The kitchen is a multipurpose space in our home dedicated to cooking, eating, entertaining and socializing. Since the kitchen is where we spend plenty of our favorite pastimes, its design should be not only be functional, but warm and inviting. If you’ve outgrown the look of your kitchen, small DIY upgrades and stylish renovations can significantly improve how you function in this space.

Lighting Replacements

Install new pendant light fixtures above your kitchen table and island. Pendant light fixtures are available in a wide range of of traditional and contemporary styles. Choose from extensive diverse options such as the colorful Pharos Modern Pendant Light (Niche Modern), unique Hand-blown Oculu Design Pendant Lamps (Niche Modern), charming Vintage Canning Jay Chandelier (LampGoods) and classic Bronze Funnel Pendant Light (Home Depot).

Rustic Accents

Home remodeling and design experts at Houzz.com suggest integrating rustic elements to create a warmer ambiance. Install custom wooden blinds for a distinctive and country home appearance. Distressed hardwood flooring will also create the organic feel of a farmhouse; laminate and vinyl hardwood flooring are low-budget options that can still aesthetically mimic the look of real wood. Houzz.com’s ideas include hanging copper pots and pans from a ceiling rack and pairing a kitchen bar or island with antique wooden stools.

Cabinet Refacing or Door Painting

Refacing your cabinetry or painting cabinet doors for a fresh look is a budget-friendly option for revamping your kitchen’s overall appearance. Remodeling the look of your kitchen with contrasting colors or textures can create a dynamic and stunning design. If your kitchen has a warm ambiance, then install dark chocolate natural wood or striking teal cabinet doors to become the aesthetic focal point. Another contrasting design idea is to paint the top and bottom halves of your kitchen two opposing colors. Mix beige with a dark blue-gray hue, white with a scarlet red, citrus with grapefruit pink or turquoise with sunshine yellow.

New Accessories

Upgraded kitchen accessories and tools can instantly change your kitchen’s appearance. Whether you hang organizational boards and racks on the wall to eliminate counter top clutter or swap out old hardware with stylish new handles and knobs, your kitchen will look fresh and made over.

• Crate & Barrel Stackable Glass Storage Jars, Heritage Hill Glass Jars with Lids and Stainless Steel Clip Canisters are decorative storage solutions. Fill jars and canisters with spices, sugar, flour, pasta, candy, snacks or even wine corks to display on countertops.
• Bowls and vases make eye-catching statement pieces. Place Pottery Barn vases in different shapes and sizes in kitchen corners and nooks. Accent vases with flowers, grass, wax fruit or themed ornaments such as seashells, acorns, holly or leaves.
• Chalk board paint will not only add character but also function for your kitchen. Paint the doors of a couple cabinets or your freezer and refrigerator doors. Adorn your chalk board with a running list of groceries or inspirational quotes. Children will also love to use the new surface as a playful canvas for drawing.

Other fun kitchen accessories include a Williams-Sonoma Tuscany cookbook holder, Kamenstein Revolving Space Rack with 16 Filled Jars and a Chateau-Thierry or 1940s Garment Shop Clock from Restoration Hardware.

This post was provided by Best Hoods, innovative and designer cooker hoods which are energy efficient, quiet and attractive with unique features.

Your home revolves around the kitchen, but it’s easy to forget this sometimes, especially in the busy run up to Christmas.   However, with our simple tips and tricks, it’s easy to inject some seasonal cheer in to the most important room in the house:

• Candles. Large church candles of different sizes look elegant huddled together on a window sill. Scented candles are lovely for a Christmas kitchen too.  Vanilla, cinnamon and pine are some of the most traditional holiday fragrances. But you can also find actual ‘Christmas’ scented candles that give your room instant holiday spirit. Candles create a lovely ambiance and warmth in a room. So dot them round your house for a simple, seasonal update.

• Ornaments. Intricate baubles and decorations look great when they’re hung from the handles of kitchen cabinets and on doorknobs.  Apple and pear shaped decorations are given a Christmas twist with added shimmer and sparkle. Pile these up in a glass bowl for a striking centerpiece on Christmas day.  Taking a walk around a Christmas market in your area can also help you to unearth some great trinkets, ideas and inspiration.

• Festive Foliage. Seasonal plants and flowers can’t fail to add little hints of Christmas magic to your house. Poinsettias are the ultimate holiday bloom. But incorporating roses, ivy and mistletoe in to your kitchen will brighten the bleakest of winter days.

• Christmas Candies. Christmas is the time of plenty, so it’s a great idea to fill your kitchen with jars and tins full of treats and titbits. Candy canes, traditional Italian style biscuits and cakes not only taste great but look inviting presented in bowls in the centre of the table.

• Be proud of your kitchen. If you’re hosting Christmas this year, it’s so important that you’re working in a kitchen that you’re proud to show off to friends and family. Make some time before the countdown to Christmas to organise your kitchen. Go through your cupboards and make plenty of room for your festive food and treats. A stylish, statement kitchen is truly the centre of your home.

A new and contemporary cooker hood will transform any kitchen from drab to designer. A hood from Best is beautiful and efficient, and provides the latest in extractor design and technology.  Choose a striking pendant hood – such as the Vintage – to add an extra touch of sparkle to your kitchen.

The following is a guest post from Barrie Smith

There’s a whole world of modern home accessories to choose from, whether you’re currently decorating your pad or on the hunt for the perfect home gift. Choose from something elegant and traditional, modern and funky or just unmistakably practical! Here’s our round-up of 5 great decorative accessories for your home:

Hanging Picture Pockets

Forget overpriced picture frames, now you can hang all those precious family photos in one place with these affordable and handy hanging picture pockets. Available in various sizes including a giant format to fit the back of a door, these photo pockets are also ideal for framing holiday postcards and special messages. The Large Hanging Picture Pockets can hold up to 40 photos in 20 pockets. For a nice home decor gift, fill a hanging picture pocket item with pictures that are sentimental to the recipient.

Russian Doll Bedside Glass Set

If you’re looking for a modern yet dainty piece of home decor, this practical bedside glass set could be just the thing. This useful, ornamental item is beautifully hand-blown and engraved to look like a Russian Doll of the 19^th century. The set features a jug and glass ideal for the bedside table, keep your water fresh throughout the night until you need to quench your thirst. This item measure 7” high and is hand wash only.

Scratch Maps

Add a real feature piece of art to your wall with an unusual scratch map! These are poster size maps that feature a scratch-able silver layer. You can choose from a UK & Ireland or World version on which you can scratch the places you have been once you visit them. This is a great accessory for any home; get the whole family involved as you discover new geographical locations. Scratch Maps make the perfect gift for any well-traveled friend or colleague and would make a fun feature for an office too.

Message Cushions

Discover these traditional looking feather-filled, elegant piped cushions with a modern twist! These elegant cream moire fabric accessories feature fun phrases on staying young or choose from other age-related messages. These accessories make the ideal birthday present or a nice treat for yourself when you’d like to make a statement on your sofa.  Made in England they measure 9″ x11”. Remember, you can never have too many cushions.

Key & Coin Organizer

Never experience that mad rush to find your keys again! Keep them in the same place each and every day with this specifically designed key and coin organizer. This modern and stylish accessory will look great on any desk, kitchen top or sideboard and will ensure you know exactly where your keys are every morning. This practical organizer also has a compartment designed for you to pop any loose change in when you get home each day. No more lost coins in the washing machine and you’ve always got change on hand for when you need to pop to the corner shop!

Article written by Barrie from PresentsForMen.co.uk – offering a unique collection of over 2,500 gifts including kitchen accessories.

You know those exquisite Christmas trees you see at the holidays?  The ones with the perfectly coordinated ornaments and dainty ribbons wrapped just so around the branches?  The ones with just the right number of lights and a beautiful star sitting atop like a golden crown?   I see them too – just not in my living room!

No, the Christmas tree at my house is usually misshapen, leaning slightly to one side and without fail, seems to always have a burnt out light bulb right in the front.  It also does not have perfectly coordinated ornaments.  It has baked clay hand prints that are so heavy they almost pull the branches right down to the ground, pipe cleaner reindeer that I have to re-shape after a long year in storage and one-of-a-kind paper snowflakes.  Needless to say, my tree is more sentimental than sensational.

But when I saw these copper kitchen ornaments from Williams-Sonoma I thought they would be a wonderful way to combine the sentimentality that I love about my tree with a more polished sophisticated look – at least on a few branches.   They would represent me and my love of both cooking and kitchen gadgets – a little piece of me on my tree.

These cute ornaments are actually miniature versions of classic French cookware ( I wonder if Julia Child decorated her tree with things like this?) and come as a set of three with a tiny 2“kettle, skillet and colander tied on a red ribbon.  They would look so beautiful when the lights reflected off of them.

So on my tree this year, if you look really closely in amongst the hand painted wooden Santa Claus’ and the crumbling year-old popcorn strings, you may just catch a glimpse of a shiny copper ornament peeking out so perfectly polished and pretty.