Oo. I forgot. I keep a pink tea kettle on the stove. I guess that can count as "on the counter." I use it to heat water for hot water bottles occasionally. But its main function is to please me with the sight of its prettiness. Useful decor,I guess.

I have way too little counter space. The coffee maker, toaster, water boiler and hand mixer are always out for appliances. There is a glass vase kind of thing with a Marimo. A bowl with chocolates, a basket with the treats for my dogs. They think they are doing me a favor coming inside ten times a day and are expecting a treat for that. No way I am going to dig in the cabinet every time. Also some bananas, apples, clementines. Hand and dish soap. A sponge and brush by the sink. Not as messy as I thought. I went to look what’s going on after reading your question. You might have caught me with the mail just brought in, some keys or whatever.

I forgot about my paper towel holder! For shame! Its pink, with a metal heart on top. To the right of the sink. And my soap. One pump with dawn dish soap,and one hand soap from bath and body works. The specific one there now is black cherry merlot scented. One of my favorites. The dawn is for handwashing too. If my hands are greasy. I dont hand wash dishes.

Toaster oven, cooking utensils in a container, knives in a knife block and dish soap in pump bottle. I like relatively clear counters.

Toaster kettle food processor blender. Everything but the food processor is used everyday. The food processor doesn't fit in our cupboards as we don't have that much space. It gets used every 2 to 3 weeks.

During the fall winter and spring we generally have the popcorn popper out all the time too. That gets used twice a week at least. Then it gets put in the cupboard for the summer.

Everybody is different. I don't consider useful items to be clutter personally. I believe everybody should be able to do it the way they like though.

It's more difficult if partners who have to live in the same house disagree about what looks good or not. I have no answer for that. Luckily DH and I agree about that in my case.

Microwave, coffee station, large wood cutting board, knife blocks, that sort of thing. Oh, toaster oven and KitchenAid. And my egg collector - newest eggs my hens lay for me are on a spiral egg collector, First In, First Out principle. If it's useful, hence NOT clutter. I hate bare empty counters - they're only useful when the house is on the market. But I do want to see SOME empty space.

Peninsula: Breadbasket and cutting board, tv, toaster, fruit basket.

Sink: Soap & lotion set, holder for dish brush and scraper

Prep space: Paper towel holder, 2 canisters of utensils, salt, pepper.

Between cooktop and fridge: Coffeemaker, coffee canister

Counter on other side of kitchen, next to oven: Microwave, cookie jar, small decorative tray with honey, mustard, and tea jars, cutting boards, empty spice jars waiting for DH or I to do something with them.

I would love to get at least some of it off the counters. We actually have pretty good counterspace, but lousy undercabinet storage. Hence, the canisters of utensils, the cutting boards, the bread. It's really rather full on the counters.

I don't think my kitchen looks cluttered, but I do have some things out. Plenty of counter space and a peninsula so I've got room to work always. A breakfast table and 4 chairs, plenty of cabinets and drawers.

Under cabinets on counter to left of sink, a note pad and pen, a small base set w/answering machine for cordless phone, paper towel holder. A nice window at my sink and the only product out at my sink is a hand soap dispenser. To the right of the sink under cabinets in the corner is my Keurig (it's pulled forward when in use), a red breadbox, red K-cup holder made like a flat drawer and a fruit bowl sits on the holder. My KitchenAid food processor because its too heavy to lug around.

Just a pottery utensil holder, S&P to the right of my stove on the opposite wall. At the end of the counter run to the left of my stove is a flat kitchen scale - under that piece of counter holding the scale are my baking ingredients...flour, sugar, baking powder, soda etc.

Not that's its always neat. Right now there is a cutting board, my bread knife, loaf of bread the neighbor made yesterday because DH keeps walking in and cutting off a piece. The butter is out - for his bread. Predictable crumbs that he doesn't notice. I started through with a folded load of underwear and sleepwear from the laundry room and got distracted, sat them down on the peninsula and see those are still in my kitchen ;0)

Oops. I forgot my little compost bucket. It is usually on the counter, but it was on the porch since I got distracted on my way back from the compost bin. That’s it though.

The microwave, toaster, knife holder and a pitcher done by a local potter that holds cooking utensils such as wood spoons, whisk, rubber spatula, etc.

Eta that there is also a potted aloe vera plant on the countertop. It was a housewarming present to us in 1979. The friendship didnt last, but the plant is still kickin'!

Right beside the sink I have a square plastic bucket that I put water in while running it to temperature. That water gets used to rinse recyclables, water plants give a coffee cup a quick dip to rinse, etc. I'm big on saving water.

I have my canisters that hold the flour, sugar and tea bags, a toaster, and coffee maker.

There's a very small section between the stove and sink that holds the metal pot for my utensils and the dirty dishes go there to be washed.

No room to put my cordless kettle on as many have suggested nor do I want it out all the time, as it doesn't get used every day.

I don't like much on my counters. I have a knife block, canister with cooking utensils and a coffee pot.

Only stuff we use often: coffee bean grinder, coffee pot, small jar of decaff beans, larger jar of regular beans. Kitchen Aid mixer. Olive oil dispenser, roll of paper towels (stood upright, never have found a stand we like), block of cheap but sturdy ginzu knives. Other side of stove has: block of nicer knives.

Now the controversy: DH likes to put the dish drying rack under the sink. I like it left on the counter. Guess which one of us does more dishes, cleans up as she cooks? Yup, me.

A smallish bottle of dish soap sits on the sink counter. Then a space for short-term dirty dishes -- 99% of the time I clear it off by evening, but the cycle starts again next morning. Finally we have a bowl of fruit on the end, where its easy to grab.

I don't find any of these things ugly -- even the dish rack is bamboo -- or I'd put them out of sight. I have no room for things that are only decorative :-(

Too much!

I have this "thing" about stuff on the counter! I have: Kitchen Aid coffee grinder (used daily); a round 3 tiered unit in the corner-it holds: a garlic pot, small salt cellar, toast tongs, bananas and avocados etc on the bottom tier; a small spoon rest by the stove: and right by the back door we have a treat jar for our pup. That's it--everything else is in the cabinets. I get cranky if my counters are cluttered!

My dish drying rack fits in the sink and it's there all the time (I have double sinks). That helps a lot with either putting away a dish rack all the time or leaving it out.

Coffee pot, coffee grinder, container with coffee beans, toaster oven, soap dispenser, paper towel roll holder, utensils holder, olive oil dispenser, knife block, candy jar. Nothing on the island except a towel. I don’t like all the stuff out either but we use it daily. Most all gets put away when we entertain except the coffee pot and a couple of other things.

I'm not certain that I HAVE counters. Can't really tell since there is so much stuff on them at any given time... I am completely unable to maintain any horizontal surface in my house as a cleared space. If it is horizontal and empty, I seem to be coerced into piling things on it vertically, until an imbalance occurs. Then I deconstruct my piles and LO! there IS a counter (or table top, as the case might be) under all the stuff.

I am so envious of folk who can keep counters organized and clutter-free. I have tried many times, and love the results, but it just doesn't remain that way for long. Hey, if I could find a way to pile stuff on the ceiling, I would, lol.

II want my kitchen counters at least "neat" in what clutter is there by necessity. My Kitchenaid , the coffee maker, microwave, a knife block and DH's small box containing his daily insulin kit, plus three 9 x 12 glass counter savers placed in the main work areas of the counter. That is what I am comfortable with, however DH has different ideas. I try to not nag him about his placing of all kinds of tools, notes to himself, keys, magazines, cell phone, mail he says he will go through later, etc, etc. At present there is a small "neat rock" he found a couple days ago and a black walnut shell with three holes in it made by a squirrel to get the meat out of it, a small level that he was using last week, 5 coupons for Harbor Freight and a pack of chewing gum. sigh...….

We have long but narrow kitchen, 10'X18'. One whole wall does not have cabinets or counter. I believe it should be an "eat in" kitchen, but we don't have a table in there. We have a dining area that we use. I have a bakers rack on that wall with the refrigerator. So on the bakers rack is my kitchen aid, and regular coffee maker. On my counters is a microwave with My keuriq on top of it. I always have the toaster, spice carousal, utensil carousal and can opener on the counter. And most of the time dirty or clean dishes LOL. I do not have a dishwasher.

I feel your pain Igmd. I have such a cute little breakfast nook. But everytime I clean it off,boom,stuff. Right now there are 3 gallon jugs of some sort of carwash stuff, a wrench set,and a battery jump starter on the seats, drill bits and some other tools scattered on the tabletop. He knows it annoys me,but he sees a clean surface right inside the door and cant help himself I think. We havent used it for eating most of the time we have lived here. I gave up trying to have a nice looking kitchen. Right now, there is also our old washer and dryer sitting in the kitchen, because he insists he will remove it to our other house to get it out of the way,and a huge collection of broken down boxes that he has been saying he is going to burn for at least 2 years. It just keeps getting bigger too. He balks at the idea if me putting them in trash bags to put in our trash can to be picked up. But there they sit waiting and waiting...... My counters are so crowded that he has taken over the other half of the kitchen.

I don't have much counter space, which is why I bought a nice cabinet with counter space. In the lower part is/are my baking things, pans and flour and such, on the counter there are 3 bowls and a basket for fruits and veggies. On the true counter, besides the stove is my kettle (stove top kind) and a jar with some kombucha brewing. On the other side, both sides of the sink are :

left two pitchers that hold water that gets run till my water comes hot out of the faucet, similar to Jasdip, I hate wasting water, and use this throughout the day, as I just need a bit. Underneath,, where the dishwasher used to be are my microwave, and my dishpan (where dirty dishes are piled till the "dishwasher" is full) and dish drainer.

right: a crock that holds my paper towels in standing position, a pottery jar with lid that holds cookies at the moment and my toaster, with a cutting board held up by the toaster.

That is all my working/storing stuff surfaces, and to use them, I like no more piled/stored stuff there.

Small house, small kitchen, so not a lot of counter space. But I do have a huge pantry/storeroom located immediately adjacent and that's where all my appliances live.........except for the toaster and countertop microwave. Otherwise, next to the range there are 2 jugs of utensils I use daily, the knife block and a lazy Susan with cooking condiments used daily.......OO cruet, dish of sea salt, pepper grinder, sherry, balsamic vinegar, etc. Not room for anything else and still have enough counter space to work with.

I also have a small kitchen sideboard/portable island and that houses the wine rack, fruit bowl and underneath bins for onions, etc. And my big glass vase filled with my wine cork collection that I mean to do something with some day........... :-)