Day 8 Task: Bring fresh flowers or a plant into the kitchen Who can’t keep succulents alive, you ask? That would be me. But they’re the easiest plants to take care of! Yes, so I’ve been told. Like, seriously. So easy! I get it. Really, they require almost no water! OK STOP. I don’t know what it is, but I have terrible luck with plants.

For an affordable, good-looking dish rack that’ll fit in most small kitchens, you can’t do much better than Umbra’s Tub Dish Rack. Considering its small footprint, it holds quite a lot of dishes and it has a slightly angled base and spout to drain water right back into the sink! Made of BPA-free polypropylene, the Tub Dish Rack comes in white, red, avocado, and smoke.

Did you read our post on kitchen remodeling trends to avoid In the kitchen, a copper countertop is known as a “living” surface, which means that (like copper cookware) it reacts to acid. Unsealed copper countertops will oxidize and tarnish over time, giving it a unique patina with hints of red, green, and brown in it. (In other words, kitchen spills add character. If you’re a perfectionist, then the changeable nature of copper is probably not for you!

When Kitchn reader Nathalie bought her house ten years ago, the small 10×6 galley kitchen wasn’t anything to write home about. It was “barely functional, and completely uninspiring,” she told us. She tried to improve it by painting the walls red, but there was no denying the lack of both counter and storage space. Finally, after many years of saving, she hired a contractor and remodeled the whole thing, opting for eco-friendly materials every step of the way: So great!

Lazy susans don’t usually strike as something you’d want to keep out in the open, but the days of ugly, plastic lazy susans are behind us! Now you can find them made out of copper, slate, concrete, and some really beautiful wood. Here are 10 stylish versions that would look terrific helping to organize items on the countertop: 1 Copper Etched Lazy Susan, $149.50 from Frontgate 2 Marble Engraved Lazy Susan, $40 from True Ambition 99 3 J.K.

Looking for a simple, beautiful table setting idea for the holiday season? Teri and Jenny of Spoon Fork Bacon have you covered with these lovely rosemary wreath napkin rings. I’m not at all crafty, and even I think I can make these! All you need for this project are rosemary springs, floral wire, scissors, and twine. Once you have your (wonderfully smelling) wreaths ready to go, just place them on a folded napkin, or slide a napkin through them and stick the name tag on the side!

“I like to joke that this was the ‘Accidental Kitchen Remodel’ because what started as one project quickly snowballed into several, and our original ambition to make the kitchen just ‘liveable’ turned into making it just perfect,” Katherine tells us about her kitchen makeover. Yet even with that the whole project still came in under $400, and the result maintains the feel but adds a little finesse and personality.

Susan’s kitchen was in bad shape: “Every surface was starting to break down,” she wrote to us, like “loose light fixtures, slipping wallpaper, places where the vinyl floor was shrinking away from the walls, scarred Formica, and badly battered doors on the lower cabinets.” So with her house fully paid off and a home equity line sitting unused, she and her husband jumped into a renovation.

A painted wall may be nice, but it’s not surprising. A painted ceiling? Now that’s a little more unusual! Are you bold enough to paint your dining room ceiling a rich shade of emerald green? We’ve seen painted ceilings before (remember this punchy yellow ceiling?), and I’m always intrigued by them. This green version is, yes, in a grand dining room much larger than what most of us have, but it’s still an inspirational idea.

When Kitchn reader Deepthi and her husband bought their 1966 Bay Area home two years ago, they knew a kitchen renovation would be their top priority. As purchased, the kitchen had limited cabinet and counter space, old appliances, and no dishwasher! But with the help of a kitchen designer, the couple now has a sleek new space: Wow! It’s hardly recognizable. Such a sleek, clean color palette of grey and cream.

What if there was a glass you could use for anything? To hold a steaming cup of tea or a pour of wine? A glass designed in such a way that whatever you poured into it looked like it was floating in air? This, my friends, is the Molo Float glass. Molo Float glasses are handcrafted by master glassblowers in the Czech Republic, and are made from German borosilicate glass (this is why they can handle both hot and cold drinks without shattering).

In 2009 Kitchn reader Debbie and her husband bought a classic 1920s Chicago bungalow in a short sale from someone who’d been unable to flip it due to the recent housing crash. When the owner couldn’t sell the place for what he was asking, “he ripped out everything in the kitchen and just slapped stuff on the walls, including cheap cabinets that were literally attached to the walls with a few screws,” Debbie tells us.

Kitchn reader Jim’s 1970s kitchen was due for an overhaul — something that, as he told us, would “bring [it] into this decade.” So with a budget of under $10,000, Jim set out to give his kitchen a contemporary new look: What a transformation! Here’s what Jim tells us about his kitchen renovation: The original cabinet boxes were in great condition, so I had custom doors and end caps made and added new hardware for about $3400.

Back in late September we did a roundup of ceiling pot racks under $100. A few of you asked to see some wall-mounted pot racks in the same price range, so today I’ve put together a list of solid contenders. Whether your kitchen just can’t accommodate a ceiling pot rack, or you just prefer the look of a wall-mounted pot rack, here are 10 that won’t break the bank. TOP ROW 1 Roger Ultimate Wall-Mounted Pot Rack, $55.95 from Wayfair 2 Enclume Rack It Up Half Moon Pot Rack, $49.

Small kitchen cooks, rejoice! IKEA’s newest storage island is designed with you in mind. Adjustable shelves? Check. A cabinet with door and a roomy drawer? Check. A top that extends out on either side to double its size? Oh yes. And hurray for the chic gray and black color combo instead of the standard birch.

There’s no hiding the full-on vintage inspiration in this sunny Atlanta kitchen! Love the look? Want to emulate some of it in your own kitchen? Here are sources to help you get the look. If you recognize other elements in the kitchen, please fill in the blanks in the comments!

Two years ago we toured Alina’s beautiful New York kitchen, a rich, warm space full of pieces picked up on her travels around the world. While looking through this tour again recently, I found myself drawn to one photo in particular: a shot of a soap dispenser installed on the wall above Alina’s kitchen sink.

Where, oh where to store spices? If you’ve ever asked yourself this, you are not alone. Recently Kitchn reader Karen wrote to us about this very problem, and how she solved it: “As with many, where to store my growing collection of spices for easy access was a question,” she told us. “I decided to turn an awkwardly placed cabinet near my stove into a spice cabinet.” You can see her new spice racks above, but that’s not all there is to the story.

The nutty brown color and intricate wood grain make olive wood one of the prettiest woods you can have in the kitchen. I have a serving board similar to the one shown above, and it always makes for a great presentation. If you love the look of olive wood as well, there are plenty of kitchen accessories that make the most of this rich wood, including salt cellars, spoons, and even a citrus press! 1 Olive Wood Sauce Spoon, $14 from Scout House 2 Olive Wood Mortar and Pestle, $36.

I’ve always had a fondness for butter dishes. I owned a yellow Fiestaware version for many years before it suddenly broke into pieces. (Dropping it on the floor may have had something to do with it.) While the bright color was fun, I’m planning to go a little more classic, a little more understated this time around.

In August 2012 Kitchn reader Nicole and her family moved into a traditional colonial home and spent the next few months reworking the entire first floor. The kitchen underwent a major transformation, from the vintage vibe you see above (charming, perhaps, but not ideal) to a sleek space fit for a modern cook. See what the kitchen looks like now: More windows means even more light! We like the olive green cabinets, too.

Have you heard of Bulthaup? This high-end German kitchen manufacturer creates some of the most beautiful kitchens we’ve seen, with custom storage solutions and drawer organizers you have to see to believe. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the designs that make this company so dreamy: Bulthaup advertises that their interior organizers are designed to “fulfill every desire.

Kitchn reader Kim admits that the kitchen in her 1853 home wasn’t terrible, but it did have several features she and her husband weren’t wild about: tile countertops, vinyl flooring that covered up hardwood, and an electric cooktop mounted in the island, among other things. So, over the course of 16 months they did a complete remodel of the space, transforming it into a beautiful, cozy kitchen with a distinct industrial-vintage vibe.

When Kitchn reader Elizabeth moved into her Brooklyn apartment, it was a dull affair: “The kitchen floors were a brown linoleum that never looked clean, the cabinets were a mega mess, and the lighting couldn’t have been less desirable,” she wrote to us. “Nothing like halogen donut overhead bulbs!” But after a few DIY projects, including painting and redoing the kitchen floor, the new space is full of color and personality! See how her kitchen looks now: So cute!

Recently a friend told me she’d bought a magnetic knife strip ages ago, but had yet to hang it in her kitchen because she didn’t know where to put it. Sound familiar? If you can relate, it may surprise you to know that there are plenty of ways and places to hang a knife rack around the kitchen. There are definitely more than 10 places to hang a knife rack, but these ideas are a great starting place. This is where I hung my magnetic knife strip.

How do you take your morning coffee? If you can’t imagine anything other than wrapping both hands around a big bowl of café au lait (okay, or a latté — we’ll give you that!) then this is sure to be right down your alley. Do you know how many gorgeous vintage café au lait bowls there are out there? Too many to count! We put in a few of our favorites here, along with some brand new designs. Makes you want to curl up with one right now, doesn’t it?

Tux knows a thing or two about the frustrations of rental kitchens. His Brooklyn kitchen has a litany of them: “The floors are a pinky orange 90s faux terra cotta, the countertops are a horrible faux granite laminate in a weird speckled yellowy beige color… and the cabinets… are… I can’t even say it… honey oak! The horror!” he writes on his blog Brooklyn Homemaker.

“Everyone says the kitchen should be the heart of the home, but in ours, it’s the bowels.” That’s what Kitchn reader Rebecca wrote to us about her pre-renovation kitchen. Over time her 1958 kitchen had accumulated a long list of undesirables, including broken oven knobs and a dishwasher that when open blocked the dining room walkway. It was “all shabby, without the chic.