Sharing a few really easy tips to help you update the area around your stove and make it look its best. Here’s how to style around a stove!
Let’s be honest here: This is just an excuse for me to share some of the beautiful kitchens that we’ve been in recently with you. We find that often our favourite shots of these spaces end up being the ones of the stove area. Part of that is because the range hoods and the stoves themselves are absolutely beautiful, and part of that is because I usually put quite a bit of care into the styling that goes around the stove. I thought it might be fun to share some of the things that I’ve done and maybe give you a bit of inspiration for a few things you can do to to give that area of your kitchen some love if you think it could use an update. So here are my thoughts on how to style around a stove!
The Stove Area of the Kitchen Should be the Focal Point
Every room needs a focal point and it often feels “right” if it’s the stove area. Of course, this is a rule that absolutely can be broken, but if it feels like your kitchen doesn’t really have a stand out area, give the stove area a bit of attention and things might start to fall into place, decor-wise, in the room.
There are some things you can do when you’re first designing your kitchen that will make make your stove area an automatic focal point, without much extra styling needed at all. Installing a really beautiful range hood goes a long ways toward helping out, but it isn’t necessarily enough in itself. A stand-out tile backsplash behind your stove really helps to reinforce the point, even if it’s the same tile that is used for the entire backsplash. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a different tile. Another thing that you can install during the construction of a kitchen to really draw the eye to the stove area is a pot filler. Of course they’re super handy for cooking, but pot fillers are also a great element to add to your room for style purposes as well.
I absolutely love this gold pot filler in this kitchen we shot for Index Design Studio. We’re so lucky to have such amazingly talented local designers and builders to work with for these photos. 🙂
The Stove Area Should Look Like it’s Used for Actual Cooking
The only other “rule” I have for styling around a stove is that it should look like it’s actually used for cooking and is ready to be used at a moment’s notice. This means that most (not all) of the styling elements around and on the stove should have a culinary feel to them and be cooking-inspired.
If the styling around the stove is too minimal, it can look like no one actually uses the kitchen, and if there are too many non-cooking related things, it can look too cluttered for any actual cooking to take place. I usually like to include 3-5-ish things that are directly cooking-related and then 1-3 supporting items that just make the space feel more welcoming and less cold.
This kitchen we shot for Oak Barrel Cabinetry displays that concept pretty much perfectly.
Here are a few more examples!
This one has several food-related elements: a cookbook on a stand, jars of baking supplies, and two large cutting boards, then it’s balanced by two medium-sized plants to soften things a bit.
Kitchen by Oak Barrel Cabinetry
Much simpler styling here to avoid competing with that eye-catching backsplash. A basic white ceramic crock of utensils (use utensils in various wood and metal tones, stay away from plastics for displaying whenever possible), a small bowl for holding a head of garlic or some seasonings, then rounded out with a tiny fern in pot.
Kitchen by Oak Barrel Cabinetry
This next one really has a strong “chef’s kitchen” vibe thanks to the inclusion of many different food-related styling elements. The shelves framing the range hood really allow for a lot of strong styling, but the spacing of them keeps it from feeling too cluttered. All of the culinary styling elements are balanced out with two different vases of greenery and a two textural baskets stacked on one shelf. When you have a lot of items like this, try to group things together in little clusters of 2-3 items rather than having them equally-spaced out.
Kitchen by Oak Barrel Cabinetry
Another kitchen with a pot filler! I broke my own rule here because this really was a chef-inspired kitchen with that incredible huge range and the stainless-steel-topped island. The styling next to this stove was just a collection of beautiful pepper mills and mortar and pestles and that was really all it needed. The greenery close-by on the island does still contribute to making the whole area feel a little less cold and institutional.
Kitchen by Oak Barrel Cabinetry
Do you have any favourite items that you like to keep displayed around your stove? Are they strictly practical or are some of them there more because you just like the way they look?
If you’d like to follow along on all of our adventures styling and photographing these beautiful homes, you can keep up with us over on Instagram. We’re @art_and_spaces
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Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.