The kitchen island is undoubtedly a hardworking piece of furniture that serves a number of purposes – prep station, casual dining zone, homework spot, and it even makes a great home office location.
Therefore, the least you can do for this valuable addition to your kitchen is style it to perfection, and we’re going to show you how to do just that.
Here are 10 simple decorating ideas that will elevate your kitchen island to become the focal point of the whole space.
Tray
The kitchen can be a very messy place at times and throwing decorative items into the mix to spruce up your island will probably only worsen matters. All the more reason then to enlist the help of a tray to corral items and keep everything neat and tidy.
Better yet, go with a wooden tray and you’ll find that guests won’t stop oohing and aahing at the farmhouse vibes it affords.
Cookbooks
Proving that nothing is off the table when it comes to decorating a kitchen island, it turns out that cookbooks can double as decor.
Think about it – book covers are literally designed to be eye-catching in order to get picked off the shelf and so their credentials as home decor don’t really need explaining.
Arrangement is everything – stack a few of your prettiest hardcover cookbooks and your island is already deep into stylish territory.
Stools
No kitchen island is complete without bar stools – how else are you going to get comfy as you chat away to your other half while they fix supper?
If you’re trying to work out what this has to do with styling the island, consider that there are some truly funky designs out there, some of which will easily steal the limelight from the most charming of countertop decor.
Candles
We’ve all experienced those moments while cooking when nothing seems to be going right and the stress gets too much.
Given that candlelight is representative of peace and relaxation, it makes perfect sense to decorate the kitchen island with candles.
And if that doesn’t convince you, consider that candles are produced in many models and every kind of color, so even a flameless candle will bring all the visual pizzazz you require.
Vase
The kitchen is a high-traffic area and this means the accessories you put on your island are going to be seen pretty much all of the time. One particular item that can carry this kind of pressure with ease is a vase.
In fact, vases are probably one of the easiest centerpieces to go with because they look highly elegant on their own terms and you can take things up a notch by filling them with colorful blooms.
Dishes
If you have a carefully curated set of dishes then it’s high time you show them off. For the best results, stack dishes which have interesting edges or ridges as this will be the main attraction.
Take extra care to coordinate your dishes with any other kitchen island accessories so that it looks intentional and not like you’ve forgotten to put them away!
Words
Artwork can appear on any wall, in any part of the home, and it will look great.
However, the nature of kitchen islands is such that they can be viewed from every angle, and so no matter how pretty that painting is, you’re going to encounter the back of it from time to time, which isn’t ideal.
Word art is much better is this sense, not just because it’s three-dimensional, but certain words evoke certain emotions, so you can quite literally control the mood of the room with your choice of word art.
Greenery
Whatever you choose to display on the kitchen island, it’s going to be the center of attention, but there’s very few forms of decor that can sustain that level of interest day in, day out.
Thanks to their pop of color and lush organic texture, houseplants are absolutely up there with the best of them, never failing to stimulate the eye for hours on end.
And if you don’t fancy taking on the responsibility of caring for real-life plants, you’ll be pleased to know that artificial ones will have most people fooled.
Lighting
The island is the only part of the kitchen where you can get away with low-hanging light fixtures i.e. pendant lights – a truly stylish addition that’s simply too good to pass up.
And besides, they will give your kitchen something called layered lighting – a light source for every kind of need.
Just like how under-cabinet lighting makes life easier when using the kitchen counters, pendants can be a source of task lighting to help you safely and accurately perform certain tasks on your island such as chopping up vegetables.
Linens
Kitchens are full of hard surfaces and tough equipment to bear the brunt of everyday cooking. All the more reason to introduce softer elements when the opportunity arises.
Kitchen linen in the form of cloth napkins, table runners and hand towels are therefore a welcome accessory as part of your kitchen island presentation, helping to balance out those straight lines and sharp corners with some much-needed softness and texture.