It won't have escaped your attention that winter is almost upon us and it is getting colder, darker and generally more miserable. However, this does not mean that your kitchen needs to be a no go zone for the next few months. It is true that cooking in a nice bright, clean and airy kitchen is easy - but it is also true that a warm, cosy kitchen that really feels like a wintry wonderland can make those winter months pass more quickly. Just adding some replacement kitchen doors and few accessories will bring your kitchen to life for the coming season.

Choose the right colours

There are two schools of thought when it comes to winter colours. You can either go for something that makes you feel warm or something that makes you think of the sun. The warmer shades will make you want to hunker down, light the fire, wear woolly socks and generally enjoy that indoor feeling. Sunny colours will add light and bring that feeling of warmer weather into the home - even if it is blowing a gale outside.

Sunny colours might be white, cream, vanilla or a bright yellow. Greens can sometimes be good sunny colours - but are not usually used for kitchen cupboard doors. Other options are lighter woodgrains such as maple or a light oak. Gloss finishes may also work well in a lighter and brighter kitchen - offering a little more reflection.

Warmer colours that a perfect for winter will be browns, taupes, sage and darker ivories. These colours work well with shades of red and blues. You can also use darker shades of woodgrain such as dark oak or walnut. The finish could be a woodgrain such as Legno or a matt finish to absorb the light.

Choose the right lighting

Winter is the time for fairylights threaded across your kitchen doors, undercounter lighting in soft warm colours and the absence of bright white LED lighting, if you can help it. If you are lucky enough to have an Aga or an open fire in your kitchen, you should light it daily as this will add a real warmth and a feeling of comfort to your kitchen, as well as a soft glow.

Accessorise well

With Christmas almost here there really is nothing wrong with decorating your kitchen with holly, lights, special tea-towels and baskets of fragrant pine cones. Build up a box of kitchen accessories that you can bring out every year - in fact many of these items can stay out through the rest of the winter too.

You may want to add splashes of red or burgundy to your kitchen with curtains and even newly painted walls. This would work wonderfully with woodgrain kitchen doors - but equally, a white kitchen will benefit from splashes of colour.

Try new handles

Even the small act of changing your kitchen door handles is enough to change the feel of your home. Nothing says that you can't have two sets - one for winter and one for summer. Your winter set might be wrought iron, fancy sparky handles or big chunky knobs. Anything that really captures that sense of things being warm and cosy and even old fashioned or handmade.

You may never have thought about changing the way your kitchen looks for the seasons - but this is the ease of replacement kitchen doors and handles. You can add accessories as you see fit - but the basic door colour can fit in with whatever scheme you are going for. No matter what size, shape or age kitchen you currently have, new kitchen doors could turn it into the winter kitchen of your dreams.