Refresh your kitchen with colors

Do you look around your kitchen and think about ripping it apart and starting fresh?

If a full kitchen remodel isn’t in the cards you can still give your kitchen’s look and feel a boost.

Change things up with a pop of color. Bright and bold or soft and pretty, splashes of color offer immediate gratification in kitchen cheer.

>> Stand mixer: Talk about color choices! The KitchenAid Artisan 5-quart stand mixer comes in a whopping 46 colors. The hardest part is choosing — should you go with Buttercup, Cobalt Blue, Aqua Sky or the newest color, Passion Red, in honor of the brand’s 100th anniversary? Mixers can be beautiful enough to leave on the counter (which may prompt more cookie-baking, never a bad thing).

>> Food processor: A touch of metallic adds shine and a little bling. For example, the 14-cup Cuisinart comes in a fun Copper Classic, and I don’t know of an appliance that gets more of a workout in my kitchen. My glimmer-gold version makes me feel a bit like a Kardashian — a Kardashian chopping onions.

>> Big fruit bowl: A quick color fix for the counter — both the fruit and the bowl. Fiesta specializes in affordable, colorful tabletop and cookware, in 15 colors (Scarlet! Meadow! Poppy! Daffodil! Lapis! Claret!). Or hunt for something more unusual on Etsy.com or in local shops.

>> Vases: Another low-cost and simple way to cheer up your space is with flowers. And lovely blooms deserve a lovely vase. Tall, shiny containers look especially good when a few are grouped together. Investigate lines like Middle Kingdom and West Elm, available through online sources.

>> Utensil pots: Many of us love to keep cooking utensils in a little canister on the countertop for easy grabbing, but we don’t think too much about how that container looks. This is yet another opportunity for color! Consider glazed earthenware pots in rich blue, burnt orange and deep yellow shades. And yes, you could also use them for their original purpose, as planters. Poke around a garden shop for some bright ideas.

>> Towels: One of the easiest and least expensive ways to liven up the space. Pick colors or patterns based on the season, a holiday or just a change in mood, and keep changing them up.

>> Blender: Another go-to kitchen tool, it tends to hide in plain view. You might as well make it count color-wise! Many of the Vitamix blenders are available in arresting red and shimmery copper. More budget-friendly Black & Decker has some vibrantly hued choices as well. Tuck a blender in the corner and let it sparkle while not in use.

>> Toaster: The Smeg brand, sold at Williams- Sonoma, has a retro-looking toaster in colors including red, pastel green, pastel blue and pink. Secor and other brands also have an array of colors in pop-up toasters.

>> Fans: The countertop Fanimation Urbanjet Fan (check Bed Bath & Beyond) comes in colors from baby blue to bright red to shiny rose gold. Vornado also makes some cute fans in various hues.

>> Coffee maker: While you wait for your toast to pop up, brew yourself a cuppa in your teal or red Keurig K-Mini Plus. Other Keurig coffee makers come in colors like Greenery and Black Plum, so you can pick the one that speaks to your morning aura. If you’re more of a pot-of-coffee person, the Bella Linea line comes in lots of colors, too.

>> Fridge: Ready to go bigger? And have some fun? Galanz makes old school-style fridges in sizes ranging from 3.1 cubic feet, which could tuck under a counter, to 12 cubic feet. You can go cool and pastel with Bebop Blue, or create a full-on focal point in the kitchen with Hot Rod Red. Smeg, Danby and Fridgidare are other brands that make stop-and-stare colorful fridges.

>> Microwaves: Not as big an investment as a refrigerator, but available in similar styles and colors from the same brands as the fridges.

So while you wait for your bank account to grow to full kitchen-renovation level, there are plenty of ways to make your kitchen a happier place to be. Pick a color, any color.