Is your kitchen looking a little lack-lustre? With summer hopefully on its way, perhaps it’s time to add colour and character - without spending a fortune.
Is your kitchen looking a little lack-lustre? With summer hopefully on its way, perhaps it’s time to add colour and character – without spending a fortune.
We’ve found lots of great ideas for under a tenner from funky storage tins and colourful utensils to retro accessories and well-designed wine racks from high street shops and online stores. Be inspired and give your kitchen a quick, cheap and easy makeover.


Ditch dull storage
Colourful storage jars are a great way to brighten up a kitchen worktop. Argos’ Habitat Herbert Storage Jars (pictured, left) with a bell pepper design are available in green and red cost £9 each.
For a modern monochrome look, Ikea’s black-and-white TRIPP Tin comes as a set of three - and a steal for just £3.50.

Colourful chopping boards
These Flexible Cutting Mats (pictured, middle) cost £8 and come as a set of four flexible colour-coded cutting mats so you can separate food groups to prevent bacteria cross-contamination.
For something quirky, look at this peas chopping board for £9.99 or this Too Hot worktop saver - a bargain for only a fiver. All boards are from Cargo Home Shop.

Go retro and accessorise
Keep your kitchen counter clutter-free but then add a couple of stylish accessories. Retro kitchen scales always look great – we like these Orb Mechanical Kitchen Scale from John Lewis for £10 with its easy-to-read dial in metric and imperial measurements. The bowl has a 3kg capacity too.
For £2 less, you buy retro-style kitchen scales in hot pink, red, cream and black for £8 from Wilko.

Show off your wine
No need to store your wine bottles in the cupboard when you can display them on one of these great-looking wine racks. This bamboo wine rack (pictured, right) stores three bottles and costs £8 from Tesco and can be kept on a work surface or shelf.
For a different look, Tesco also sell this 12-bottle natural pine wine ack for £9.97 which can hold wine, champagne and 1-litre bottles.

Bright biscuit tins
A fun, colourful biscuit tin is another way to add colour to your kitchen. We love this emergency alarm-style Take a Break Emergency Food Tin from Iwantoneofthose.com - and it only costs £7.99 with free UK delivery.
Dunelm Mill also have some great options such as these ceramic tins – choose from the Red Painted Poppy Collection Biscuit Storage Jar and Poppy Collection Biscuit Storage Jar, both £7.99 each.

Cooking with colour
If you’re cooking the family dinners with stained wooden spoons and half-broken, semi-melted plastic spatulas, it might be time for an update. This pack of silicone utensils costs £9.50 from Marks & Spencer and consists of a spatula, pastry brush and spoon - plus it's available in bold or pastel colours.

Teatime treat
Add colour to your cuppa at the kitchen table with this Red Poppy Style Flower Tray from BHS with its bright red and green design for £5.
You can also buy a set of matching Red Poppy Flower Coasters - £5 for a set of four, also from BHS.

Get the British look
Debehams’ 'Ketchup on Everything' range is perfect for cheering up a kitchen. The cotton canvas 'Egg and Soldiers' tote bag (pictured, bottom left) from Victoria Eggs costs £4.80 and is great for storing recipes or just hang it on a hook and take it when you go grocery shopping.
Also part of the range are these egg and soldiers coasters (pictured, top left) with a quirky design and fun moustache details for £4.80 and the cotton egg and soldiers tea towel (pictured, centre) for £5.
We also love these Marmite coasters (pictured, right) from Lakeland for £3.99 - celebrating another quintessentially British food.

Make drying-up fun
Brightly coloured tea towels are a simple way to add a splash of colour – no more tatty tea towels at least. These red floral and purple meadow tea towels from Wilko cost £4 each.
Or make drying up more fun by not doing it. This colourful, quirky Rooster drying mat (pictured, centre) from Lakeland adds extra space and is super-absorbent, holding up to four times its own weight in water, and helps dishes and glasses dry quicker too.
Where to next?
Spruce up your garden on a budget
Storage solutions under a tenner
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