Tableware & Decor

We have yet to see a backyard, patio, or balcony strung up with strands of globe lights that didn’t make us immediately envious — and these 10 outdoor spaces from Apartment Therapy’s home tours are no exception. Steal some inspiration before your next summer gathering on how to artfully hang your own lights. No outdoor outlet? No problem. You can even find solar-powered strands This lush backyard looks like the perfect place to relax on a summer evening.

It’s one thing to do the Thanksgiving menu on a budget; it’s another thing to set a beautiful table. Can you host 10 people for dinner and set a gorgeous seasonal table while on a budget? Certainly! And you don’t even have to be particularly crafty. For this budget Thanksgiving table, I worked with Chelsea Mohrman, the blogger and stylist behind Farm Fresh Therapy. Here’s how she cleverly set a beautiful table with just a few simple things.

When we first came across this kitchen, we didn’t think too much about it. But on closer inspection, we discovered there are several details that make it really stand out. The designer, Caitlin Wilson, has made a lot of smart choices to create a beautiful and cohesive space. Let’s take a look at five details you can put to use in your own kitchen.

When I moved into my apartment, I did a half DIY job on my kitchen table, which is also our dining table. I painted the top and attached the legs, but it wasn’t really a building project. But now that we’re getting into fall, I’m getting the itch to tackle new projects, and a new DIY dining table just might be on my list. Here are the tutorials I’ve been looking to for inspiration. Maybe you’ll feel inspired to build something too.

“The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious.” — Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume Beets are indeed deadly serious, or at least they’re intense, concentrated, rich in color, and unmistakable in their boldness.

When we first saw this kitchen, we immediately wanted to pack our bags and head to New Orleans for a visit. The pied-à-terre apartment in the French Quarter looks like the perfect respite from a busy life. Of course, as we took a closer look, we found several tips and ideas we can steal for our own kitchens. Part of the charm of this kitchen is that it stays true to the character of both the building and the neighborhood.

While fine china might be on the way out as a common wedding registry item, there’s no shortage of contemporary homes that have china cabinets and hutches. Whether you have a matching set of dishes or you have gathered pieces over the years, a glass-fronted cabinet is a wonderful way to display your collection. Here are six of our favorite examples of beautifully arranged, albeit untraditional, china cabinets.

Glass pendant lamps are one of our favorite ways to illuminate a kitchen. Pendant lamps have been popular for a long time — especially over island counters or dining tables — but we’ve seen more and more clear glass lamps popping up recently. Why are they so great? Mostly because they are almost invisible in your space. This can be a huge deal for a small kitchen or dining area.

Q: As someone who has always been pastry bag-phobic, I have had a few occasions to use one in the last month and have been pleasantly surprised at the results. I’m now thinking I’d like to be able to create a nice-looking birthday cake, or something on that level. I browsed some cake decorating blogs, but what I found wasn’t to my taste and/or skill level.

Beadboard is one of those things that just evokes a classic beachy vibe no matter where you install it. If you’re planning a beach house remodel, or just want to lend some breeziness to your home, adding beadboard to your backsplash, walls, or even your ceiling is an easy way to channel that feeling. Here are seven examples of beadboard in the kitchen that nail the beach house vibe.

If you’re lucky enough to find yourself with outdoor space, we’re going to guess dining al fresco is one of your favorite summer activities. But if you’re faced with a small balcony, or even just a fire escape, how do you make the most of the space so you can have dinner in the great outdoors? Here are some space-saving solutions that prove that no matter its size, a balcony is meant to be enjoyed.

Whether you have a formal dining room or a small eat-in kitchen, adding a bench instead of individual chairs can be a great choice for many reasons. Not only can it be more economical (depending on how large your table is, the cost of your chairs can really add up!), but it can also make for a more versatile seating arrangement. Plus, you can often tuck the bench under the table and out of the way if you need more floor space. Here are 15 of our favorite takes on dining tables with benches.

It’s Breakfast Week at The Kitchn, and also the week before Mother’s Day, so that means we would be remiss if we didn’t at least mention breakfast in bed. But we’re going to do more than just mention it. We’ve gathered 18 of our favorite breakfast-tray-in-bed inspirations that will have you brewing your coffee and then crawling back under the covers.

The first set of cloth napkins I can remember owning was a cream-colored pair given to me as a gift. They were lovely out of the box, but didn’t stay lovely long. It only took a couple saucy dinners and a few lazy loads of laundry to relegate them to the back of my linen closet. Dingy, stained white napkins are just too sad. After this I was off cloth napkins for a few years, convinced they were too fussy for regular use.

I’m about to show you one of my favorite kitchen types. It’s what I like to call the Ugly Duckling kitchen — the kitchen with vintage cabinets, dated countertops, basic appliances, or other uninspiring details. The Ugly Duckling kitchen is often found in rentals, and likely hasn’t been updated in a few decades. On the surface it really doesn’t look like much. But Ugly Duckling kitchens?

Everybody knows that pizza is the moving-day meal of choice — pizza shops are everywhere, open continuously, and deliver. Bonus: You don’t need plates or silverware to eat pizza, and everyone loves it! But what about the first morning in your new place? If your boxes haven’t arrived yet or you just haven’t gotten around to unpacking (moving day was stressful enough!), you’ll need some basic-as-it-gets kitchen supplies so you don’t have to turn to takeout.

This week we’re learning more about IKEA’s new SEKTION kitchen cabinets, thanks to the help of Dan Goldman from Brooklyn’s PANYL. Now we’re about to see SEKTION in action! Earlier this month Dan and Ron Youmans of The Kitchen Couple installed a SEKTION kitchen in a Boerum Hill, Brooklyn rental apartment. Here’s a play-by-play of their installation experience.

Need multiple trash bins? Have a deep or corner cabinet that’s underutilized? Have we got a find for you. It may be a little weird to geek out over a trash can setup, and yet that is what’s happening here. This compact, under-the-cabinet three-trash-bin setup is so smart! I’m just imagining standing over the bins: “And YOU, bottle, go here (plink!), and YOU, food scraps, go here (plop!), and YOU, old newspaper, go here (drop!). Now swing back under the cabinet!

We’ve shown you how to line kitchen drawers and shelves with self-adhesive Con-Tact paper. It’s not hard, but if you’re looking for a cabinet decorating solution that requires even less effort and skill, forget the sticky stuff altogether and pick up a roll of pretty wrapping paper. That’s what the ladies of Lulu & Georgia did. They chose a roll of the gorgeous Rosa Wrapping Sheets from Rifle Paper Co.

Ah, it’s the most wonderful time of the year — a time for making holiday wreaths, homemade edible gifts, and Christmas cookies, of course! So why not take a little time to make your kitchen look as festive as it smells? Here are eight small, easy ways to spruce up your kitchen for the season. Gingerbread garland, via Donna Hay: How cute is this? Donna Hay provides a recipe and tutorial for this garland, so you can hang these little men anywhere in your kitchen.

I’m a bit obsessed with holiday wreaths at the moment, particularly because there are so many beautiful ways to make one. Have you ever tried it? My favorite designs are those that weave in herbs and seasonal fruit. Practical and pretty? Sign me up! Here are five of my favorites. Clementines, eucalyptus, and baby squash, via Style Me Pretty: We adore how Molly of En Fleur Event Design uses clementines and baby squash in her holiday wreath.

Hush. Do you hear that? It’s the sound of all other holiday tables bowing down to the glory that is this Thanksgiving table from Apartment 34. In case it’s not obvious, here are three things we love about this table (and totally plan on stealing for ourselves at some point this holiday season). This is mix-and-match at its finest! If you look closely, you’ll notice that every place setting is a little different.

With just one week to go until Halloween, we’ve got a simple (and edible!) decoration that you’ve got to try. Whether you’re hosting a party or just hanging out at home with your family, this sweet DIY creation is perfect for adding a little holiday flair to your tabletop. Plus, who doesn’t love decorations that also make a delicious snack?! And it’s easy. Even if you’re not a DIY-er, you’ve totally got this one.

Q: A couple weeks ago I was stacking dirty dishes and two of my Pyrex bowls got stuck in each other. I poked around on the internet for suggestions on how to get them apart. One suggestion was to spray Pam around the rim of the bottom bowl — no luck. Another suggestion involved dipping the bottom bowl in hot water and putting ice in the top bowl — no luck. I even tried putting them in the dishwasher to see if that would help loosen them up — no luck.

We don’t know about you, but a good speaker system is an essential part of our kitchens. If you’re going to spend some time cooking you’re going to need great tunes. These five speakers will help you rock out while you dice, braise, and boil. No matter your budget or space, one of these will fit in your kitchen.

Whether you have a lot of workspace in your kitchen, or just a little, keeping your countertop neat and organized is paramount. It’s just too easy to leave a jar of peanut butter or a bottle of honey out, push it back into the corner, stack up a few cans for a meal you’re going to make tomorrow — and before you know it counter creep leaves you with nowhere to work.

From Apartment Therapy → Pull It Off: 9 Stylish Kitchens With Rugs A rug can go a long way to add personality to your kitchen. It can disguise flooring or add a fun splash of pattern or color. Here are 9 ways to pull it off!

Tomatoes grow all over the world, and they play important roles in the cuisines of many cultures (Italia, anyone?). But down in Dixie, we do summer’s favorite fruit right (yep, tomatoes are a fruit). In fact, I’m gonna argue that we do them better than most. Proving this point was a mere few swift keystrokes for my food-writer friend and big time food-appreciator, Jennifer Kornegay. This Alabama gal means it, folks.

Nobody does color and pattern quite like Finnish company Marimekko. We’ve long been fans of their kitchen textiles, and we still love this super colorful pot holder. As if that weren’t enough, now we’re smitten with their vibrant paper napkin collection! How pretty would these be at your next summer bash? Marimekko’s paper napkins come in sets of 20, and range between $4 and $7, depending on where you purchase them. (Crate & Barrel and FinnStyle carry most styles.

I have never been very fond of my refrigerator, a white monstrosity that is really too big for my small rental kitchen and sits at an angle due to a slope in the floor. But something happened this week that changed everything. The Monstrosity, pre-makeover I came home the other day to discover that my partner Gregory had hung a large photo of oyster mushrooms on the side of the refrigerator.

Buffet, sideboard, server, credenza: Do you find yourself using these terms interchangeably? I sure do! After all, there’s so much overlap between these furniture types that a piece’s classification is often determined solely by its location in your home. Confusing, right? Oh, and have you heard of a huntboard? I hadn’t either, at least until reading this helpful Houzz design article that breaks down the details of these terms.

Home is where the art is. If you’re hoping to infuse your kitchen with just a touch more personality this year, try carving out some room for a framed print. Find your style (contemporary or classic) and function (inspiration or utility) with some of my favorite prints. Try placing the chalkboard print in front of the glass on a flat-colored frame to give off the look of a hand-written chalk. Or add some interest by hanging three similar prints in different color variations side by side.

The kitchen island in this recent House Tour on Apartment Therapy, made of iron pipes and a live edge wood top, caught my eye because it’s not an island design you see very often. Owners Mike and Molly are fortunate to have enough space in their kitchen for a full-size table, but there isn’t actually a lot of workspace other than the countertop against the wall.

The holidays are gone and winter is here to stay, at least for a while, until spring blooms appear in a few months. So, why not embrace this peaceful season and its hues? This beautiful, rustic table setting really captures the feeling of the season, and it’s also laid-back and relaxed enough to not feel fussy. What I love most about this tablescape is its warmth. Winter’s palette can be quite bleak if not warmed up and softened with natural bark tones.

While my apartment is spacious enough, the kitchen is small and one of the first rooms visitors see when they enter. One of my go-to methods for drawing attention away from the limited space is to put the emphasis on another aspect. Appealing to other senses, whether through the sound of soothing music or the scent of freshly baked cookies, shifts the focus from the size of a space and makes the room more comfortable and welcoming. I am no stranger to small kitchens.

We love the look of a warm, wooden dining table. It’s just so cozy and perfect for long dinners with friends and family. If you’re in the market for a dining table, you’re in luck, because there are so many talented woodworkers making beautiful handcrafted tables from salvaged or sustainable wood.

Day 6 Task: Consider appliances, gadgets and tools. The first thing I did when I saw today’s task was go out and buy this $5,800 Trousseau kitchen set from MOMA. Then I threw everything else away. I kid, I kid. (Although if I had $5,800 to spare and, you know, no rent or bills or living expenses of any kind for forever, then maybe.

Much like the RÅSKOG cart, the BEKVÄM step stool is a kitchen workhorse. Once you start looking for it, you see it everywhere! The BEKVÄM comes in unpainted wood, but it seems you rarely find it that way. It’s so easy to paint, so you often see it as a brightly colored piece in the kitchen — a shot of electric yellow or red in the corner or under the table. It’s also a great piece for kids. Do you have the BEKVÄM stool in your kitchen?

You put a lot of love and care into preparing a meal, so why not eat that meal off a plate that’s been just as lovingly created? That is precisely what’s so special about handmade dinnerware, and I just love the collection from San Luis Obispo-based potter Christine Silbaugh.Back Bay Pottery 1 Small Oval Platter, Choose Your Color, $18 2 Small Oval Dishes, Set of Two, $34 3 Deep Dinner Plates, Set of Two, $48 4 Porcelain Pears Sugar and Creamer Set, $79.

Looking for a cheap yet pretty way to style your dinner table? Think like a restaurant, and use dish towels as napkins!While Faith first shared this tip a few years ago, the folks at Turntable Kitchen reminded us of it again in a recent post. The TEKLA dish towels from IKEA are super inexpensive ($0.49 a towel) so you can buy a few dozen at a time. Roll ’em up and tie with a leather string, like Turntable Kitchen did in the photo above, or a piece of twine.

I am short.  Never made it to 5’4″ — thus my dreams of becoming a long-legged, ballet dancer at Julliard turned into an application for culinary school.  Nevertheless, there is still lots of dancing and constant choreography my kitchen. I can create a sauce with poise and handle a knife with equal aplomb but there is nothing graceful about the kitchen tool I use almost as often as my knife  — my kitchen stool. Is a stool a tool?

For years Steph and Phil had been looking for the perfect dining room table — one that was “stylish, clean lined, family friendly, reasonably priced, big enough to accommodate our friends for dinner and also where our piles of home projects and kids artwork and homework can build up in piles…” as they told Apartment Therapy. Whew! Sounds like a tall order, but they finally hit on it.

Otomi fabric is handmade by Otomi Indians of Hidalgo, Mexico. The Otomi patterns (which are hand-embroidered in the traditional fabrics and printed in the manufactured facsimiles) are said to come from the ancient cliff drawings of the region. We love the bright colors and bold geometries of Otomi fabrics and would welcome such a lively print to the tabletop in our otherwise plain-Jane dining room:In these examples, we find Otomi fabrics or Otomi-inspired fabrics on tables or in the kitchen.

My family is firmly in the 99% (and probably the lower half of 99% at that) and yet there is a set of china and sliver that has been passed down a few generations that will one day come to me. I’m lucky because I think the china pattern is pretty and I love the silver pattern. But this is not always the case. Inheriting your grandmother’s china can either be a delight or a burden, depending on a lot of factors.

If there’s a time to get playful and experiment with how you serve up a dish, it’s dessert! After the meal’s cleared away and you’re ready to serve something sweet, why not break out your crafty side?

Take a look at this galley kitchen. Looks pretty ordinary, right? It has nice light, and a bold wash of color… and then, turn your head. That’s an enormous, gilt-framed painting on the wall, smack dab in the middle of this otherwise modest kitchen. Wow! What a statement! What do you think of this?That is a serious statement in this kitchen, and I kind of like it.

I know, I know. Cleaning is usually way down on our list of things to get excited about, and new cleaning products are even further down. But have you discovered these “magic” eraser pads? They’re all they claim to be and more.The Magic Eraser is brilliant for those little kitchen-cleaning details that always seem so annoying: shining up faucets and fixtures, cleaning tile grout, wiping scuffs off the baseboards, and cleaning fingerprints from the fridge.

Prettier than plain cloth napkins, these ombre dyed napkins add a lot of style to the table and are a snap to make.Emily of the blog Once Wed bought thrift store linen napkins and dipped them in small bowls of water mixed with a tiny bit of fabric dye. She started with a small amount of dye, dipped the napkins halfway in, then added a little more dye to the water to darken it, and repeated the process. The results are delicate, colorful and completely unique.

Q: In an attempt to declutter the kitchen I have removed the various photos and notes that accumulate on the refrigerator over time. Our fridge is black and the solid dark surface seems a little much, but I don’t want to go back to the clutter.Does anyone know of a company that sells large decorative magnets? Not necessarily something that will cover the entire surface — I’m thinking some sort of large swirl or flower design? A refrigerator accessory, if you will.

Q: I had amazing French onion soup the other night, and I am excited to add it to my winter soup rotation, but need to find a couple of oven-safe bowls for the critical cheese-melting step.I found the Le Creuset ones, but I would prefer not to spend $20 for each bowl. Nothing else that I’ve seen that is oven-safe has a handle, which seems like it would be super convenient. Any suggestions?

Remodeling your kitchen? Like Martha Stewart’s style? If you are looking for the clean, contemporary cottage and farmhouse style often seen in Martha’s magazines, then you might want to check out her new line of cabinets at Home Depot.Many of the 11 special-order cabinet styles are based on (or at least named after) Martha’s own homes. There are 32 styles of hardware to accompany the various cabinet styles, and complementing styles of Corian countertop and wall paint too.

This just looks like normal, albeit small, kitchen island, right? Wrong. Read on to see how this kitchen worktop can fit in even the smallest kitchen.We don’t have a kitchen island, but we wish we did. We like to be at least partially surrounded by workspace, and even a small island is helpful. It’s especially nice during the holidays or parties, when an extra workstation makes multiple dishes (and extra hands) easier to manage.

Have you ever put on a pair of jeans or a sweater the morning after you’ve cooked a big meal, and find that your clothes still have a faint, lingering eau de pot roast? Short of putting them through the wash, here’s what we do to get rid of the odor!If we’re thinking ahead, we hang our clothes up before going to sleep. Hang each article of clothing on a separate hanger and put them somewhere well ventilated. If it’s warm outside, we put them next to an open window.

Q: I’m planning to upgrade from the homely dish set that I bought as a college student ($12 at Goodwill, so I feel I’ve gotten my money’s worth out of them by now). I’m drawn by the clean-cut look of square plates, but I am wondering if there is a trade-off in functionality. Will they be a pain to put into cupboards or the dishwasher? Will dinners look undersized on a plate with all that extra real estate on the corners?

Over the past year I acquired several ceramic pieces of servingware that I really treasure. They’re fluid, organic, and unique. Well, I just realized that they were made by the same artisans: Mud Studio, in South Africa. Here’s a look at few more of Mud Studio’s organic, handmade pieces. Mud Studio is a small company in South Africa (and is not to be confused with Mud Australia, which is another ceramics company we like very much).

When I first became serious about wine, I really noticed the difference that a good glass made to my appreciation of the wine. At that time the choice of wine glass was pretty polarized. Either I spent a great deal of money (more than I could afford) or I had to be content with an industrial, heavy, thick-lipped glass. There was very little to choose from in between.Today, I can still spend a lot of money on a great glass, but I can also get a really good wine glass for a modest spend.

We received a question from a reader asking about the most useful and essential serving pieces. Carrie said that she just inherited a set of fine china, but the set (as well as her everyday Fiestaware) has no serving pieces. If you’re in the market for serving pieces, like Carrie, what should you get? Here are our picks for the most useful, basic, and essential serving dishes, and we’d love to hear your take on this as well.

The first time we saw a stocky pair of salad hands sticking out of a friend’s salad bowl, we were not impressed. They look like bear claws, frankly. But over the years, we’ve noticed we tend to toss salads with our bare hands—so much more efficient than trying to use traditional tongs. We can really dig down into the bowl to get the dressing and ingredients perfectly combined.

We know that, to some of you, the thought of waking up to a kitchen full of sticky, crusty dishes is worse than any hangover. And usually we agree. We like to clean up as we cook, as much as possible, and have all the dishes finished before we go to bed. But.

Like a well-stocked bakery entices the passing sweets addict, the doublewide storefront of Kamei Restaurant Supply beckons kitchen junkies inside.With its unparalleled selection, this is one of the best kitchen supply stores in the city. It’s really two stores in one. There are rows of commercial goods like hotel pans, industrial stockpots and plain white, deep soup bowls.