I have a two-tiered metal basket with apples, bananas, pears, tomatoes, squash. I love the colors against the soft yellow walls and grey-black countertop. I have a handsome lined Longaberger basket with our bread. The basket looks nice, the bread not so much since it's in plastic bags, but there is no place else for it but on the counter. We had a bread box, but it took up too much room. And this is so handy for breakfast and lunch prep.

And of course my grandmother's square glass jars repurposed for cookies!

I would love to see a picture of your kitchen! I love the idea of using food as a decorating element. Right now, the only thing I'm using is candy, but I loved the bowl and the mouth was too small for most items. Love to see lemons in a white bowl, so simple, yet so elegant.

I keep most fruit out, because it looks good, but mostly because I like my fruit at room temperature! Recently I bought a bag a lemons and didn't use them all - they looked great piled up in a red bowl I got in Istanbul.

Two of the bowls I use on the counter all the time were made by my brother. He took up woodturning as a hobby and he has made some really beautiful pieces. I have a cherry bowl with a walnut accent and the other is hickory, open weave with cherry accents that I use for garlic. I'll try to take some pics later when I can get DH's phone. The lens on mine cracked so everything shows up blurry and with a line through it.

" What food is out regularly in your kitchen."

Cat food. But not too decoratively.

Fruit, in a hand-painted stoneware colander.

Bpathome, I use to do the same thing with my bread and I found putting a large white napkin or kitchen tea towel over the bread solved my problem, the focus was on the basket not the plastic bag.

I have a giant blue glass bowl full of fruit out. Not sure it counts but I've got a very cute sugar bowl as well and by the stove a couple of pots/jars of sea salt.

At holiday time my entire hutch counter is full of bread, apothecary jars of snacks, piles of vegetables, squashes, pumpkins etc.

Maybe not all at once, but at any given time there's always a good assortment from the following list of usuals: apples, bananas, oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, avocados, berries, grapes, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, peppers, onions, garlic...

This post was edited by ctycdm on Sat, Sep 27, 14 at 16:32

Just what's on the plate when serving it. Look fast, or it's gone.

@ may_flowers - best response!

Decoratively stack cans, bags & treats? Maybe not the bags & treats - mine would have chewed right into them. One of my kitties, never figured out which one, would chew open bread bags & help himself to some bread/rolls (? carb cravings).

I have white flour, whole wheat flour and sugar in glass canisters sitting out all the time. And most of the time there's some fruit sitting out in a glass bowl. I have a small kitchen with a dearth of counter space so that's it.

I have a stove designed like the old fashioned wood stove. On the top of it I keep old style mason jars filled with pulses - split peas, black beans, orange lentils, red adzuki beans, white navy beans, kidney beans. I think they look quite pretty.

I always have onions and garlic in a basket. The grape tomatoes are not displayed so nicely, in their plastic containers.

Usually, they are out just before going through some kind of processing. Sitting after being sprayed with a cleaning solution or after being rinsed.

The prettiest pic I have is after harvesting my Meyer lemons this past January, before preserving them. Too many to "stage" artfully!

Right now there is this apple I can't seem to get around to eating.

I ate to highjack, but I have searched in a very stalkerish manner and can't figure it out. Does anyone know what counter material alex9179 has? Obviously I am picking counter tops right now. I really like that one!

Alex's counter looks like zinc to me, but perhaps he can tell you.

I leave Meyer lemons on the tree until I am ready to use them, and if I have too many, they go into Ziplock bags and into the freezer. I do the same with limes, as they are both seasonal,and I want to have lemons and limes when my trees are not producing. If I leave fruit out, I get fruit flies, and they are particularly bad from September through December.

I do like to pick herbs, such as cilantro or parsley and put them in a vase in the kitchen. They keep better when stored in water. I have also stored lettuce (which I buy it with roots attached) in water in the kitchen. I let some herbs flower so that I can put them in vases with the flowers.

I will leave chilies out, however, and I do not mind if they dry.

Lars

Here is a link that might be useful: Zinc countertop

I would love to see pics of how people do this, as in take a pic of the whole kitchen including the fruits/veggiesor whatever. Mine never look good. :(

My counters are painted laminate. Lars is almost there! Zinc counters were my inspiration but I couldn't afford them.

I don't prep on them. They are sealed but starting to wear after a few years. I use a large wood cutting board or plastic boards for prepping, which I'd likely do with any countertop.

I've been thinking about a DIY project using material from the company, below. I'd like to rework my kitchen before changing out the countertop, though.

Here is a link that might be useful: Zinc for countertops

hmmmm.
I think I have a box of crackers.
Maybe 1/2 a box of uncooked pasta.
Oh. Salt and pepper. Yup. Salt.
Lots of cans of paint. Oh, that's not food. Sorry.
Do empty grocery or store bags count?
Some at least had Reese's cups in them. And I suppose those colorful, empty wrappers don't count, either.
So picky. Geeze.