open shelving looks great but only works if you use the items regularly. If not, be prepared to wash everything twice. Before you use it and after you use it.

My kitchen is too small to store things I don't use regularly, so I think open shelving would work for me. I've had my pots and pans out on hooks for years and find it very convenient.

I've seen some nice examples, but I don't love most of these. I feel like a lot of these will look dated quickly.

I have always had some form of open shelving and pot racks in my kitchens. I like the grab 'n go aspects of seeing what you need. My new kitchen will feature chrome metro shelving. The entire kitchen will be sheet mirror. The base cabinets will be Whirlpool gladiator tool cabinets. Yes, sometimes you have to wash things twice. Not a big deal.

What I do like is that it forces you to edit. However, I think that this works better in a small studio for one or two people...In my house with kids and husband closed shelving works best. I don't even think I'd be able to do glass cabinets! A friend has it in her studio unit and it is perfect as she lives alone and only has 4 to 6 glasses and place settings, no real serving platters, etc... Great for a vacation spot as well.

I love the look....but everything would get yucky from dust...def would not love that!

This is exactly what I want for my kitchen and I am not worried about the dust b/c I use all of my dishes, so they get washed all of the time. I am also going to get a strong vent that is much needed anyway.
Thanks for the awesome post and the inspirational photos for my kitchen. I'll do a before and after :).

I love the look, but regularly I have to give my kitchen a good wipe down because of the grease that piles up. And recently I also got on a ladder and cleaned the top of my cabinets - they had build-up grease from 2 years. I was really surprised at what had accumulated. Anyway, I was reminded of this when I saw this article. I still love open shelving, but no one ever mentions that it means there's no barrier between your "clean" dishes and greasy kitchen. Some stuff will get used and so it will be fine, but in general the maintenance will be much higher.

Hey Niabassett,
When we re-did our kitchen we designed an open shelving plan that has frosted glass doors. We are neat, but not that neat, so the frosting helps. Also it keeps the wine glasses from needing to be cleaned every time we use them. If you want to see some pictures email me, adam@adlevise.com.
They were built by these two guys from Brooklyn, we liked that it was locally made too.

I have a large blank wall in my kitchen/dining room, and I want to put open shelving on it. But don't you need a really good extractor to make it worthwhile? As in, not having to constantly wash off the accumulated grease. Anyone have a suggestion as to how powerful an extractor is needed? We need to replace the one in our new house, right now we still have the original wall fan from 1954 above the range.

Its so pretty but without a budget for glass doors...eek. I like to keep my windows open in the spring and fall, and I have a cat...would you like some food with your dust and pet hair?

We have a dresser and hutch in our kitchen that serve as our open shelving. We keep plates, bowls, and sealed ingredients there, and it works great! Yeah, we can see the mismatched dishes, but it really makes our kitchen feel larger to have that added bit of open shelving at the side.

I second centrd, twice the cleaning.

I can see the logic of doing this in a very very small space and/or if you dont have a ton of stuff (a studio in NY if you only make tea or whatever) OR as a money saving alternative to cabinets. But to rip out cabinets to replace with open shelves, it seems CRAZY! or to do it in a vacation home where stuff will just collect dust most of the time.

After having open shelving, I never would again. I do acknowledge that it can work in certain conditions. I'd like to have one or two open shelves in my ideal kitchen--for display and frequently used items. I guess in a country house you tend to wash things before you use them anyway, even if they have been stored in closed cabinets.

I see the point about no food on open shelves, but I love to see grains/beans in matching jars or canisters, as in Yiming's Prewar Black Kitchen.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks open shelving is impractical from a dust/grease standpoint. It looks good and I like the fact that you can see everything at once, but the extra washing and dusting makes it more of a pain.

Interesting ideas. We're putting in some open shelves, away from the stove, probably in a work area for baking.

rusticmodern, if you really like glass doors, here's what I did. I like cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling. Cabinets that stop 18" or so short of the ceiling are just dust-catchers to me.

So I have cabinets with wood doors, then above them I have cabinets about 20" or so high with glass doors. My "pretty" and seldom-used stuff goes in the glass-door cabinets.

I saw this in an article or blog post when I was designing my kitchen. I think it gives a lighter, less "monumental" look to the cabinets in my small-ish kitchen, but still gives me closed storage in most of my cabinets.

I agree with those who opined that open cabinets are dirty. I live alone, and would have to wash every dish and glass before I entertain as well as after. And my vintage Fiestaware cannot go through the dishwasher.

Definitely a bad idea for somewhere as dusty as NYC...

I think it's great for low shelves where items are easy to access and use frequently...
...but as someone who has open shelves in my kitchen as well as open space on top of the cabinets where I need to store certain items - I would never recommend all open shelves or all-the-way-up-the-wall installations as those items in the upper regions are always getting greasy and dusty.

My ideal would be a single shelf mounted about 18" from the top of the counter with enclosed cabinets mounted 12" above that reach to the ceiling.

I have better things to do than scrub grime, so I'll stick with cabinet doors. That said, I do have a couple of open shelves directly under my main prep area for things I use daily and that's convenient enough to deal with having to wipe down the (stainless steel) shelves every other day or so.

I want to know why all of you have such dusty kitchens? How do your plates and everything get so greasy and dirty? That's gross.

I have to wonder what sort of areas people live in or how seldom they use items that they get so dirty. More than half of the upper storage in our kitchen is open shelving that holds frequently used pots, pans, dishes, glassware, coffee cups and serving bowls. Items are used every day or two, so no dust problems. Sure, the infrequently used display platter or bowl on the highest shelf for display might need a quick wash before use or periodically, but I'd do the same if it was in a closed cabinet. I've never had an issue with oil/grease.

To be honest, the interior and exteriors of my cabinets seem to accumulate more dirt or grime than the shelves. I ripped out a few cabinets to put in open shelving and am happy I did. It made our small kitchen seem more spacious and added visual interest.

Displaying ones dishes, condiments, cans, food packages is nice except for one thing...everything gets dusty out in the open...and as you get older the less you have to clean the better..but the above open shelving is lovely..

Sure they look great in the pictures, but is your stuff so picturesquely stored all the time? And will all your items be stored far enough away from the stove to avoid the grease?

@elankat, In our case, we live in an urban area which has a higher concentration of dirt and dust kicking up. We also frequently open our windows to get some circulation in our apartment, since our building is older and doesn't have a ventilation system.

I'm curious where people live that they wouldn't get dust. Unless you use something very frequently or clean it frequently, it's bound to get dusty.

I love the look of open shelving...at least when I see it in magazines, but I think it's one of those things I wouldn't love in my home. I have a high shelf in my cabinets of things I rarely use (but use enough to justify keeping them), and they even get dusty inside cabinets so I can only imagine.

I like the idea in a limited sort of way, but I agree with the people who say they'd only keep stuff they use regularly on there.

I imagine some places are more dusty than others. A city always has dust from the soot that accumulates. I live in Tucson and it's just a dusty place naturally so I have to deal with that. I have one open shelf in my kitchen and do not like it. I plan to cover it with a cloth.

I like bepsf's idea of having one row of open shelves underneath cabinets. You could have your 2-4 plates, glasses, bowls that you actually use almost daily, but still have the practicality of everything else in closed cupboards.

"I have to wonder what sort of areas people live in or how seldom they use items that they get so dirty."

I live on the 15th floor on top of a hill in San Francisco - lots of dust and grime in the air from traffic/vehicle exhaust, etc., and poor cooking ventillation/filtration despite the range hood.

I can dust a table one day and see dust buildup within the week - You can just imagine what it's like on the 7-8 foot high upper shelves in my place!

If you open your windows, your things get dusty; that's just how it is, at least, in the two places I've lived, one in the country and one in the city. I guess if you live in a hermetically sealed building, you have less dust. And yes, kitchens get greasy if you cook in them. We have a new, well-powered ventilation fan, but I'm still taking our kitchen light fixture down every few months and running it through the dishwasher to remove the grease.

If you live in an apartment building and don't cook much, I guess your kitchen isn't as dirty.

I love the look of open shelves but it does require some editing and discipline.

My mother has open shelving on the wall perpendicular to her cooking wall. Although she's very neat, there's a little bit of dust and grease on the dishes she doesn't use much. (She doesn't have a range hood.)

So when it was time for us to remodel our kitchen, I designed two 30" wide wall cabinets with limited open shelving. The IKEA cabinets are 39" tall with frosted glass 30" doors. The open bottom shelf is where we put the items in the tightest rotation: glasses, coffee mugs, cereal bowls. These dishes are uniform and look very good grouped together. And they never get dusty or greasy.

We used to have open cabinets for our cookbooks but I eventually added doors to calm the visual clutter. (Part of APT deep cleaning, actually!)

When I win the lottery and I finally get that beautiful Heath service for 12, I might change my mind ...

This would be so bad if you have cats or other small creatures that can climb shelves or walk around on counters. All that beautiful Fiestaware? In shards on the floor.

I just created open shelving in my kitchen by removing the mismatched cabinet doors (it's a rental, they were horrendous, different sizes and not hung straight) and I actually like it a lot better.

It's only one set of cabinets, I've still got small uppers and lowers that are closed to cover up uglier pieces, but I like having my plates, glasses, mugs, etc. open. I use mine often enough that they don't get greasy or dusty, and if they do, a quick spritz under the sink doesn't take long.

I think the key is you have to love what you're exposing. My dishes are a bit mismatched and chipped, but my kitchen is colorful and funky anyway, so it actually works. If they're dishes you love, it's almost like adding functional artwork.

I've also got the attractive dry goods (flour, sugar, rice, beans, spices) in sealed glass jars on the counter. But my box of Oreos? Behind closed doors for sure :)

Great examples!

You mentioned that open shelving with a mirrored background can make a small space seem larger...do you have any pix you could share? sounds intriguing...

Those Metro shelves are great in kitchens. I have open shelves that go all the way to (high) ceilings, and drawers under the counters for cutlery and less frequently used items.

Well, I live in a larger city and don't have a hermetically sealed house. In fact, it's an older home that doesn't even have good ventilation for the range, so a fan and window is what suffices, and I cook daily. Yet, I don't seem to have these epic problems of dust and grease with my open shelving.

Then again, I don't have a gas range and I don't think it's a chore to wipe down a shelf every so often or wash dishes. Perhaps it's because my things are in such heavy use that I don't have the issues. 4 people and no more than 8 place settings means things get used and it's no big deal to wipe the shelf before putting dishes away.

Open shelving is less practical in places that have earthquakes.

This would never work for me. I clean most weekends, but even so, the dust, grime and pet hair would never permit open shelving in my kitchen.

If there are IKEA cabinets in there now, why don't you just change out the doors and cover panels? For a small amount of money and a couple hours of work (if that), you'll have a whole new look. That's the beauty of the IKEA system.

Mathpie is exactly right: earthquakes are a factor in places like Los Angeles, where I live.

Also, I live in an older apartment near the 405 Freeway (drafty and with no AC), so a fine layer of sooty exhaust dust settles on every horizontal surface and windowsill after just a few days. Hard to keep up, much less with open shelves.

Though I do love that Georgian wood/white London flat (4th pic). Maybe one day...

I have open shelving in my LA loft, and even with a big-ass range hood and vent, the grease and dust are big pains. And we really cook, not just heat stuff up, so it's constant. I'd love to have doors that shut.

And yes, earthquakes are a concern.

@slowdown, these are obviously "before" pics...before the cat trashes everything, which is what would happen if my cat, who should be named Tenzing Norgay, had a half hour alone in such a room.

Can't do open shelving. Too busy, chaotic, distracting for me. Admire those who can and feel good about it.

I loved my open shelving in our apartment we had in Boston and miss it here in New Orleans.

it looks really nice and cosy, but here in the Netherlands, we just have too much dust. If there is too many pieces out there you don't use, you'll have to dust them every day!

I would freak out any time I had company. You don't want someone to see dust, pet hair near food prep items. Looks good but not practical and too much work.

We have closed cupboards except for the 3-foot 2-shelf space where I removed the doors for open shelving. The top shelf holds Mason jars full of food (attractive colour/texture contrasts, such as arborio rice, split green peas, dried cranberries, etc) and the bottom shelf holds the plates and bowls we use daily.

I really like the look and since the items are in daily use, we haven't had a dust problem. I wouldn't put infrequently used items up there, though... from dusting the shelf itself I have seen what would happen to things that aren't used and washed on a daily basis!

I have open shelving, and I love it. The glasses are stored upside down, and the dishes are used and washed regularly.

The open food storage isn't "pretty", but it's practical and tidy and face into my kitchen rather than out into the dining area. The open food shelves makes cooking and shopping immensely easier - I can see at a glance what I have and food doesn't get "lost" in cabinets I never open.

From the dining area you can see white shelves and walls with beautiful black dishes, green tumblers, and cobalt glasses. The white, black, blue, and green serving dishes are stored on the top shelves and get used once a month or so for parties. It's perfect.

I, too, am wondering about dishes that are so seldom used they get nasty but so often used that washing them twice prevents open shelving. Unless someone is running a deep fryer daily in their kitchen, it shouldn't be a problem.

Hi, I think the open shelves look great and , I agree that they could be dusty. But even if there a close shelves you will have to clean anyway! I like them, especially the stainless steel clean and simple shelves, I would love to have that space in my kitchen!

I have "open shelving" in the sense that we removed the ugly white above-counter cupboard doors from our (hardly-allowed-to-do-anything) apartment kitchen. We left the doors on the lower cupboards, and that's where the less aesthetic stuff goes (bags, packages, etc.). The kitchen looks a thousand times better, warmer, homier, more useful. It's really nice to have everything at a glance. I don't know why people would be not using the stuff on their shelves...isn't that what the shelves are there for? Maybe people have big kitchens that are full of decorative, non-useful things? (Not that I wouldn't love a bigger kitchen.) I have things I use less often than others, sure, but if it isn't getting used, it sure doesn't have any business in the 'prime real estate' of my kitchen shelves!

There is some minimal dust/residue on the items near the sink, and sometimes on the lids of the pots I don't use much (the big stock pot and dutch oven mostly). Otherwise, dust and grime have not been a problem at all. In all fairness, I think it really helps that we have 'boxes' (cupboards sans doors) instead of truly open shelving. But hubby and I do love having so much of our kitchen visible like it is now. Putting dishes away is so quick and easy...and a certain someone (hehe) doesn't hit her head on the corners of open doors while coming up from the dishwasher! I definitely intend to incorporate some element of open shelving one day when I can make my kitchen as I want it. (Lots of people comment that it looks great, too.)

So if you want open shelving, go for it! I've come to hate the big boxy look of most cabinets and this is a great option. You don't have to go all one way or the other, either...try a combination of box cabinets and open shelves.

I'm a fan of open shelving too. When I had my condo and space was super limited, I added open shelving up one unused wall and it was great. I loved having easy access and being able to see all my vintage wares. When I moved to my house and we renovated my kitchen, one of the must have design elements was open shelving. I use most items every day so dust isn't an issue. And as others mentioned, those odd items that are used only occasionally just need a quick rinse and they're ready to go: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/house-tours/karens-urban-cottage-house-tour-100820

I have open shelving because I needed a quick and easy way to get more storage (my kitchen was last remodeled in 1936). The lower two shelves are in constant use, so dust is not an issue. The highest shelf is near the 10' ceiling, and it holds items I don't use often. I deep clean them and change my arrangement once every 4-6 months. They get dusty, but someone would have to be 7.5 feet tall to notice!

Oh, and I have four cats. Keep your heating vents vacuumed out and dust and hair aren't that big of an issue.

I for one do have food in open storage... boxed things like pasta, some jars, etc. Nothing like bags of chips and such just sitting out.

We don't have a pantry and not much cabinet space. If we kept dishes on the shelves, I know it would be a matter of time before a dish went crashing to the floor-- the shelves (painted IKEA) are next to our back door.

I do make sure the food boxes are kept neat and organized. I like it, because it's easier for me to keep up with what we have and what I need to buy.

I'm trying an experiment in my kitchen... I do store some food on open shelves but I'm trying to store only the healthy food on the open shelves. It's not so that people think I eat healthier than I do! It's just so that the healthy food is in my face and the chips are out of sight.

We have open shelving and zero dust issues. Out of 8 stainless steel shelves, the only one that gives us a problem is the one directly above the stove. Once a month or so I have to wipe it down to prevent build-up (as well as the several decorative pieces it holds). Should have seen that problem coming a mile away. Just plan accordingly and it'll be completely functional and far more beautiful than cabinets.

How can one plan open shelving to account for dust? Like death and taxes, it's inevitable.

I keep big serving bowls, a fish poacher and some terra-cotta bakers on open glass shelving because I like the look of it. Above the cabinets I have kept baskets and still have some rarely used Mexican pottery and large cooking vessels.

The glass shelves are dusty within a week in the winter, a day in the summer. But I just live with it until it is too evident and then wipe it down. Above the cabinets are much more rarely cleaned - one can only do so much - and that cookware all has to be washed before and after use. C'est la vie.

My counters and backsplash are stainless and full of scratches.

If you are obsessively clean and can't bear marked counters, you'd go mad in my kitchen. Me? I just let it go and try to keep the surfaces I use for cooking carefully wiped clean. Ditto for the cookware I need.

I like to keep a sanitary home and I don't feel that it is difficult to do so with open shelving. I don't have any grease problems and I cook a lot. Things don't go too long before getting a wipe down so I don't have dust build up. Plus, I have an all-white kitchen! I guess it's one of those things people either love or hate... me? I LOVE it. I think it is not only very beautiful but functional as well. I like to be able to just grab things off the shelf and put them back on without fussing with cabinet doors. I naturally wash off dishes before I use them anyway... even when I had closed cabinets! I have nice looking dishes and glass jars filled with spices, bread crumbs, sugar, pasta noodles, olive oils...etc, I adore it!

They say a picture tells a thousand words, well I must say that these ten wood and metal shelving racks for storage unit systems tell ten thousand words. I will be a designer in my other life; these shelving fixtures are simply beautiful.

The colors combined with the contrasting fixtures add more appeal to the different types wood and metal shelves racks for storage. This is a great compilation of shelving racks, great work!!!