2024 Pinterest Trends: Cafe Core, Kitschens — And Bows

Cafe Core ‍

Pinterest predicts that at-home coffee stations will become de rigeur — and the search terms around coffee styling are up more than 1,000 percent, with “kafe aesthetic” searches up 820 percent and “coffee station decor” up nearly 150 percent. If there’s one reason we’re bringing the coffee inside, Toast, the cashier checkout system, reports that an average coffee out costs six dollars, marking a return to at-home coffee stations for a fraction of the cost. 

While the concept of cool coffees is familiar here at The Quality Edit, we were curious about what consumers were shopping for as they crafted their coffee carts and heard from Emily Smith, the founder of Cowgirl Ceramics. A ceramics hobbyist whose signature blue bow mugs are at the intersection of “CafeCore” and “Bows,” Smith shares that, “Using your favorite, handmade mug every morning is a tiny ritual (in theory), but it’s an intentional choice to do something that makes you happy (which we all should do more of!). And for the bows, they bring up a sense of delicacy and nostalgia — and further, a sense of comfort — just like the ritual of making coffee. I love mixing beauty with utility; putting a bow on a piece of stoneware is at the heart of that."

Kitschens ‍

Pinterest predicts we’ll shift to hyper-saturated kitchen colors, starring vintage appliances and thrifted treasures. Searches like “eccentric kitchen” are up 160 percent, and “kitschy kitchen” is up nearly 80 percent; we even noticed heritage brands like Cuisinart driving this trend. In the fall, Cuisinart released its 50th Anniversary 14-cup Food Processor with its original logo in a retro 1960s colorway. 

Replacements, the world’s largest retailer of china, tabletop, and more, confirmed that many consumers are gravitating toward its vintage collection. Their product specialist, Julie Robbins, says, “...kitsch is the celebration of color and playfulness. Sometimes, a lack of a theme IS the theme.” Robbins recommends starting with a small collection of over-the-top figural or patterned pieces and continuing collecting with the colors that accentuate them to establish the “Kitschens” theme.  Replacements is chockablock full of fun, colorful pieces, including the Fiesta Flowers vintage-inspired luncheon plates they created for Replacements.

Social media darling Piecework echoes Robbins’ sentiment, reporting that they have “always leaned into colorful and playful world-building, and this trend doesn’t feel all that different. Many of our historical best-selling puzzles have been food related…and we definitely leaned into kitchen kitsch with our fall releases —Dozen Donuts & Box of Bagels and our tinned holiday cookies for Christmas and Hanukkah.” Piecework recently launched a curated marketplace where, in addition to puzzles, it sells gifts and goods for the kitchen like bold-stripe wine cups, martini olive cocktail napkins and has every item you’d need to make a ‘kitschy kitchen.’ The brand reports that many of their best-selling products, including their heirloom tomato-shaped candles and farfalle barrettes, are in the food space. 

Finally, the brand shared that this trend is scaling because “the intersection of food and kitsch is so very fun! I think the world is ready to move on from the minimalist aesthetic that defined earlier years. Everyone is ready to let their hair down a bit. Plus, social media has made trends easier to latch onto, and the internet is pretty food-obsessed right now.”