grinders are a kitchen counter staple, in my opinion. We use ours all the time – practically for every meal. By investing in some salt and pepper grinders, you’ll have some practical kitchen counter decor.
A simple white utensil holder is perfect to have near your cooktop. To keep with the esthetic of your well put together kitchen decor, I suggest only putting wooden spoons and wooden items in your utensil holder. You can store your other cooking utensils in a kitchen drawer.
DECOR OPTIONS FOR YOUR KITCHEN COUNTERTOPS
If you need some ideas of practical and beautiful decor items to use on your kitchen countertops, here are some of my favorites:
- Cutting boards (I love this one and these round ones!)
- Cookbooks (one of my favorites is Fraiche Food, Full Hearts)
- Jars for sugar and flour (I have these heritage jars, which are budget-friendly and come in different sizes)
- Candle
- Plant (faux or real) – These faux plants are nice options.
- Bowl with fresh fruit and/or veggies (this black bowl is a great option and the one I use to display fresh produce.)
- Fresh or faux flowers, if you have them
- Knife set
- Latte or coffee maker (I have this espresso machine, and it’s the best!)
There you have it! I hope you got some decor ideas for your kitchen countertops!
