Ideas for Showing Off Your New Kitchen this Holiday Season

The holiday season is fast approaching, which means you’ll have plenty of holiday gatherings to host and attend. The holidays bring so many opportunities to fill your home with friends, family, and festivity, so it’s time to set the stage for these holiday get-togethers. There are probably going to be a lot of people congregating in and around your kitchen, since it tends to be the centerpiece of the home (and, of course, where you keep all the food! If you have a picture-perfect kitchen, you might be glad to show it off to your company. But if you don’t, you don’t need to feel embarrassed either. There is still time left to make improvements and easy kitchen updates so you can be proud of the holiday kitchen in your home. Whether you’re looking for small kitchen updates, like new drawer pulls, or want more significant improvements, like incorporating new cabinet doors, you can accomplish a lot more than you expect in just a few weeks. Use the tips below to get your kitchen looking its best for all your holiday social gatherings, then follow our advice for how to unveil the new and improved space to your guests.

Easy Ways to Update Your Kitchen

It doesn’t take a big budget and a team of contractors making a major mess to seriously upgrade your kitchen space. These DIY ideas include easy ways to update a kitchen for the holidays that make a big impact, but are low-cost and quick to complete:

• Clean Thoroughly – You probably do a comprehensive spring cleaning, but it helps to go through the same routine in the fall as well. As you’re cleaning, take the time to declutter the kitchen and get rid of anything you don’t use. You should also look for anything that is broken or worn out that could compromise your ability to entertain throughout the holidays. Pay attention to the details by cleaning your fridge, oven, and other appliances, as well as cleaning every nook and cranny on the floor and around your cabinet doors. Guests may help themselves during busy holiday gatherings, and you don’t want them finding a hidden mess in the holiday kitchen!
• Paint – Putting a new color or pattern on the walls can completely transform the look and feel of your kitchen even if nothing else has changed. It’s also relatively easy to replace the backsplash between your cabinets and countertops. Look for colors and details that are bright and cozy in the holiday kitchen, but still work for your day to day life.
• Replace Cabinet Doors – If your kitchen feels outdated or worn out, the cabinet doors are the likely culprit. After years of daily use they begin to show signs of wear and tear. Even if they’re in perfect condition, they might be out of style. Fortunately, replacing cabinet doors is one of those easy kitchen updates that offers a serious bang for your buck. Replacing cabinet doors is an easy and affordable project you can complete in an afternoon after the doors are delivered. Once installed, the new doors will make your kitchen look completely new even though the old cabinets are still in place. Then, all you have to do is decorate around your cabinet doors. 
• Add Light – Who wants to gather in a gloomy kitchen? Make the room feel warm and welcoming by adding a new light fixture or by installing lights under the holiday kitchen cabinets. Even if your goal is to make these small kitchen updates to show off your new kitchen for the holiday season, you will appreciate the extra light all throughout the year.
• Use Open Shelving – You can hang new shelves or put a shelving unit in an unused part of the kitchen to show off your holiday dishware. In either case, you create more room to store your stuff, giving you more space in the kitchen for guests and serving dishes too. Open shelving is also perfect for the holiday season because it gives you more area to hang up decorations, from lights to ornaments.
• Stay Well Organized – The holiday kitchen can quickly get cluttered, so staying organized is key. Keep countertops relatively free of decorations to leave plenty of room for festive food, and hide any clutter behind cabinet doors. Focus your holiday décor on a festive tabletop or up high where it won’t compete with food and drinks. Make sure any items holiday guests might need are easily accessible.
• Buy a New Appliance – Replacing just your fridge or stove costs a lot less than getting all new appliances. Newer models come in a wide variety of looks and styles that elevate the overall kitchen aesthetic. Perhaps more importantly, having a bigger fridge or a nicer stove makes it a lot easier to prepare large quantities of food for holiday guests.
• Make Space – The holidays are all about big gatherings and getting together with your family and other loved ones. Make sure that your kitchen has plenty of room for everyone by incorporating easy kitchen updates that expand your space. Make sure your stove is big enough for multiple dishes and cooks working simultaneously, and ensure that your cabinets can fit the dishware you need to serve all your guests. Even an update to a kitchen island can help create space for everyone, without becoming a major project.
• Make Straightening Up Easier – Cleaning up after a big gathering is easiest if things are easily wipeable and everything has a place. Make sure your sink, dishwasher, and cabinets are up to the task of your holiday gatherings, and consider updating them if they were too cramped last holiday season. Even repainting your kitchen walls and cabinet doors can help ensure that you can easily wipe down surfaces after cooking and hosting lots of people with messy hands.

Exciting Ways to Show Off the Space

When it comes to showing off the holiday kitchen of your dreams, there are plenty of easy ways to update a kitchen. It doesn’t matter if you decide to make huge changes, like new cabinet doors, or small improvements, like painting an accent wall. The primary goal is to show off your space. Whether your kitchen upgrades make it look like a brand new kitchen, or your same familiar kitchen with some small kitchen updates, your friends and family will appreciate all your hard work and the upgrades you’ve made to make the holiday kitchen warm and inviting.

After those cabinet doors and easy kitchen updates are finished, don’t let your awesome work go unrecognized. Use these strategies to put your kitchen front and center this holiday season:

• Post on Social Media – After all that hard work, you’ll want to show it off! Impress and inspire people with your new kitchen, even if they can’t actually visit your house in the coming months. Turn on all the lights in the space and take some photos that show off its best features. Highlight large and small kitchen updates, along with your holiday flair. Then put pictures on whatever social media sites you use with a quick note about the updates you’ve made. Better yet, post before and after pictures. Don’t feel like you’re bragging either – people love to get inspiration for their own home improvement projects by seeing what other people have been able to accomplish.
• Host a Holiday Gathering – If your home isn’t a holiday season gathering place already, find a reason to have people over to celebrate the season. You could host a dinner, throw a themed party, or make cookies with kids – anything that gets people into your home to check out your new kitchen. That said, as excited as you are about your cabinet doors, try not to make them the sole focus of your get together. It’s perfectly fine to point out improvements you’ve made, but avoid talking your guest’s ear off about every detail of the project unless specifically asked.
• Decorate for the Season – When you show off your new kitchen, you want the big reveal to be as impressive as possible. In addition to the upgrades you’ve made, decorate the space for the holiday season. Consider hanging up a wreath, incorporating strings of lights, displaying family decorations, or putting favorite ornaments on decorative plates. Let your decorations highlight the work you’ve done. For example, you could hang garlands from your holiday cabinet doors to grab guest’s attention, or add a festive window hanging over a brand new sink.
• Frame the Scene with Your Cabinet Doors– If you’ve replaced your cabinet doors, let them shine by highlighting them in a festive photoshoot. Show off a beautiful decorative tablescape, photograph a prized family recipe, or do a quick family photo! Let the holiday kitchen serve as the perfect backdrop. Whether you include photos in a calendar, family cookbook, or social media post, your newly refreshed holiday kitchen cabinets will set the stage beautifully, without overshadowing the subject of your photo. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to celebrate your easy kitchen updates by showing off your hard work!

How to Accent Your Easy Kitchen Updates this Holiday

Once you’ve completed the easy kitchen updates for the holiday kitchen of your dreams, make sure you dress it up and show it off! The holidays are all about cozy gatherings with the people you love, so accent your hard work by encouraging everyone to spend time in the holiday kitchen. Whether you’ll have loved ones staying with you over the holiday season, or you’re just proud of all your work and want your friends to see it, try some of these quick and easy ideas for highlighting your kitchen updates for the holidays:

• Set Up a DIY Drink Bar – From a cozy afternoon with family friends and a hot cocoa bar, to a coffee bar for a morning visit with friends, to a DIY mixed drink bar for a grownup evening, highlight the holiday kitchen updates by setting up a drink bar beneath new cabinet doors or in front of a fresh new backsplash.
• Deck the Halls – Use your holiday décor to show off all the work you did in your kitchen! Decorate your new cabinet doors with velvet ribbon or tiny wreaths, or put out a seasonal carpet to highlight new floors. Add festive lighting or candles to give your easy kitchen updates the very best lighting, or decorate a new light fixture to make sure it stands out. Whatever you’ve updated, let it shine this holiday!
• Update Your Cookware – If you’ve replaced your stove, incorporate new cookware and utensils in seasonal colors and patterns. Try new serving dishes or hand towels that compliment the new paint colors on your cabinet doors. Use your cookware, serving ware, and other kitchen accessories to complement your kitchen updates. 

Plan for the Holiday Kitchen You Want

The holiday season will be here before you know it, and soon you’ll be busier than ever preparing for events and family gatherings. Prepare for the season, and for the holiday kitchen you want, by planning your small kitchen updates with plenty of time to be ready for the season. Make a plan for each of the easy kitchen updates you want to accomplish, including what tools and materials you need, and what schedule you will follow. Talk to experts, or friends who’ve done similar DIY easy kitchen updates, and make sure you know exactly what kind of work you’ll have ahead of you. Don’t be intimidated; you can absolutely do this! You just may want to get started ASAP so that your home improvements don’t conflict with your holiday planning. We recommend saving that full blown kitchen remodel for after the holidays, though. No one wants to celebrate and cook for the holidays in the middle of a kitchen renovation. Plan well and keep your plans reasonable for the time and budget you have to spend. Just remember: Even the littlest updates can have a big impact.

If your plans involve replacement cabinet doors, find the style you want and have it built to the exact size you specify from CabinetDoors.com. Check out our FAQ section to learn more about what we do, and discover how easy it is to order custom-built cabinet doors. With the right planning, you can enjoy brand new cabinet doors in your kitchen this holiday season.