6 Accessories to Cure Your Kitchen Blues

You don’t need a whole renovation to make the kitchen feel fresh€”sometimes a fun accessory or cool new gadget is all it takes.

Got a case of the kitchen blahs? Don’t break out the sledgehammer just yet—a quirky new tea towel, a piece of artisanal pottery, or a coffee-snob-approved new gadget might just be the cure. Here’s six pieces that might just help you love your kitchen again. (Of course, if a new wine rack isn’t enough to satisfy, take a peek through our archive of kitchen stories to get some inspiration for a bigger change.)

Find some tea towels that make you smile.Designer secret: tea towels are the throw pillows of the kitchen—an easy way to swap in colour and personality. These sweet Lint and Honey tea towels ($76), screen-printed with hearts, crosses, scales or (our fave) pickles sketched by Canadian designer Andrea Shum, will do nicely for your next style infusion. Stylegarage, Vancouver, stylegarage.com; Kiya Home, Calgary, kiyahome.com

Upgrade your dishware.West River Field Lab ceramics (pieces from $20), a collection of minimalist dishware crafted by Japanese designer Nobuhito Nishigawara, add a layer of hand-hewn beauty to the classic white dinner plate. Old Faithful, Vancouver, oldfaithfulshop.com; ; Kit, Calgary, kitinteriorobjects.com

 Treat yourself to a fun new gadget (lemonade, anyone?)Whip up a batch of fresh honey lemonade in a snap with the Zing 54 carafe ($45)—it has a built-in citrus reamer, muddler and storage cap. You’re officially patio season-ready. Cook Culture, Victoria, cookculture.com; Choices Market, Vancouver, choicesmarkets.com; Hillaby’s Tools for Cooks, Edmonton, toolsforcooks.ca; Twisted Goods, Calgary, twistedgoods.ca

Store your wine in style.The Nilsson wine shelf ($1,059)—crafted with ecologically friendly Malaysian wood and a non-toxic MDF coating as part of Rove Concept’s Kure collection—may look sleek and modern, but it incorporates the care and attention of an old-school home bar, complete with upside-down glass storage and secure wine racking. Rove Concepts, Vancouver, roveconcepts.com

Toss your broken coffee maker.We have it on good authority from our favourite coffee snobs that pour-over is the only way to go. Bodum apparently has the same sources—they’ve introduced a new line of Pour Over coffee makers ($40), complete with a permanent filter and a selection of poppy colours. Penna and Co., Victoria, pennakitchen.com; Ming Wo, Vancouver, mingwo.com; Hudson’s Bay, across the West, thebay.com

Don’t forget: Flowers instantly refresh a space.Tuck the trio of slim tubular vases into the larger vessel, or spread them out to show off pretty picked blossoms individually. Either way, the ceramic, rubber-painted Ferm Living Collect vases ($138) are a standout. Espace D, Vancouver, espacedonline.com; Kit, Calgary, kitinteriorobjects.com