3 Ways Nicole Keeps a Stylish Kitchen
When it comes to home decor, I would argue that no room works harder than the kitchen. It is one of the few rooms (or in little apartment “zones”) that has to meet the demand of feeding its inhabitants while also (hopefully) being not too rough to look at. Outside of the occasional cooking frenzy and the inevitable pile of dishes, I like to find a balance in my kitchen of form and function. Here are three of my favourite ways to keep our kitchen looking fresh and inviting for many a culinary adventure.
Sundries
Whether it’s wood boxes, glass jars or something in between, finding sundries that complement your kitchen is one of the biggest and easiest wins in making your cooking space feel like somewhere you want to spend time. I am a lifelong fan of a shaker kitchen style because it marries utility and styling in an intentional way, making things ready and available to use while still being pretty to look at. This is where my long-time obsession with mason jar storage comes in, I started doing this out of school and haven’t stopped since. Every time you buy pasta sauce, if you can get the label off, you get a free jar, it’s that simple! Very quickly you have a collection that may have slightly different heights and shapes, but overall is consistent and timeless. I love to keep dry goods like coffee, tea, and baking supplies in my glass selections, plus it’s always easy to see what jars you need to refill next time you go to the store. Inside our cupboards, I go for a more durable option with thin plastic containers. When it comes to low cabinets, things get lost quickly so my best solution is to use small sundries you can pull out like a drawer so you can keep track of everything you have. They don’t have to be the most beautiful containers but I’ll admit it makes my heart a little happier knowing they match behind my cupboard doors.
Clear Your Counters
Though it seems here that we are swimming in counter space (which frankly we are for a Toronto apartment) I can assure you this has not always been the case. In some apartments, we would have as little as 1 sq/ft of countertop to work with, making meals for two, or more if we had guests. Knowing this is such a precious piece of real estate I am a big fan of taking as much off of counters as possible. Nothing makes me want to cook less than a counter that is congested with appliances and things that I rarely use. This is why anything that lives on our counters (even now with ample space) has to earn its keep. Now we only keep our espresso maker, a few key jars of things we use daily, our knife block and our cutting boards out, and I would say this is a lot for us. For things like the toaster oven, we found many years ago that the top of the fridge was the perfect spot to tuck it away and out of sight to make the most of our space. It can take a lot of practice, and a lot of strategic organizing in your cupboards but I promise, your dreams of rolling long mounds of dough and living your best pastry chef life are much more possible when you have the space to do it.
Prioritize Pretty Tools
When we lived in an apartment a few years ago, we had almost no storage or counter space to speak of, so we had to start getting creative, making a faux pantry to keep the dry goods we were using ready and available. This dwelling taught me very quickly that I would have to look at almost everything I used to cook on a daily basis because there was no way to put it away. This included odds and ends like funnels, measuring cups and even cutlery. All of it was on display all the time, and if you and I have met, you know that I don’t do well when things aren’t aesthetic to the eye. This is when I started investing in quality tools that also had an element of sophistication, like brass hooks for quick-to-reach items, neutral tools in silver and gold and only including wood accents, all captured on my favourite storage solution, the peg rail. There’s something so lovely about having things ready and waiting for your to create, and I truly believe that you deserve a kitchen you want to create in.
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