How to add style to your kitchen

An interview with Rita Konig

Even though it’s the room we use the most, the kitchen rarely captures the mood of our home. There are ways to make the space far more stylish without remodelling.

Move beyond the white walls. The smaller the kitchen, the bolder you can be with colour; I once painted a tiny kitchen black. Sounds weird, but it was transformed from mundane to interesting. There’s no colour that won’t work. One of my small kitchens was painted tennis-court green.

Get a handle. The fastest way to improve the look of the kitchen drawers is to add round, wooden knobs the same colours as the drawers. They look best placed at either end, not in the middle.

Bring order to your counters. They don’t have to be clear, but they do have to be organised. Salt, pepper and oils look messy in a cluster, but pop them on a nice tray and they’re pulled together. I recently put my cutlery in vintage jugs because there’s no room in the drawer. Please don’t let a fruit bowl be a tragedy - a few shrunken bananas and lemons. If you have space, put a table lamp you love on the counter to make the room cozier.

Watch for props. I loathe display items that serve no function, I like decorative pots and jars. I have shelves with china and old mustard pots, but I use them all. I also like stacked towels – blue and white for my London apartment, yellow and green for my place in Wales.

Dress the walls. I love vintage posters and photographs in the kitchen. Best not to hang your Matisse in there, though-the grease ruins paintings over time. You need something behind glass that you can wipe clean.