The holidays are a time for warmth, comfort, family and friends — and, of course, food! If you’re like many, your kitchen will become the focal point of your home this holiday season. Maybe you’re hosting a big Thanksgiving dinner, with tons of loved ones gathered around. Or maybe you want to cook up something special for a holiday gathering. The holidays always bring lots of food-centric events, and upgrading your kitchen can help bring your hosting and cooking skills to the next level!

If you’re stressing about all the cooking and baking you’re planning to do this holiday, it might be time to consider some new decorations, storage or appliances. Read on for ideas on how to make your holidays easier! 

Make Room! 

This may come as no surprise, but storage is crucial to having a well-organized kitchen. When you have plenty of storage, it suddenly becomes much easier to manage large amounts of holiday cooking. But many of us have small kitchens, making storage issues a perpetual problem. That’s why you have to get creative!

Look for over-the-sink dish racks to help offset the dishes caused by your huge Thanksgiving spread, or consider hanging your pots from a wall or from the ceiling. If knives are taking up space in a drawer, or if your knife block is hogging valuable counter real estate, consider mounting a knife magnet to the wall. Don’t forget to take inventory of what’s in your kitchen drawers and find an efficient way to organize them (smaller boxes and dividers within your drawers can do wonders). Finding the storage solutions that work best for you will help keep the cooking or hosting process simple this holiday season. 

Let a Machine Do the Washing 

Upgrading your dishwasher — or purchasing one, if you don’t yet have one — can be a huge time-saver when hosting or cooking. Hand-washing dishes takes up a lot of time that could otherwise be spent with family, friends or working on the other tasks that could be getting done. A new dishwasher can help ease any stress regarding dishes.

If you’re worried about the storage space a dishwasher takes up, remember that a dishwasher will also allow for more space in the sink or on the counters. You can also use the washer for storage when it’s not in use. Alternatively, if you simply can’t install a dishwasher right now, remember that washing and drying dishes can be a great chance to catch up with friends and family members while working together.

Deck the Halls 

Decorating can be a huge way to create a festive atmosphere ; however, the kitchen is such a crucial part of holiday cooking that, for holidays such as Thanksgiving, it’s best to keep the decorations functional. Leaving the counters open for plates or ingredients still leaves plenty of opportunity for decorating. Think about switching out the towels, floor mats and kitchen utensils that you normally use for more festive items. This will help keep the kitchen feeling festive while maintaining the space’s functionality. 

Cuisine by Chef Mic 

Whether it’s to melt butter or reheat leftovers, a modern microwave is a great investment to make when upgrading your kitchen. Old microwaves can lose their power and not be as efficient. When prepping large meals, that efficiency can be key.

Also, consider where your microwave is located within your kitchen space. If it’s taking up room on your counter, think about upgrading to a hanging microwave or a microwave drawer.

Refrigerator 

Another important appliance to consider upgrading is the refrigerator. Whether that upgrade is due to your fridge’s age, size or functionality, a refrigerator upgrade can help a lot with holiday cooking. Additionally, interior design has changed a great deal in recent years, and older refrigerators may not fit their required aesthetic role when you want to impress guests. If you don’t want to get a new fridge, maybe you can hide your current fridge’s age by getting rid of stains or chips on its façade.

If you’re not sure whether to replace your refrigerator, ask yourself: Can your current fridge fit all the ingredients you’ll need to successfully cook a large dinner — or the leftovers afterward? Overall, the refrigerator should serve in size and functionality for any holiday cooking endeavor (and other year-round kitchen activities) in the coming years. 

How Acima Leasing Can Help 

Kitchen upgrades can be difficult to swing, but help is available! Acima’s lease-to-own solutions* allow you to unlock your shopping power. As you are planning on how to go shopping to renew your kitchen, consider the flexible lease renewal payment options* that you can choose from with Acima Leasing. You also obtain ownership of the selected merchandise by making all the payments as defined by your lease or opting to purchase early at a discount. Also, if during your lease, you decide that you don’t want to keep your kitchen appliances, you can return them in good condition without further obligation to you and you will only be responsible for any past due lease renewal payments and associated fees. With Acima Leasing, you can shop for the appliances and other kitchen items you want, without using credit*. Talk about happy holidays!

If you are interested in reading more about Acima Leasing check out this page or our FAQ page.