Favorites -- and items that get changed and shifted about as the seasons, mood etc. changes (LOL!):

-old wood bowls everywhere -- and some in the kitchen that hold the potatoes and onions
-old white/ironstone bowls to hold fruits
-knife block and knives by the prep area
-a few small lamps in corners for cozy lighting options
-a very old woven cutlery tray/box that holds oils and vinegars, various containers of fresh herbs from the garden and my mortar and pestle by the prep area
-old pottery bean pots to hold sweetener packets; tea bags and kosher salt.
-my old Bose radio
-my electric tea kettle in one corner and my vintage (from the 40s) tea pot in another.
-one of my old small copper cauldrons to hold pens/pencils by the mail/phone area
-cat basket on the window seat filled with an old, fat, snoring, grunting black cat (currently snoozing in sunshine)

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

I have never tired of my 30's green canisters - actually have two sets, one glass with green lids. I also like pretty towels and other old linens. I think what you spoke about sounds lovely.

My great grandmother's kitchen scales from Wales and my grandmother's blancmange mold from England. They make me smile nostalgically every day.

A tagine and a handmade Sri Lankan Rukmale bowl. Both were gifts, both are functional and used frequently, and both are cheerfully colorful (in fact the tagine inspired the drapes)!

Sorry no pictures of them right now, but I have my Paternal Gramma's cookie jar and a very old pitcher of hers too. I'm hoping in my Mom's things I have in the basement I'll have some things of hers and her Mom's to display too, but for now just Gramma A's things.

Forgot to mention my favorite new thing. I just got a touch pad a couple days ago, similar to an iPad, but runs on the Android system. I used it today for a marinade recipe instead of writing down or running back and forth to check a recipe. I don't have a stand for it yet so I grabbed a plate easel. Worked great!

I like bright colors. I don't have enough counter space for purely decorative objects but manage to squeeze them in elsewhere. Here's a shelf high on the wall behind the kitchen table with a collection of enameled cast iron casseroles shaped like vegetables, plus an antique coffee grinder. The copper armadillo is from a trip to Texas. The wallpaper border is dated but I'm afraid of the stripe it would leave on the wall if I removed it, so that will have to wait until we repaint.

{{!gwi}}

I change things out here and there, but in addition to my cookbooks the few things that mean something to me and always remain somewhere in the kitchen are a cat I painted years ago, a sign with my favorite saying "keep it simple", a fridge magnet I bought when my 34 year old daughter was about 8 years old and a Kitchen Witch that my mother gave me about 20 years ago as well.

On the fridge, I also keep a printed saying titled Children. It reads, "She discovered with great delight that one does not love one's children just because they are one's children but because of the friendship formed while raising them." Gabriel Garcia Marquez (b 1928) I'm extremely close to my daughter and have had that piece of paper for as long as I can remember.

They don't add anything decor wise to our kitchen but I smile when I see them.

I don't really have much in the way of favorite kitchen accessories. I have 2 magnets that I can't ever seem to put away.

One is a rock with a magnet glued on the back that we got on our honeymoon in Branson. The vendor gave it to us and called it a message rock. We should always leave messages for each other and hold them in place with the rock.

The other is from our orthodontist's office. We got braces together as adults. It has a dozen or more faces ranging from happy to mad to sad to lovestruck to confused with a little square magnet that says "today I feel" and you move the square over which face you feel like that day. We move it around probably every 2-3 days. It's fun.

Okay, I'll join in.....

One of my favorite "appliances" (since you said herb garden) is my Aerogrow. Fresh herbs any time, without much work: priceless.

Comfort things: my Grandma's McCoy cookie jar with a big red apple on it (doesn't hold cookies, just sits there) and a tile that always hung in her kitchen that says: "She who cooks and does the dishes should be granted these three wishes: a grateful mate, a kiss on the cheek, and a restaurant dinner once a week". A papier mache kitchen witch in a beautiful long purple gown that I bought many years ago at odd-job for next to nothing but has graced my last two kitchens.

Work things: A large, shallow bowl I keep next to the stove as a spoon/spatula/implement rest ('cause those little itty spoon rests don't hold anything). And an old tile that also sits next to the stove and holds decorative bottles of veggie & olive oils, Grandma's salt shaker & a peppermill.

Lukkiirish, LOVE the Garcia Marquez quote....he's one of my favorite authors, and that's a particularly wondeful sentiment.

Great thread!!

I have a framed picture of my Grandma cooking in her old kitchen. She has this huge smile on her face, a spoon in her hand, and is standing by the stove in her old house. Since she passed away 11 years ago, I have had this pic on the kitchen counter in both my homes. She was such an amazing cook (and person)I love having her in the kitchen with me.

Decor - my Pfaltzgraff Tea Rose canisters and matching serving utensils hanging on the wall. I also have a giant pottery fruit bowl that was made by a local artist that sort of matches my tea rose pattern.

Function - my MIL bought me a cook book holder that mounts underneath the counter and we have been waiting till we got in the new house to install it. I can't wait!! Maybe I'll make hubby do it this weekend.

I keep my kiwi green LeCreuset Dutch oven on my cooktop and a bowl of Granny Smith apples next to it. Looks amazing. So many people have commented that they love the look. A big bag of those green apples from Sam's last forever just sitting on the counter. And, you can eat the art. Peppy

Everyone's favorite things sound and look so nice, the majority of my things have been in storage since May as I sold my home and moved into DH's after I remarried. So hopefully in about 6 months, we'll be in our new home and I'll be going through all the boxes I packed getting out my favorite things to display in our kitchen. I can't wait!

I can't live without live plants in my kitchen (or generally in my house for that matter). I've got a pothos in a bleak corner, and it sits in an off-white old crock. I also have several in the space above the cabs.

Functional...I think I posted this on another forum at some point...the big white crock next to the stove holding the kitchen utensils. I'm 41 yrs old, and have never embraced the utensil crock...in fact, always told myself I would never do that after 1 attempt many, many years ago. Eyesore!

I recently gave it another try and it's wonderful. WHY? Because over the years, my kitchen utensil purchases (by chance, not intentional) all go together. Many are the same brand/style bought over time to replace the junk as time went by and funds permitted.

Utensils are stainless steel and wood. Rubber items are white. They look nice in the crock. Voila! No tattered or random trendy-colored spatulas of the moment to clutter up the overall look. Wish someone would have thrown me that bone when I was 20-something and just starting out.

Putting the crock in-place also emptied a whole kitchen drawer...the BIG ONE! Woo Hoo.
Gayle

I'm in the finishing stages of our kitchen reno, and I am adding some new decorative touches. I put a big chalk board on one wall, I have a bookcase that stores our microwave, cookbooks, some decorative/useful things like bowls and my cakestand, and I am going to use the top shelf for an herb garden.

One thing I think would look perfect on my new counters would be an aqua kitchenaid mixer; I don't think I really need one now, but I want it just sitting there! LOL I figure if I still feel that way later, I'll ask for one for Christmas.

Without a doubt, my 2 favorite kitchen accessories are things that came from my mom's house. We bought her the cookie jar for Mothers Day when I was 8 and my grandmother gave the tea kettle to my mom as a "new" kitchen gift when my parents renovated in 1976 (note the lovely gold and green scheme)!
I think at one point, we actually had wallpaper to match-LOL!

When we moved into our new house in the fall, they were the 1st 2 things I put out. I immediately sent a picture to my brother and 3 sisters-- "finally home."
I smile every time I see them :)

I have a photo of my Great-Grandmother cooking in her old kitchen. She's got her hair pinned back and an apron on. In my knife block, I have two of the paring knives that my Great-Grandfather made out of saw blades. I also have one of those kitchy German Weather Hauses...my Grandma always had one on her kitchen window, and I always wanted one. It's moderately tacky, but it makes me smile. I talk to Great Grandma's picture when I'm cooking. Sometimes in German. :)

Books! In fact I was rearranging my kitchen shelves today. When we remodeled our kitchen, we added a big built-in bookcase on one wall. Originally I had cookbooks on one shelf and random decorative items (lots of pottery) on the others, but it was bugging me that there weren't enough books there. I like to be able to grab a book (not necessarily a cookbook) to leaf through while waiting for something to cook, or for a friend who's hanging in the kitchen to be able to do the same. So now I have a few different genres of books in my kitchen. I have the cookbooks, of course, and I have a small section of music books, another of knitting books (DD and I are obsessed with knitting right now), some decorating books, and some reference books (since my kids do their homework in the kitchen, having the dictionaries there makes sense).

My other favorite "accessory" is a vase of fresh flowers on the table. I recently started buying an inexpensive bouquet at the grocery store each week during this long and snowy winter, and it makes me happy!

Finally, on one of my shelves, serving as a bookend, is my grandmother's old cookie jar.

Thanks so much for the feedback everyone! this is a great thread so far!

I should add that one of my favorite kitchen accessories is already in my kitchen (actually, it's one of the most sentimental things I own)... my Gram's cookie jar. I had a tradition of going over her house and hugging her and making a beeline for that cookie jar... every time. When she passed a couple years ago, I told my parents that if there was ANYTHING I wanted, it was that cookie jar. I now use it as my utensil crock and I think of my Gram every day when I see it. She was an amazing person.

We are minimalist so it might be too bare for most but I love:

My clock:
{{!gwi}}

antique scale:

end grain wood cutting board, it always sits on the counter.
{{!gwi}}

pps -- Truly gorgeous kitchen!!

Just out of a magazine!! :)

Olive green with envy over here .....! LOL! :)

Jan at the very tiny and stuffed Rosemary Cottage

Pps - are you kidding me? Your kitchen is gorgeous! Perfect balance. Consider it done.

Pps7, I LOVE your kitchen, especially that awesome clock! I love clocks and have two in my home office for decoration and a pretty one in my kitchen. I had to go smaller than yours since I did not have the wall space but I chose a unique clock from Fortunoff before they went out of business in Woodbridge, NJ.

I am thinking of moving my small white clock in my Master Bathroom to the Laundry Room and putting a bigger more unique clock in my Master Bathroom.

By the way, I love your commercial range, your beautiful cabinets, and your Island. But then again, my favorite is your beautiful clock!