Rustic Kitchen Decor To Keep On The Lookout For At The Thrift Store

Thrift store expeditions often offer a wealth of creative ideas for decorating your home, ranging from softly-used contemporary items to exquisite antiques and vintage items that are decades old. This worn and eclectic mix of items can be especially amenable to more rustic-style kitchens found in farmhouse or cottage-style homes. Their lucky finds can really add character, texture, history, and charm to your kitchen, especially when mixed expertly together, combating the cookie-cutter design often found in home retailers. They include everything from vintage linens and handmade pottery to old clocks and antique appliances.

These items can usually be found for a steal at thrift stores compared to shopping other secondhand venues like antique and flea markets, where prices can be quite high for prized finds. This means you can easily deck out your rustic kitchen for a budget-friendly price that has the same decorative impact that seasoned collectors enjoy. While you can leave most of the items as they are with their existing sense of wear and age, you can also upcycle, repurpose, and transform them with paint, hardware, and more to align them with your decor.

Glass jars in all varieties of sizes can be useful in the kitchen, whether for holding dry goods or serving as drinkware, vases, or leftover storage. Look for those with a vacuum-sealed top for keeping things fresh inside or apothecary jars with glass lids for a rustic look. You can also use ordinary Mason jars to hold silverware, napkins, and other small kitchen items.

Woven baskets are not only visually beautiful, but they can be great for storage, even if only out of sight to hold items in cabinets and cupboards. Use baskets to hold fruit and other essentials on your kitchen table or counter. Add some baskets in the fridge to create a pretty fridgescape. You can also hang square and rectangular baskets on the wall as a small shelf for lighter and smaller items to keep them off the counter. 

Candle holders, both for pillar and taper candles, not only look stunning as part of your décor, but can come in handy for setting the mood for romantic candlelight dinners or your next special occasion. Look for holders in beautiful wood, silver, and iron for a rustic feel. Since they are small, they are easy to store either tucked away or out of view atop a cabinet or shelf. 

Handmade pottery, be it beautiful ceramic glazed bowls or hand-hewn mugs, can be a stylish addition to your rustic kitchen. These useful items can actually be serving pieces or purely decorative. Hang a hook rack filled with your collection of handmade mugs above a coffee bar or add a uniquely textured bowl of fruit to your kitchen table. 

Old cutting boards and butcher blocks have a lot of character and a worn look that complements rugged and rustic aesthetics. They look stunning as a base for a small tableau on a table or counter, or as a stack of leaning boards against a wall to create texture and an earthy vibe. These boards are also great to serve charcuterie items and other food at your next party.

Vintage wooden dish racks, or their newer reproductions, can be a cute addition to your sink area, giving off a far more rustic vibe than those made with other materials. Even if you mostly use the dishwasher, having a spot to dry hand-washed dishes can make your kitchen look more vintage and lived-in. You could also use one in a cabinet to hold plates or other dishware upright to save space. Old metal dish drainers are also a suitable way to get a rustic look. 

Because they are easy to clean, metal baskets are ideal for the kitchen. They are excellent for holding fruit, veggies, and other kitchen essentials without adding to the clutter as much as other containers. You can use them in cabinets, in the fridge, or hung from underneath cupboards to lift your storage up and off the counter to save space. You could also hang them on the wall with screws or on the side of your fridge with magnets.

Vintage cookbooks are a lot of fun and can look amazing shelved in a stack, in a basket, or on a rack in your rustic kitchen. They also make ideal risers for other decor pieces like plants, crocks, and candles on your counter or island. For easy kitchen artwork, cut out vintage images to frame for your walls.

Fruit crates, wine boxes, cheese boxes, and other wooden containers can be great things to pick up for all sorts of uses, including storage and display for items on your counter. You can also turn them on their side to mount on walls as small shelves perfectly sized for items like spices, mugs, and measuring cups. Swap out standard kitchen drawers for wooden crates that make rustic bins for storing root vegetables in lower cabinets or shelves.

Vintage and antique pitchers, or even new ones in unique shapes and designs, make adorable rustic vases. You can also use them to hold utensils on your counter. Basin and pitcher sets are a particularly good find in thrift stores, since you can use them together for a stunning cottage-style centerpiece filled with flowers or individually as a vase and a decorative bowl for the center of a table or kitchen island. 

Wooden bowls, whether they are shallow bread bowls or deep salad bowls, can bring a lot of texture and functionality to a rustic kitchen. Large ones are perfect for bread, fruit, or flowers on your table, while smaller, shallow ones can be used to house random items like keys or sunglasses on the counter to control everyday clutter. Large bread bowls can be filled with greenery and other materials to make a gorgeous rustic centerpiece. 

Copper pots, pans, and molds look stunningly rustic when hanging on a wall or leaning against your backsplash, adding a bit of shine that evokes old provincial kitchens in the French countryside. Use them for cooking or as pretty wall decor with a rich patina and intricately carved details. Hang them on a pot rack over an island or on the wall for a rustic touch.

Vintage metal canisters can be a rustic way to create some extra storage in your kitchen. Use them as actual canisters on your counter or employ them as cute flower or herb garden containers. They can also be ideal for stashing items on a coffee bar like K-cups, sugar packets, and stir sticks. Great options include old canister sets, antique coffee tins, pretty floral tea canisters, or flat cookie tins.

Stoneware or ceramic crocks, including pretty French vintage butter or jam containers, make the perfect vessel for countertop utensils to free up space in your drawers and keep things within easy reach. They can also double as canisters if they have remaining lids. Fill larger crocks with a set of wooden spoons, spatulas, and other utensils. Smaller ones are ideal for holding silverware, coffee stirrers, and other small kitchen tools. 

Vintage tea towels often come in durable and beautifully worn fabrics that speak to their decades of use. Look for flour sack towels, souvenir towels from famous places, or pretty embroidered pieces, all of which look lovely hung over the edge of a sink or drying rack. Or, add some clip hooks to turn them into curtains for a small kitchen window.  

These charming nods to the past can still be useful today as pretty vases for your table or counter. Many sport manufacturer markings and stamped designs that make them unique. Leave them clear or add some chalk paint for a cute farmhouse accent. You can also wrap wire around the mouth and hang them in front of a window for a pretty hanging vase.

While thrift store art aisles can be a mixed bag, you may just find the perfect painting, drawing, or illustration for your rustic kitchen. Still-lifes, portraits, and landscapes are always a sure bet for a European feel. Great vintage finds include botanical illustrations, old signage, or framed recipes. Beautiful framed mirrors can also be a stylish element to add if you want to make a small and dark kitchen feel larger and filled with light. 

Look for vintage shakers and pepper grinders made from carved wood for your table or stovetop. Even if they are no longer usable as shakers, their beauty can add another layer of texture and a vintage feel on a counter or shelf when included as part of a pretty tableau with plants, cookbooks, and other kitchen essentials or décor.

While they may not always be in working order, these old appliances can serve as cool visual objects, perfect for adding an old-world feel to your rustic kitchen. Keep an eye out for antique meat grinders, food scales, and old pasta makers with a lot of vintage character, worn surfaces, and patinaed metal.  

Wooden rolling pins come in a variety of shapes and sizes and look especially stylish when arranged together in a basket or other container, making your kitchen feel like a quaint French boulangerie. A collection of rolling pins can be a fun way to fill up space on a lower shelf or on top of your cabinets or fridge. 

Old clocks can add a lot of vintage charm to a rustic kitchen. Hang one on the wall or lean it as an accent piece on top of your cabinets. Hang large oversized time pieces alone above a stove or over your counter. Combine smaller ones with other wall décor like wreathes, hanging baskets, signs, and artwork for a rustic gallery wall.

If you love to entertain, napkin rings can be a small way to add texture and style to your table settings. Pick up interesting or beautiful rings in materials like brass, wood, or porcelain when you spot them. Use the rings around napkins or for other entertaining purposes like holding place cards, candles, and scrolled menus. Or put them in a bowl on your table for a cute decoration that shows off your collection. 

A vintage napkin holder can not only hold your napkins in style, but can also be a hack for holding up cutting boards on your counter so that they don't fall over. You can use one or several similar holders glued together to create a multi-slot charging station for your devices on your kitchen counter.

Whether it's an antique piece or a newer ladder meant for hanging blankets, ladders can be an ingenious spot for hanging your dish towels as they dry. Suspend one from the ceiling over your center island to organize your pots and pans, or hang a ladder vertically or horizontally along a wall as a shallow shelf for holding spice jars, plants, or décor. 

Antique and vintage stools can be a fun and functional element to add to any room, but they are especially useful in the kitchen. Use older wooden models or sleek industrial metal ones around an island for seating for a rustic look. Vintage step stools can also be a good find for reaching the upper heights of your cabinets.