9 Unexpected Home Accessories You Can Put in Your Kitchen

“We live in a pretty small house in Rhode Island and I went all out with cozy elements,” says blogger Jess Ann Kirby (@thecozyranch). “Sheepskin throws warm up the metal stools in our kitchen. People always wonder if they get gross. They don’t! We just shake out crumbs and spot-clean.”

“Although people often don’t think of using mirrors in kitchens, they bring in light,” says designer Lidia Van Zyl. She hung oval black metal ones on either side of the window in this lakeside Canadian home, with sisal rope for a nautical touch (the Trent Austin Design pair on Wayfair are similar). Also nice: “Viewed from a certain angle, you see the water reflected.”

To brighten her Highland, Utah, kitchen and elongate a narrow-ish spot, homeowner Ali Hynek laid down a Moroccan wool runner from Canary Lane. “I change it out with the season, but this one is especially great next to my green cabinets,” she says. (They’re painted Brooklyn by Behr.) “The setup always catches guests’ eyes.”

Neatness counts for northern Utah blogger Cami Graham (@camitidbits): “I’m picky about stuff on countertops,” she says. “But it’s nice to have things handy and after I remodeled and saw the empty end of my island, I thought, Hmmm…” Her smart solution? An Ikea towel bar, with added S-hooks for cutting boards — convenient for letting them dry.