Our kitchens are at the heart of our homes, we spend most of our time there preparing food, cooking, and entertaining, and for those with an open plan home this is particularly relevant. So, how do you make your kitchen festive this year? Here we give you a few Christmas ideas to prepare your kitchen space with decorations to achieve the holiday spirit!
Lights
In the darker December days and nights, a string of fairy lights is a quick way to brighten up your kitchen, adding and warmth. Indulge the senses with gingerbread or cinnamon smelling candles, they will add a festive warmth to your home too.
Greenery
A lovely garland hung across shelves or around a kitchen island looks fabulous, and who said a Christmas tree should just be in the living room? Pop a small one on your worktop – remember we all end up socialising in the kitchen, and what about adding fir branches, pinecones or a few poinsettia plants for a splash of red.
Shelves
Open shelves are a great opportunity to show off your cookbooks, ceramics, and festive décor. Dress your open shelves with garlands, candles, or mistletoe in between your ceramics and glassware.
Decorations
Paper stars or baubles hung from the ceiling will add festive ambiance to your kitchen space.
Bar area
If you are entertaining in your kitchen this year you may be setting up a wet bar. Decorate it with a garland, smoky wine glasses, candlesticks and cocktail making accessories in preparation for making amazing Christmas Cosmopolitans (recipe below).
Hot chocolate bar
Looking for something other than wine and cocktails? What about a hot chocolate bar, it will make your kitchen smell amazing. Add glass containers for marshmallows, salted pretzels, roasted pumpkin seeds, and roasted nuts are great snacks to go with the sweet chocolate drink.
Visit our Kitchens Complete showroom, just outside Derby in Mickleover for our special showroom opening event and for your chance to win a Quooker hot tap, fitted just in time for Christmas!
This December make your kitchen complete and dressed to impress!
Here’s a Christmas Cosmopolitan to complete your Christmas
Ingredients:
CHRISTMAS-INFUSED VODKA
- ½ a fresh red chilli
- 1 lime
- 1 clementine
- 1 lemon
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3-4 cloves
- a few pink peppercorns
- 1 sprig of fresh rosemary
- 700 ml quality vodka
Method:
- Start by making the Christmas-infused vodka: deseed the chilli, then use a speed-peeler to cut three strips of peel each from the lime, clementine and lemon (9 pieces in total).
- Place it all in a large, dry non-stick frying pan on a medium heat, with the cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns and rosemary, then toast for a couple of minutes, or until fragrant. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
- Once cool enough to handle, poke all of the aromatics into the bottle of vodka (you could use a chopstick to push them down the bottle neck) and leave to infuse for at least three days.
CHRISTMAS COSMOPOLITAN
- ½ a pomegranate
- 40 ml Christmas-infused vodka or quality vodka
- 10 ml triple sec
- 15 ml lime juice, optional
- 1 orange, optional, to serve
Method:
- To make a Christmas Cosmopolitan, fill a cocktail shaker or jug with ice. Squeeze in the pomegranate juice, through your fingers – you want about 25ml – then add the remaining ingredients (except the orange).
- Shake or stir well, strain into your favourite martini glass and garnish with a strip of orange peel, if you like.
Top tips
– Mix it up when it comes to your infused vodka
by using different herbs and spices, such as ginger, star anise and bay.
– Add cranberries to your ice cube tray before freezing to make your festive
tipple extra fancy. You could still use the traditional cranberry juice if you
don’t have any pomegranate.
(www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/drink-recipes/christmas-cosmopolitan)
