I also like an uncluttered look. But a few things on the counter make the kitchen homey and functional.

Here is my nerdy response about what I have on my counters:

In the coffee area:
two white ceramic canisters for coffee and espresso and an espresso machine.

Left of the stove:
one white ceramic crock for everyday cooking utensils

Right of the stove:
small wooden box for salt, ceramic garlic storage jar

Baking counter area:
Kitchenaid mixer
four glass gallon jars: flour, sugar, Italian 00 flour, bread flour

next to sink/faucet:
Bottom of hand soap

Run of counter next to fridge:
toaster

On the wooden island top:
a basket with fruit

Our kitchen is for cooking, not a showroom. The stuff on our counters is used nearly every day, except three things that are too big to store and move a lot: the Kitchenaid mixer and the bread machine, blender.
We have a (gasp) dish drainer for the hand-washables that has a spot over the DW. Coffeemaker. Toaster. Wine opener stand. Plastic bin with dog medications given twice daily. Banana hanger with bananas. Two-tier fruit basket thing with fruit and veggies in it. Weeble bottle opener. Hand-soap (one by each sink), dish detergent, sponge and wash cloth, hand towels and dish towels (hanging).
In the primary prep area: Big knife block with knives. Extra knives that don't fit in knife block (they have protective sleeves on them). Salt & pepper mills, EVOO, non-stick spray. Food scale. Cookbook/recipe holder.

I'm with you. I have a hang up about too much "stuff" on horizontal surfaces...... especially in my kitchen. Most of my appliances are tucked behind closed doors as are my canisters. I really love seeing interesting items and accessories in other peoples kitchens but I hate cleaning and cooking around those kinds of things. I think I have one of those kitchens that looks like "something is missing" but I can't find the right balance between what looks good and what functions well. My hope is that my yet to be installed back splash will create some visual interest.

In the past I have had to work in some pretty small kitchens with limited counter space where cooking , home work and mail all had to compete for the same square footage.All those years of working around the clutter has made me a little stingy with my space. I wonder if there are others out there who struggle with the same thing.

In our old house, it didn't look like something was missing, it looked like we moved out. Our current kitchen isn't much different.

In our old house, the microwave and blender were the only thing out on about 70sq ft of countertop. I had to "clutter up" my counters when it came time to sell.

This kitchen, I put a 4-tier dish server out (never use), my antique Cookie Monster cookie jar (for the Grand DD to see when she comes over), and a jar of utensils.

I'm designing my new kitchen to put out some accessories to be out of the way but give some character to the room. I'll never have much out, but I don't want things as sparse as they have been. We're yet to start the remodel, so I don't care too much about they way this one looks to "dress it up".

Seems there is always something "in process" in my kitchen. So right now there are two bags of chocolate stars and a zucchini sitting on the baking center, the deep fat fryer is sitting out on the countertop next to the cooktop (for the hood). The other side has the toaster oven, and right now has a towel with some canning jars upside down on it.

In another spot is the big hotplate with the canner on it, and next to the sink sits the drying rack. On the other side is the coffee pot. That is probably the only thing that does not rotate in and out of the cabinets.

Yes, once in a great while I actually have everything off the counters - usually lasts about 15mn and then I'm hauling something out for the next project. I'm sort of a small kitchen appliance junky - if it's got a cord, I'm in love.

In the two corners of my u-shaped kitchen I have (1) Italian cookbook on stand, 2 bottles of wine and a small Italian pitcher; and (2) a framed photo of a produce stand in Italy. I also keep on my counter espresso machine; two pierced blanc de chine candle "hurricanes" in the window bump out; a tray of salts and peppers to the left of the stove; and a glass jar of utensils to the right of the stove.

We don't like the cluttered look either. We have a spice rack, bottle of red wine, paper towel post, basket with teas and other small goodies, fruit stand and a Zen tabletop water feature. Sounds like a lot but it's quite simple.

Jodi-

Our kitchen is open to the great room, so I wanted it less kitchen-like. Even in our last home (not open) I used items not normally found in kitchens, along with normal kitchen items.

The things I have mean something, or make me feel something when I see them, so it's not just "clutter" on the counters. Nothing was bought just to fill a space. While the cooking utensils are utilitarian, the box they are in is not.

Here is a link that might be useful: my kitchen

I'm insane.

I love to see my tile, so I don't like stuff out. I have my espresso machine out in the corner with some cups on top.

Now that the house is for sale, I do keep it staged, I know, I'm sick. I have a small lidded pedestal thing that I keep mini chocolate dipped macaroons in, and I have a small cake plate with about 6 pink mini cupcakes on it for decoration. My hope is that a buyer will think "Oh, I need this kitchen so I can make those". (and yes, I do let the family have them, but not too many in case there is a showing, lol)

I also have a silver tray with some pretty bottles of oil and vinegar and a couple of wooden spoons in a vase next to the stove.

Anyone do houseplants? regularly re-done bouquets?

One winter I had a line of little green-and-white bowls with miniature ivy and African violets on my deep window sills. The ivy draping down sort of settled them in, and it looked pretty nice.

Although I've had a work-style kitchen with everything proudly out and ready for service, this one isn't huge and was designed to have specifically clear counters "accessorized" by the windows wrapping around over them, plus a shelf on the range hood where decorative items are displayed completely out of the way. Tier curtains that can be opened and closed and a bowl of fruit and veggies on the island pretty much complete the look, and it's always easy care and ready for lots of action. I love wiping down my counters these days without having to move anything.

Lgiorgi, I don't know what your kitchen looks like, but if I had uppers I'd have planned to hang perhaps historic transferware plates and/or little paintings on my backsplash; again nicely out of the way.

I agree, though, that a few very frequently used things out usually works, such as toaster and coffeemaker, etc.; it is a kitchen after all. Going too far beyond that, though, IMO, runs the risk designwise of suggesting inadequate storage. Or maybe maybe just a disinterested homeowner. Tennis, anyone? :)

It's not that I like clutter, it's that I like to have things to hand. Sometimes clutter sneaks up! I seem to have recently accumulated quite a stash of spice jars, wine bottles and a few just plain jars, as well as a big stack of produce baskets. I can move them! And will. So they don't count. :)

Regularly, I have the KA mixer, the tea kettle (on the stove), two cast iron trivets, a bee skep cookie jar, the pepper grinder, the bottle of dish liquid and the automatic soap dispenser (though I should stash the latter under the sink when it's not in use--it's only for chicken hands really), the vacuum sealer (which could get put away, but I'm trying to use it more) and the ice cream freezer, plus potted plants and a pretty copper watering can in the garden window behind the sink.

On the island is the (flat) TV on a little stone turntable, the scale, my most used cutting board (I have a place to stow it, but it's in constant use and not worth the bother unless I'm clearing things to do something else), and a colander that stays in the sink. Also a few small oddments on their way from here to there.

Right now there is also a vase of roses and a large, branching decoration for the just past holiday which I need to disassemble.

That is, there is a little clutter, but it's all transient. The rest of what's out is stuff that's being used constantly. It would be a total waste of time and energy to put it all in and out all the time. OTOH, my kitchen is entirely separate from the rest of the house, and has only a vestigial seating area. It's not an entertaining room. It's a cooking room.

I had a greenhouse window built from an old door for our last home/kitchen. Always full of blooming violets and orchids. I was tired of plants, so disposed of most of them via friends or trash (for older, tired looking plants) when we moved.

Rosie, I don't play tennis. ;D DH coffeemaker is on the hutch (coffee station) between kitchen and laundry room - through arch left of range, is used daily. Toaster oven and microwave are on a work table I had built in the walk-in pantry. All seldom used small appliances are stored until needed. Everything is easily accessible.

plllog - that is so funny that you use the same terminology that we use at our house - "tell dad I can't come to the phone because I have chicken hands"

Only one that is usually clear is the peninsula. At any given time I have out:
Microwave
blender
fruit basket thingy
can opener
holder for spatulas, etc
spice rack
coffee maker
2 knife blocks
I hope to find a place for the spices to live out of sight, get a small microwave so it isn't taking up 2 feet of space, and find a better way to keep my knives. I'd really like to ditch all but my good Wusthof knife and replace them with other high end knives--maybe I'll do that with anything left in my reno budget;-)

By the cooktop, to the right I have a tray with a pitcher that holds cooking utensils and larger salt and pepper shakers. To the left, there is a cute little glass jar that is filled with kosher salt for cooking. Further left, I have an oval metal bucket that holds cooking oils, sea salt, and a large pepper mill. I also have a porcelain butter box, and a brown sugar crock. None of these items are matching patterns.

By my main sink, there is a glass dispenser full of hand lotion and just to the right of it is a colorful pot that always has some sort of real pot of flowers in it--generally mums or daisies.

Just to the left of the faucet sits a vase that holds a flower scrub brush, and further to the left (in a corner, actually) I have another metal bucket that has rolled dish towels and some hot pads.

On my baking section I have two ginormous glass canisters of flour and sugar and my cornflower blue Kitchen Aid mixer.

At the coffee/microwave area, you will find my coffee maker, a smaller ceramic canister, and a glass cake pedestal with dome--usually with some sort of treat.

On the island/peninsula I have salt & pepper shakers and a metal utensil caddy with flatware and napkins. Right now, there is also a vase of dried hydrangeas that hubby arranged and used to be fresh, but have dried rather nicely.

C9pilot, what else would you call it? Hands polluted by chicken borne nasties are chicken hands, right? It's only chicken and eggs that make me turn on the auto-soap. It dispenses way more liquid than I need on its smallest setting, and if I don't turn it off, it likes to make puddles on the counter. I think it's actually trying to soap up a sunbeam, but sunbeams are notoriously insubstantial. I seem to be able to wash my hands without contaminating the whole kitchen after touching just about anything else germy, other than the danged chickens!

I forgot above that I have some actual decor! It wasn't obtained as decor. They were gifts. I keep thinking I'll figure out somewhere to put them away, but they stay out in the window. I think there's a feeling that if I have to give them cupboard space that means that I like them and want to keep them, so even though I'm not all that fond of them, they remain. There's a decorative bottle of oil with stuff suspended in it, a shaped bottle with pasta, a mason jar with pink lentils and a set of copper and tin measuring cups which are cute, but never seem clean enough to actually use. Oh, and my spoon rest which my best friend gave me for my birthday when I was 10 or 11. I didn't know it was a spoon rest. I'm sure she just thought it was a cute dish. The grown ups wondered why she gave me a spoon rest though, and I've kept it by the stove since I've had my own stove, so I don't "see" it anymore, unless I have a spoon to set down. It's a great place to put the magnetic knob that operates my Gaggenau induction cooktop while I'm cleaning, too. (Hm... That reads funny. I clean the spoon rest too. Just don't notice it, because it's always there.)

There are also usually pot holders and tea towels out, and in use.

We don't have any accessories for looks, but we have functional things that look good....

We have 2 cubbies that are the back part of the island, facing into the kitchen to keep "stuff" off the work part of the counters. I now have the full 24" depth of counter space with nothing in the way.
In the cubby on the left side are the food processor, a knife block, a utensil holder and the daily vitamins. On the right side, we have a revolving spice rack, salt and pepper, an oil and vinegar holder that has olive oil and canola oil instead, raw garlic, and cooking spray.

On the top of the back part of our island are 2-3 fruit bowls depending on how full empty they are. I keep bananas separate from apples...and sometimes need a extra bowl. There is no "decorative" citrus on display, lol.

In the sink run, we have the micro up on a shelf, a toaster on the counter, the auto soap dispenser (for chicken hands and other germy reasons), detergent (haven't got a pretty bottle yet after the other auto dispenser died)and a paper towel holder. near the end we have the soda maker and cordless phone extension.

I bought a set of pretty vintage chrome canisters and have not figured out what to put in them and where. I also bought a wall mount vintage chrome paper towel holder, and have not figured a spot for it either. I do have to admit to papers gathering at times on the peninsula and a constant effort to not have the others load up on that counter run.... It is a great place to unload groceries if they don't clutter it up.

My matching decorative canisters, two tier fruit basket, decorative dish drain and a live plant in a decorative planter. Oh and I can't forget my "parisian" dish that I bought at a garage sale that holds my sponge scrubby. I try to only put things on the counters that are pretty yet have some sort of function as well.