Simple Winter Kitchen Refresh

A kitchen refresh after the holidays is essential to create a comfortable, functional space for winter and the new year ahead. These simple ideas & tips will not only freshen your kitchen, but will also create a cozy aesthetic that is welcoming to both family & friends.

Our kitchen is like grand central station. It’s the hub of our home. The kitchen is the place we catch up after work & school, cook meals & eat snacks. It’s the heart of our home, where we come together as a family to feed our bodies, minds, and souls.

That is never more true than during the holiday season. The hustle & bustle increases with parties, get-togethers, cooking, planning, buying, baking, and wrapping (there must be more that I am already forgetting?!). Needless to say, once the holidays are over, our kitchen is in need of a little tender loving care.

The start of a new year is the perfect time to do a little kitchen refresh. Pack the Christmas decorations away, clear & clean open kitchen spaces, add a few cozy touches, and your kitchen will feel fresh & new ready for the new year and winter months ahead.

You should not feel overwhelmed by this blog post! There is no renovating or remodeling in this post (both mom & dad need a break after the holidays!). Just super simple ideas for a winter kitchen refresh that takes minimal time to create that cozy winter aesthetic.

Simple Kitchen Refresh Ideas

Clear Off All Open Kitchen Spaces

Once all of the Christmas decorations are packed away, clear off all of your open kitchen spaces to start your kitchen refresh from scratch.

Remove all the items or décor you have on your kitchen counters, open shelving, and any other spaces that are open in your kitchen. Place those items on a dining room table or a space that you can gather them & organize.

With your open kitchen spaces cleared off, clean them. Wipe the counters, dust the shelves, wash the backsplash, etc. Take advantage of the cleared spaces and give them a good, thorough cleaning.

Then, go through the items you removed from your kitchen. Decide which pieces you want to bring back into the kitchen, which ones should be placed into storage, and which items can be tossed or donated.

Pro Tip: Everything has a home. Kitchen counters are notorious for collecting clutter. Use this winter kitchen refresh as a chance to start from scratch and find a home for everything that has been collecting on your counters.

For help decluttering and organizing your home, be sure to download the ERH declutter challenge!

Start From Scratch

Focus on one area or section in the kitchen at a time so that you do not become overwhelmed. Bring back the items you want to add to that area of the kitchen. Maybe you don’t have anything to add back or style in that spot in the kitchen. That’s ok! Think of your kitchen as a blank slate, it doesn’t need to be filled with stuff to be beautiful. Open kitchen spaces should be filled with functional, useful, meaningful pieces.

Pro Tip: To avoid becoming overwhelmed with refreshing your kitchen, focus on one area at a time instead of the entire kitchen.

Slowly move from area to area in your kitchen, adding the pieces you removed and are keeping, back in. Maybe restyle the pieces a little differently to give your kitchen a fresh new look!

Kitchen Console Table Refresh

I removed everything from this console table we have in our kitchen, cleaned it, and left it bare for a few days. I had no ideas and was stumped as to how to style it after Christmas, so leaving it bare for a little while gave me a chance to think and use my imagination.

For a less cluttered look I decided to leave the top of the console table open. I added a vase of faux olive stems with thick yarn tied to the top for texture, a glass vase with a candle placed inside, and a Christmas gift from Dave; a wooden house with a candle inside (unfortunately the wooden house candle is no longer available).

Did you notice the sign on the wall behind the console table? Yup, that’s a Christmas sign! I love it so much I couldn’t bare to take it down yet, so I am leaving it up for the time being.

Pro Tip: Remember it’s your home you’re decorating. If you want to leave Christmas décor up until spring, do it! Your home should always reflect you and what you love.

I had baskets styled on the bottom of the console table. However, I was just not feeling them anymore. The baskets were not tall enough to be be used for storage and the color of the baskets matched too closely to the color of the table.

After days and weeks of searching for the perfect color & size baskets to replace the old ones, I stumbled upon these cotton twill laundry bags. I know…laundry bags in the kitchen?! I took a chance and ordered them, and can I just say that I love them! It’s like they were made for just for our table. They are the perfect size, perfect color, and I can store kitchen linens in them without anyone knowing what’s inside the bag.

Pro Tip: Think outside the box. Even though something might be described one way, doesn’t mean you can’t use it another!

Breath New Life Into the Kitchen With Faux Greenery

Faux greenery is a great way to freshen, lighten, and brighten kitchen spaces. They add color & texture and create a calm, peaceful, welcoming atmosphere.

Faux greens give me hope that warm spring days are not that far away even on the coldest, bleakest days of winter.

Pro Tip: Add natural elements to the base of the faux plant such as soil, moss, rocks, or sand to create realism and organic texture.

To view and shop my favorite faux greenery, check out this blog post with the best faux plants for winter & spring.

For tips & tricks on what to look for when buying faux plants and how to make faux greens look real, click here.

Kitchen Refresh With a Lamp on the Counter

Create a cozy ambiance in your kitchen by placing a lamp on the kitchen counter. It’s an unexpected, charming touch that makes the kitchen feel warm, homey, and inviting.

A table lamp in the kitchen provides task lighting in a spot that might otherwise be dark or lack light. The glow of a lamp is perfect for reading a recipe, preparing food, or cooking on the stove. And, a lamp in the kitchen also works as a great night light!

When selecting a lamp for the kitchen be sure to find one that fits the space. A lamp that is too small or too big will look funny and out of place.

This corner of our kitchen can be extremely dark, so adding a lamp here was a no brainer. This Studio McGee lamp fits perfectly under our upper cabinets and is just the right size for our kitchen counters.

I updated the look of the lamp by changing the rattan lampshade to this taupe block print floral lampshade. This simple change made a big impact to the look and feel of this space!

Pro Tip: Change the look of a space by simply changing or updating the lampshades on your lamps.

For more on how to achieve cozy lighting in your home, check out this blog post.

Create a Tea or Coffee Station

No matter the size of your kitchen, a tea or coffee station is a great way to keep everything you need to for a warm drink all in one place.

For our winter kitchen refresh, I decided to create a mini-version of a tea/coffee station with everything I need to make a quick cup of my favorite drink, tea. Depending on the space you have in your kitchen, you could make your tea or coffee station as elaborate or simple as you like.

I kept our tea station basic and simple. To create our tea station, I placed a cutting board on the counter to hold the tea station items together.

Then, I placed our electric water kettle on the cutting board. If you do not have an electric kettle, I highly recommend this one! I recieved this water kettle for Christmas and it’s my new favorite appliance. It boils water in less than 5 minutes and is great for making not only tea or coffee, but hot chocolate, soup, or ramen noodles too.

I gathered my favorite mugs for tea, and placed a French canning jar filled with my favorite tea bags on the board as well.

Pro Tip: Transfer your tea and/or coffee into permanent containers like canning jars. It makes it easy to see and beautiful to look at.

Finally, I made sure to have this beeswax honey pot at our tea station too. It holds honey for tea and looks absolutely adorable on the counter!

Making a cup of delicious tea has never been easier with our new tea station, plus it’s super cozy too.

Burn a New Candle

I love having seasonal candles throughout our home. Candles not only add a cozy glow, but they make the house smell yummy and amazing.

I like to switch the scents of our candles out seasonally. For winter, I prefer spicy woodsy scents and as we get closer to spring I like to burn candles with a more florally, earthy frangrance.

Whichever scent evokes that nostalgic seasonal feeling for you is the fragrance you should burn in your home.

Pro Tip: Pack the Christmas scented candles away and burn a new candle for a winter kitchen refresh.

More Winter Inspiration to Create a Cozy Home

For more seasonal inspiration, DIY’s, and recipes for a cozy winter at home, click here.

Shop Our Home

Links to products featured in this post can be found in our Shop Our Home page. I hope this page makes shopping our home a little easier for you! I earn a small commission when you make a purchase from one of our LTK links. Your support helps me continue to create meaningful content for you!

I look forward to sharing more of my home with you and inspiring you to have a well loved home! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LIKEtoKNOW.it.

Heidi

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