The average family, especially the cook, spends almost half their at home time in the kitchen. Whether you’re cooking, cleaning, doing homework, or reading the morning paper over a cup of coffee, your kitchen should be a warm and welcome place to receive family and friends.

Choosing a theme for your kitchen may be harder than it sounds. It starts with what really interests you, what your hobby and passion is. For instance, if you really like the country look, or the clean, sleek stainless steel approach, or even just a simple laid out place to perform your cooking duties; whatever the approach you take, your kitchen décor is sure to reflect some of your personality, and the time you spend in your kitchen should be memorable.

Let’s take the fruit approach. After all, fruits belong in the kitchen, right? Apples and fruit décor have become very popular over the past few years. By just adding a few essential pieces, your kitchen can have an overall theme, and look organized and beautiful. Start with your walls. You can purchase a wallpaper border at any home improvement store, with apples in various pictures and sizes, and add that to your wall. Instantly you have created a theme and an overall look of a country kitchen. You can paint the walls almost any color to match the border, but something warm, like pale yellows or blues, are best in kitchens. You want the room to emit warmth and friendliness.

Next, you can find many accessories for your kitchen, from cookie jars to canisters. Be careful not to clutter your counter space. Just a few key items should be seen on top of your counters. Anything that you don’t use frequently, such as waffle irons, crock pots, etc., should be stored out of sight. Appliances that are seen should be matching in color and material. For example, if your coffee pot is white, then anything showing, such as a toaster or food processor, should also be white. You want the room to look organized, and having a lot of colors, or colors that clash, will give off a feeling of disorganization.

Ok, so you’ve put up your new border, and you’ve cleaned off your counters and added a few pieces that blend with the border. Coffee cups on a cup tree near the coffee pot are an excellent and inexpensive way to accentuate your theme. You can purchase cups with various themes for around $1 each at most department stores.

These are just a few tips to help you organize and bring a theme to your kitchen. Making just a few changes will give an overall organized and well planned look. Your guests will think that you spent lots of time and money redecorating. Knowing that you didn’t will be one more thing to smile about while you’re enjoying that nice cup of coffee in your beautiful new kitchen.