5 Stylist Hacks You Should Know For Clutter Free Kitchen Counter Decorating
Do you love the idea of decorating your kitchen counter but hate cluttered countertops?
Styling your kitchen counters doesn’t have to be hard, but the fear of doing it wrong or “adding too much stuff” can hold you back.
Consider me your kitchen counter-styling fairy godmother! Because I am both a home stylist AND organizer, I totally understand the struggle between wanting things to be pretty and orderly. So I’m here to help share some of my favorite clutter-free kitchen counter decorating strategies to help you get started.
With the 5 doable kitchen counter decorating strategies in this post, you’ll have your counter decorated by the end of the day!
Hint: Hidden in the depths of this post, you may find a bit of freebie bonus content to help you on your journey. Here’s the first one:
Download my free Kitchen Organizing Workbook now
Now, let’s get into those kitchen counter decorating tips!
#1: Lean Into It
One important styling skill is learning to create vignettes. A vignette is the decorating term for a small grouping of decorative objects.
The more you practice making purposeful and balanced groupings of items, the better your home decorating results will be!
In the kitchen, I usually create groupings based on use. This often includes a tray right by the stove with things frequently used for dinner prep such as salt, pepper, oils, and utensils.
Another popular vignette is a coffee area (because most of us need our morning joe!).
Creating vignettes is an art that can be learned, but one of the most important tips to know is that you need to vary the heights of the objects you include.
Adding a tall element to the back of a kitchen arrangement is a great way to decorate your kitchen counter without adding clutter because it will add interest without taking up much counter space.
Some of my favorite taller items to lean behind a grouping include:
- Pretty cookbook (facing outward)
- Cutting board with an interesting texture
- Framed artwork
- Woven baskets
- Special serving pieces such as platters or bowls on a stand
Tip: Leaning objects are the perfect way to camouflage unused electrical outlets in your kitchen backsplash too!
#2: Display Things You Actually Use
One of my favorite strategies is to purchase the most aesthetic version of a necessary object as possible. I find it helps me keep my kitchen counters fun and functional!
You’ve probably seen this in action in Pinterest kitchens before and it’s easy enough to do, but it isn’t always something people recognize when they see it in action.
You can find a more in-depth look at some of my favorite kitchen styling products here.
Hint: Check out the rest of my LTK store for more favorite styling objects!
#3: Ditch The Labels
When you’re living a real life in a real house, finding a balance between keeping out the things your family uses and wanting a clear and clean counter can feel impossible.
If you want to make an immediate improvement, here is something you should quit doing: looking at product packaging.
In other words, decant, decant, decant.
Product packaging is a sneaky and especially irritating source of visual clutter. It is designed with the exact purpose of getting your attention so you will select it out of a sea of similar options on the grocery store shelf. Good for sales and marketing, bad for creating a calm and clutter free kitchen counter.
Often brightly colored, full of words and distracting images, product packaging does not belong on your counter!
If you can’t hide an item (such as a bag of coffee) behind a cabinet or in a drawer, you should either decant it into or tuck the package inside an opaque lidded jar, lidded basket, or other container.
Some decanting ideas to improve your kitchen counter decorating:
- Pour hand soap into a glass pump (or at the very least, peel off the sticky label)
- Transfer oil and vinegar into a matching set of cruets if the bottles don’t match your decor
- Use a salt cellar to grab a pinch of salt
- Invest in a gorgeous pepper mill
- Place frequently used staples like baking supplies or coffee in easy to grab canisters
Tip: If an item can’t be decanted, put it inside a deep bowl or basket.
#4: Create A Surface Upon A Surface
In most of the images in this post you will see that the groupings of objects shown read as “one” item because they are on top of an “anchor” that is placed on the countertop.
Consider using:
- Shallow baskets
- Trays
- Cutting boards
- Turntables
- Small stacks of cookbooks
Scour your storage areas and look for objects that can be repurposed to create a landing zone for your functional vignettes.
Sometimes the perfect solution is just sitting around waiting for a second life
Related Post: Organize A Baking Station
#5: Conceal Things In Corners
Sometimes there are heavy, frequently used items that you just have to leave out on the counter. The best thing you can do to make this reality work with your goal of decorating your kitchen counter is to find the least visible home for the object.
Whether you’re trying to hide your husband’s countertop gun safe (as one of my organizing clients was) or you simply want to keep your heavy KitchenAid stand mixer out of the way, the corners are your friend.
Stand back and look at your kitchen from a distance and you will quickly see which countertop areas will be the least distracting locations for bulky or unsightly items
Key Takeaways
I hope this post has given you some easy-to-implement ideas to help improve your kitchen counter decorating and manage clutter. Some of these you may have tried and others will likely be new. Either way, there should be enough for you to dig in!
They don’t look so hard, do they?
From learning to create functional vignettes to bookmarking some pretty storage solutions, I hope you found something to help you meet your goal of decorating a clutter-free kitchen counter.
What’s your favorite idea from the above? Send me a message and let me know!
Remember, if you want to stay on top of new decorating and organizing content, you can always join my mailing list. I send incredibly helpful ideas, articles, and challenges to your inbox to help you achieve your goals for your home and learn to love the space you have even more!
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xoxo,
