The Kitchen Trend From Decades Past That Makes Counters Feel Both Outdated And Cluttered

If your kitchen counter is stacked with flower vases, fruit bowls, inspirational signs, and accent trays, it might be time for a refresh. You might remember the trendy farmhouse kitchen designs of the 2010s, with the mason jars, decorative jugs, and even the twinkle lights that lingered on countertops. Similarly, adding ceramic chickens or faux grape bowl counter centerpieces were a popular kitchen trend in the 2000s. At the time, they were there to impart playful style and flare. Now, decades later, they only take up space. The kitchen trend of covering countertops with decorative items deserves to stay in the decades past, since it really just makes counters feel outdated and cluttered.

Today, modern kitchens are more about minimalism than filling the space with nicknacks. All in all, when taking stock of what's on your kitchen counter, if an item doesn't serve an important culinary function (ie. an everyday appliance, paper towel roll, or utensil holder), it could be time to retire it or move it elsewhere. This means that, if you have a chalk-board wall or message board circa 2015 sitting on your kitchen countertop, you might be tempted to keep it to write and display the week's grocery list. But in staying with the times, there are other, more space-optimizing alternatives, such as magnetic message boards that can be stuck on the wall or fridge. Or you can lean on streamlined digital organizational apps or paper lists. 

You can apply this same rule to the rest of the items on your counters, too. Once you've cleared them of the decorative jars, bowls, and ceramic decor pieces, you'll have much more space to work with. But, rather than leaving your kitchen completely de-void of personality, you can re-decorate with pieces that simultaneously serve a functional purpose. 

Just because you remove decor to refresh, modernize, and free up counter space, doesn't mean you can't add tasteful decorative touches to the kitchen. On the contrary, instead of placing non-functional items on the countertops, you can add style by decorating with items you actually use and placing them in areas that make them easily accessible. For instance, you can hang your shiny, copper pots and pans on the wall near your stove and display your favorite coffee mugs on an open shelf near your coffee station. Fancy and clean chef knives also make for a nice focal point when displayed on a magnetic, wall-mounted knife strip close to your cutting board. Also, rather than crowding house plants on the counter, you can place fresh herbs in the windowsill to serve as an indoor herb garden. 

While you're doing that, remove the decorative dry ingredient canisters filled with pasta, baking flour, and rice from the counters and place them in the pantry or on open shelving; place any decorative bowls on top of the fridge or under the counter to free up counter space; and employ a vertically stacked spice rack or place such items out of eye's reach in the pantry. Overall, when decorating your kitchen to be sleek and minimalist, you want to present the eye with functional, commonly used items. You also want to avoid common kitchen eyesores that create excess clutter by leaning into kitchen organization hacks that provide more room for cooking, rather than unnecessarily stuffing the space.