Christmas Kitchen Decor Ideas: 14 Ways to Decorate and Keep the Counters Free

A row of small boxwood or pine wreaths, each hung on a length of red ribbon, is the best-known kitchen idea for a reason: it decorates a whole wall and touches nothing you cook on. Run the ribbon over the top of the door and fix it on the inside with a removable hook turned upside down, or with a flat thumbtack in the top edge where no one sees the hole. Keep all the wreaths at the same height. Five plain ones look better than five different ones.

If there is a gap between the cabinets and the ceiling, lay a garland along the top with a strand of warm lights wound through it, and tie one bow in the middle. From the floor only the front edge shows, so a thin, cheap garland is enough. Stand a few small bottle-brush trees behind it for height. Battery lights with a timer avoid a cord hanging down the side of a cabinet.

For cabinets that run to the ceiling, or doors too glossy for a hook, tie a short velvet or plaid bow to each handle of the upper row. Thirty centimeters of ribbon per bow is plenty. It reads from across the room, costs one roll of ribbon, and comes off in a minute.

Peppermint, red ceramic or small brass star knobs on one pair of doors is a tiny change that people notice, because it sits at eye level beside the sink. Most cabinet knobs are held by a single screw from inside the door, so they change with one screwdriver and go back in January. Keep the originals in a labeled bag in the same cabinet.

Hang a full garland across the top of the window and let both ends fall down the sides to about counter height. Two removable hooks at the top corners hold it; a third in the middle stops it sagging. A few gold or red baubles wired into the greenery and one velvet ribbon are enough. Keep the ends clear of the tap and the draining board, because a wet garland sheds.

A lighter version for a small window: a short garland across the top with a ribbon tied at each corner, and a string of small brass bells hanging in a curve below it. If you have cafe curtains on the lower half of the window, leave them. Gingham in tan or red already looks seasonal.

After dark a kitchen window is a black rectangle. A row of small lit houses or two tabletop trees on the sill, with a lit garland above, turns it into the brightest thing in the room. This is worth doing if the kitchen is where you spend the evening or if the window faces the street. Use battery or low-voltage lights, and keep anything on the sill behind the line of the tap so it is not splashed.

No room for a garland? Hang one small wreath in the middle of the window on a ribbon fixed to the top of the frame, or on a suction hook rated for its weight. Two wreaths side by side suit a double window. It takes no sill and no counter.

Fix a slim garland along the front edge of one open shelf with removable clips, and let it hang a few centimeters below. The shelf keeps holding what it held before. If you own red, white or green mugs and plates, move them to that shelf for the month and put the everyday ones behind a door: dishes are the cheapest kitchen decoration there is.

A mantel-style range hood with a ledge can take a short garland or a few sprigs with berries, as long as it sits on the ledge and nothing hangs down toward the hob. If the hood has no ledge, leave it alone and decorate the wall beside it. See the safety note below before putting anything near the stove.

Take a round or rectangular tray. Stand a jug or vase of pine and berry branches at the back, a candle in glass in front, and one or two small pieces beside it: a ceramic house, a pair of bottle-brush trees, a bowl of pine cones. The tray is the boundary. When you need the whole island for rolling out dough, it lifts off in one move.

The simplest island idea is a heavy vase with a few evergreen branches and a strand of micro lights wound through them. It is tall, so it reads from the next room, and its footprint is the size of a saucer. Choose a vase with a wide, weighted base; an island gets bumped.

On a long island, a low gold or wooden tray with three pillar candles, greenery and a handful of baubles works like a table centerpiece and stays below eye level, so people can talk across it. LED pillar candles are the sensible choice in a room where sleeves, paper towels and oven gloves pass over the worktop. Our Christmas centerpiece ideas show more low arrangements that move easily.

The last idea uses no extra space. A red or plaid towel on the oven door. A bowl of clementines or red apples. A glass jar of cinnamon sticks or candy canes beside the kettle. A wooden board leaned on the splashback with a sprig of pine in a jug in front of it. In a galley kitchen with half a meter of free counter, these four are the whole plan, and the kitchen still looks ready for Christmas.