Kitchen Aesthetics

Aesthetics is one of those buzz words that some people hear and roll their eyes. My daughter uses it all the time and so I in turn use it back when asking for her to do something like say, put away the towels in the closet. I’ll ask her to put away the towels then say, “Make it look aesthetic”! I’m sure her eyes are rolling all the way to the towel closet.

I’ve been pondering on aesthetics, what it is, what it means, why it matters and most importantly how it can be useful in daily life.

Defined aesthetics or esthetics, is a set of principles concerned with the appreciation of beauty especially in art. OK. When I think of aesthetics I think about home design, a mood, a collection and body proportions. Having a home that’s “in style”. It’s a mood. Your mood. And you can take it wherever you want to jazz up things. What do I mean? It’s the extra things. Little or big. Cheap or expensive. It looks and feels good to you.

Back to my daughter. If you have kids you know they love their devices, as most of us adults do. Recently she watched a reel on how to create fall scents and asked if we could duplicate. I didn’t really want to, but asked what the ingredients were and they were:

Apples (we used one)

Cinnamon sticks 2

Cloves Tbsp.

Cinnamon 2 heavy dashes

I was like yeah OK, this isn’t going to get past the kitchen as far the scent goes but why not. 

So I started cooking and she started her fall scent project and surprisingly it was more aromatic than I remembered! Looking at her cutting the apples the way she wanted to and portioning out the ingredients I felt proud and glad we were in the kitchen together. Her working in the kitchen with me and the scent of cinnamon, cloves and apples reminded me of my grandma and I in the kitchen 35 years ago. 

It made my heart glow and made my food prepping for the week a whole lot better.

We later poured out the water and kept the potpourri contents. Thinking we may dry it in the oven and use essential oils to revitalize the fragrance later. 

Creating beauty, memories and making special things can happen in the kitchen. If you don’t like to cook I encourage you to find ways to enjoy your space while you prepare meals and snacks. Here’s a few of our other favorites:

Fresh cut flowers-we usually grab them when they are on sale 

Cute kitchen tools- in fun colors. Cutting boards, spatulas.

Dish towels with personality

Fresh ingredients. Shred your own cheese, fresh herbs to add flavor, go the extra mile.

Replace items with intention. Buy what you love. Glasses, plates, pitchers

By surrounding yourself with beauty and items that make cooking easier, food just tastes better and the kitchen becomes a place that reflects your signature style and draws in others.