Christmas in the Kitchen, Beyond the Cocoa Bar

Two Decembers ago I made cinnamon rolls, turned around, and found that the little fresh cedar swag I’d draped across the front of my range hood had cooked. Not caught fire — thank goodness — but browned and curled and smelling like a campfire in the worst way. I pulled it down with an oven mitt and stood there thinking, well, there’s $22!

The kitchen is the room I decorate last and the room that fights back the hardest. Grease, steam, wet hands, a kid who wants to help stir, and about six inches of usable counter once the mixer is out. Every year I’d put out a bunch of cute things in November and quietly relocate half of them to the dining room by the 10th.

So this is the version that survived. Not the cocoa bar (I already wrote about that one, and it’s still up every year) — this is everything else. Cabinets, towels, the range hood, and the little spot by the sink. And at the bottom I’m telling you exactly what I stopped putting on the counter, because that part took me the longest to admit.

1. Mini wreaths on the cabinet fronts

This is the single change that made my kitchen read as decorated, and it takes up zero counter space, which is the whole point!

It took me forever to find mini wreaths that didn’t look like sad little craft store rings. The problem is most of what comes up is either a $30 designer one (for a wreath the size of a saucer!) or a six-pack of flat plastic circles with a bow hot-glued on crooked. These are the ones I keep going back to — they come six to a pack with a real ribbon bow and little cedar and berry details, and the greenery actually has some depth to it instead of lying flat against the door.

Here’s what I learned the hard way about placement: don’t do all of them. I did every upper cabinet the first year and my kitchen looked like a wreath store. Now I do two, on the two doors that flank the sink window, and it’s so much better! Symmetry does the work for you.

2. Clear Command hooks, not cabinet-door hooks

Okay, this is the part I wish someone had told me before I ordered the wrong thing.

I bought over-the-cabinet-door hooks, assuming that’s what they were for. They are not. Cabinet doors are about 3/4 of an inch thick and most “over the door” hooks are made for interior doors at 1 3/8 or 1 3/4 inches. Mine rocked back and forth every time anyone opened a cabinet, and one of them scratched the finish. Sent them back!

What actually works is a medium clear Command hook stuck to the flat center panel of the cabinet door. Two things matter: put it on the flat panel, never on the raised trim (adhesive needs a smooth surface and trim gives it a seam to peel from), and wipe the spot down with rubbing alcohol first. This is a kitchen — there’s a film on those doors whether you can see it or not, and adhesive will not stick to it. Ask me how I know.

The wide over-the-door hooks aren’t useless, by the way! They’re perfect on the pantry door, which is a real door, and that’s where my one full-size wreath lives now.

3. Faux garland along the top of the range hood

Back to my cooked cedar. The rule I made after that: greenery goes on TOP of the hood, set back from the front edge, and it’s always faux.

Grease and steam rise straight up the face of the hood. Anything sitting on that front lip gets a sticky film in about two weeks, and if you’ve ever tried to wash grease off faux pine needles, you know it doesn’t come off, it just spreads! Set back a few inches on the top surface, it stays clean all season.

This 9-foot Norfolk pine garland is what I use because it’s genuinely soft and full instead of that shiny plastic look, and 9 feet lets me run the top of the hood and still have enough to trail down one side. I anchor it with two small clear hooks on the top edge where nobody can see them. No lights up there, no real candles anywhere near it, and honestly no picks with paper or glitter either — glitter plus steam is a mess I only made once!

4. A Christmas towel set you’re willing to actually use

The cheapest change on this list, and the one I’d do first if you only do one thing!

I keep a set of red buffalo check dishtowels that come out the same night I put the tree up and go back in the linen closet in January. They’re 100% cotton and they wash, which sounds obvious until you’ve bought the pretty ones with the appliqué reindeer that you can’t put on anything wet.

That’s my whole test for holiday towels: would I dry my hands on this without thinking about it? If the answer is no, it isn’t decor, it’s laundry with extra steps! I buy two sets so one can be in the wash and the kitchen still looks like December. (Learn from me. One set means one spaghetti night and you’re back to your regular teal towels until Thursday.)

5. Wood bead garland by the sink

The sink-side vignette is where I got the most carried away for the most years, so this is now my strictest rule: three things, on something with a defined edge, all of them wipeable.

Mine is a wood bead garland pooled around the base of the soap pump, one small tree, and a stack of two little cutting boards leaned against the backsplash. That’s it. The bead garland does a lot of work here — it softens the hard edges of the sink area and it costs almost nothing, and when it gets splashed you just dry it off. A fabric anything in this spot is done for by December 8th!

Put it all on a small tray or a board if you can. The tray is what keeps it looking intentional instead of looking like stuff migrated over there, and when I need the space I pick up the whole thing at once and set it on the table.

6. Two or three little trees, and that’s your “more”

When the kitchen feels like it needs one more thing, it almost never needs a big thing. I keep a set of three mini decorated trees and I move them around — above the cabinets, next to the coffee maker, one by the sink. They’re tiny, they’re not in the way of anything, and they read as Christmas from across the room.

Above the cabinets is the most underused spot in most kitchens, by the way. It’s high, it’s out of reach of steam and kids, and nothing up there ever has to move for you to cook.

What I stopped putting on the counter

I’ll just be honest about the failures, because it’ll save you money:

• Fresh greenery near heat. Covered. It browns, and dry greenery near a burner is genuinely not a risk worth taking.
• Real candles in the kitchen. Between the range and a curious kid, no. Battery ones only.
• Fabric runners on the counter. Mine caught every drip and had to be washed twice a week. Gone.
• Anything that has to move every time I cook. This was the big one. If I have to relocate it to make dinner, I will eventually just relocate it permanently. That’s the actual test.
• Decor on the counter next to the stove, period. That two-foot zone stays clear. It gets splattered and it makes the whole kitchen feel cluttered when you’re trying to work.

The whole thing takes me about 45 minutes now and I do it the same night I swap the towels. Cabinets, hood, sink, done!

If you decorate your kitchen this year, post it on Instagram and tag me @sugardesignco — I especially want to see what y’all do with the space above the cabinets, because I know somebody out there has figured that out better than I have!

-Ciera

Made something with this? Tag me @sugardesignco — I love seeing them.