I live in an area with a lot of open land and very breezy. Unless, of course, I want to spend all my spare time dusting off all my kitchen shelves plus its contents.

I think in theory, though a combination might be nice. I liked the wine/bottle rack in Maxwell's house tour and one rack for pretty every day dishes might be nice.

In case of the rental, if you don't use some of those items, I'd box them up and replace with your own items that are pleasing to look at. I lived in a rental that the prior tenant tried to bleach the drapes so they were filled with holes and shedding all over the place, the landlord wouldn't replace but wouldn't toss them either. So, I threw them in boxes, stored in my corner of the garage and just hung them back up when I was moving out. It was a nice clean updated place, I couldn't understand why they would show it with those awful drapes, better off with a blank slate.

The above should say concealed all the way otherwise everything would constantly be covered in dust/dirt.

not so much, mauishopgirl

I have open and love it -- so much easier when I have a hot saucepan in one hand and want to grab a dish pronto! (I'm not good at thinking ahead, what can I say?) We use our plates and bowls so often dust doesn't get a chance to settle, but we do have to rinse out our wineglasses every time we use them, since we don't use them more than once every two months or so.

If you are one of those fastidious people who has a carefully edited collection of kitchen goodies and doesn't mind a little extra dusting, then go for it. It will look fabulous. I, on the other hand, do not have the heart to throw out the I Love Lucy mug my friend gave me to use specifically when she comes over, my husband's color changing plastic oatmeal bowls saved from his childhood for our future kids, or the George Foreman grill for the million days when I need to cook in a hurry. Not that I don't dream about getting rid of those things, but it's not really realistic for me. I do have two open-shelved cupboards for the wedding china and glassware which are nice. And hey, if you can embrace not having perfectly edited shelves and just get creative with styling them, who's to say cracked mugs and a blender won't look charming anyway?

if I had my ways, and not having to worry about earthquakes, then absolutely!!

I vote concealed. Open is impractical and messy... unless you can conceal all those non-display-worthy everyday items somewhere else.

I took the doors off my kitchen cabinets and organized everything so that it looks nice. However, pier723 reminds me that I live on a fault. Hmmm...maybe I should put the doors back on.

The "open" image is quite nice and well-organized, but ultimately it's just too much visual clutter for me. But I can see how it would be appealing for others. There's definitely less of an impetus to buy more stuff if you're going to be looking at it all the time.

I prefer closed cabinets in almost all instances.

I'm working my way through my kitchen right now, taking one door off my cabinets per weekend to expose the shelves, and purging all my cracked mugs as I go!

I'm taking the stance that it is very easy to hide your junk behind closed doors, but much better to not actually HAVE junk... so I'm going with the policy of only keeping what I either actually use, or love to look at, and if something has BOTH those qualities, bonus!!

I'm on the side of closed cabinets. I don't like the open shelves or kitchen cabinets with glass doors. Too cluttered visually for me, and too much of a hassle to clean.

concealed, thank you! I don't care for the cluttered look

I don't mind one or two open shelves for very frequently used items and glass bulk-food cannisters...
...but if given the choice between open or closed, I'd say closed every time - there's nothing worse than cleaning dust and grease off unused items and open shelves.

Even tho we are very neat and tidy, I prefer concealed cabinets...and also clutter-free countertops. I don't want to have to dust stemware or bowls each time I have to use them.

I do have a large upper cupboard designed to hold wine in open shelves; looks great, but it's a bear to dust. Probably will not have that in my next kitchen.

Concealed, please.

I have open cabinets currently and cannot wait to close them up.

We just bought a house with 100% concealed cabinets, but we have so much kitchen stuff now after our wedding that it doesn't all fit. So I placed an open-backed bookshelf in front of our back kitchen door we never use and stacked it full of all the overflow, everything that's too big or deep or just much for the cabinets -- but it's SO open and looks messy. This post inspired me to go through and rearrange things so that the prettier items are on the open shelves and the uglier ones are concealed. My poor husband will never figure out where dishes go!

I think it depends on how much stuff you have and how messy your cabinets are. I'm pretty neat in organization, but I like closed shelves in places where things can get a bit crowded. I would love to have closed cabinets in the lower portion and glass front cabinets in most of the upper - this does depend on how the kitchen is broken up as well. So they still look open, but are concealed.

I'm also 98% certain the cat would destroy things in an open shelf scenario, so the ability to close things off is very appealing. Who wants cat hair on their dishes?

Yep, echoing what lots of others have said. We have 2 IKEA steel shelves on one side of the stove for pots and pans (some hang under, some on shelves) and then two rods with S hooks that hold all the cooking utensils on the other side. Everything else is inside cupboards or drawers. That's about right for me...not too cluttered, but nice and casual, and easy to access. I have to do an extra wipe of the shelves about once a month (everything else gets used constantly), not a big deal.

We're in earthquake country, and having seen the aftermath of two big ones, I can't imagine putting anything too heavy or breakable up high, as some do. Those things become flying objects in a 6.5. Shiiiiiiver.

All of my cabinets are closed but I have one open shelf far away from the stove...it houses my cookbooks. Yeah, it can get messy esp when I don't have time to put them back neatly but I like being able to see and reach for the ones I need without opening a cabinet. It's only been a year since this set up has gone on, and so far, no need to clean them except for when I spill ingredients while I'm cooking or baking!

I like the open look, but we do too much stovetop cooking, and bits of grease get everywhere. I don't want to have to clean my dishes every time I want to use one.

I like the look of maybe 1 open shelf for displaying extra pretty things in a nicely styled way. But, for me, I LOVE dishes and all types of kitchen equipment, gadgets, and cooking stuff so all open shelves would be a disaster. Dusty, grimy (because really, who is going to dust all of those things all of the time?) and I need to pack my shelves more densely and less aesthetically pleasingly than is appropriate for open shelving. Plus, I'm a klutz and would be bound to be knocking things off the side and potentially breaking them all the time.

I would like closed storage but mostly in base cabinets! I love the look of bare walls above the base cabinets with just a shelf or two for either frequently used items or just pretty enamelware or bowls.

Unfortunately I have none of that in my current teeny rental with 24" high uppers with frame fronts. Yech.

We have open on all our upper cabinets. We use everything often enough it doesn't really get dusty. Every now again when most of the dishes are in the dishwasher I give the shelves a wipe. I like it.

Prefer closed upper & lower, too much clutter otherwise. A small section for display is fine.

I like a mix. I like to display my glass jars of bulk food items, but hide the ugly stuff. :)

My mom loves open. Loves it.

I hate it. Hate it.

I would have maybe two open shelves for display but to have the bulk of my storage on public view would make me cry.

i like glass fronts on closed cabinets for most practical use, though i love the look of open shelves. also,i think it could look like a wreck with a quickness if you weren't always on top of keeping everything arranged just so.

It's so weird that you guys did something on this very topic. I do live in an apartment but I hate the cupboard doors. The cupboard itself is a yellowy colour and the doors are white. So don't match well. So I decided that's it doors are gone, and I took them off. They are in the closet because I can't throw them out. And now I love it so much more. I plan on painting the shelves later. It improved it a lot.

I like the look of the kitchen with the open shelving, but I suspect that there is more to the "look" than just open shelving :/

I know that if I decided to do something like that I would have to wash each dish before using it because of all of the dust. (yay, carpet!)

I don't think earthquakes are really an issue come to think of it. If there was an earthquake strong enough to knock everything I own off of the walls, I'm pretty sure I would have more to worry about than the condition of my dishes :D

While I personally love the look of open cabinets and use my dishes often enough that dust wouldn't be much of an issue, having a cat makes me want everything enclosed and behind doors. If we didn't have a cat, I think I would opt for the open look :)

I pretty much agree with the consensus: open shelves are nice, if you have a meticulous collection of carefully coordinated dishes and don't mind dusting...a lot.

A mix of open shelving and cabinets would be nice, though. My current apartment is one of those corporate cookie-cutter places that has actually too many cabinets. I only use 50% of them and it would be nice to have some open wall space that would let my kitchen breathe a little.

Do you have a live in housemaid? If yes, definitely yes to the open shelves! I love that look!

I have open upper cabinet/shelves in half of the kitchen. LOVE it. Haven't really had a dust problem, we use our dishes often enough that they don't get a chance to get dusty. I am glad to have doors on my cluttery cabinets where I keep spices and oils and such, mine aren't pretty-fied enough to be on display.

Ideally I would love open cupboards, but as @themoderngal said, too much cleaning with the bits of grease when cooking since I have a pretty small kitchen.

I love my open shelves. They make the room feel so big, and I have beautiful dishes that I bought with the idea that they would be out on display. I don't have any problem with dust, because I frequently use everything I have on my shelves. Take a look:

http://s480.photobucket.com/albums/rr165/rexem/Kitchen/Kitchen%20Share/?action=view&current=VID00090.mp4

We just remodeled our kitchen, which is smallish. We went from closed cabinets to open shelving, and couldn't be happier. It really opened the space tremendously, and looks great. We used salvaged barn wood planks with industrial metal shelf brackets. It was also really inexpensive. I read A LOT about open kitchen shelves before we made the ultimate decision, and none of the complaints have been true for us. They don't get dusty and dirty, but we keep our house fairly clean anyway (dust about 1 time per every week or two, etc)... But we haven't needed to dust these upper shelves or the dishes on them at all. I love them!

I like both. I guess it really depends on the overall style of the kitchen that you chose design wise. Honestly, I really like a mix of both. Show off the cool kitchenware. Hide the not so attractive stuff!

I love all of my cracked mugs and love to see them all of a sudden when I'm cooking - so, open!

I have both out of necessity and love it but am disciplined. Open shelving looks great and is handy, but the dust is the least of your worries if you cook a lot. GREASE travels far in the air as tiny particulate, and accumulates invisibly, attracting dust and making a gooey film that takes more than a feather duster or damp sponge to remove. Maybe an extra strong hood fan would help, but I am skeptical. So, constant vigilance, or a maid. (Both maid and turbo hood are an investment, perhaps partly why this is a new status symbol in design.)

closed or frosted glass for now. I have to much kids stuff, sippy cups, and multi colored plastic plates and bowls don't seem visually appealing to me.

I simply cannot understand the attraction of open shelves in the kitchen, or even glass doors. They might look pretty but what a pain the neck to keep them nice looking and clean. Fortunately, my kitchen cupboards are all concealed.

I know that it is off the subject of concealed or not (I think each has its place) but can anyone tell me where I can find the butterfly wallpaper? Absolutely love it

You might be able to make the best of your situation with a few non permanent updates. I was thinking you could cover the pine shelves in pretty patterned or solid colored contact paper (which I always put in drawers and cabinets of rentals anyway for sanitary purposes). In addition, you could purchase some nice looking baskets in a coordinating color or material for your less-than-beautiful items and only display the ones you like. Try to get a basket with a large front handle (or DIY one) so that you can easily access what you need.
In my place now, I do have doored cabinets but i long for open shelving up top in my closed-in galley kitchen.
As in every rental, you have to make the best of what you have!

It's funny to me how many people have only commented on their choice based on how it looks. Living in NYC, the land of take-out addicts, I think of open shelves as a commentary on how often a resident actually COOKS in their kitchen. I cook often and I don't shy away from meat and oil in pursuit of yumminess, so open shelves are unthinkable to me...oil and grease would, over time, get EVERYwhere! Give me nice glossy closed cabinets that a) hide my stuff and make my kitchen look tidy at all times and b) are easy to wipe clean.

Funny, the dust factor really depends on where you live. In a city, the "I use my stuff so it won't get dusty" might be true. In an area with lots of open land and breeze, you could use something every day and it will get dirty, not just dusty. Someone said they keep their stuff clean because they dust at least once a week. If I only dusted once a week, my place would be filthy, it's an every day chore where I live.

Didn't know that about the grease, I don't have a vent or hood (stovetop is on an island, no cabinets above). I think I'll wipe down all my cabinets including the top, daily now.

I renovated my kitchen 18 years ago with open and glass cabinetry. Tomorrow, the renovation crew is coming again; this time it will be totally concealed. Never again with the open shelves. They look nice...but cleaning has become a real pain.

I said earlier that I love our open shelving but also forgot to mention that they are not on the same wall as the oven, and we don't eat meat, so grease in the air isn't much of an issue. But we do cook a lot and it's been fine, even more functional than our OLD concealed cabinets with
85 years worth of paint layers. As for what's on the shelves, we have a decent looking collection of dishware, so it wasn't a problem. Our shelves also house jars of grains, containers with flour and sugar, etc. We hung a pot rack on a
different wall, which also looks great and works well. We keep smaller appliances in the cabinets under the small counter area, so they don't have to be on display.

Unless someone absolutely LOVES open shelving no matter what, a mix of both open and closed storage is probably ideal.

One good way to gauge which items "want" to be stored outside are the ones used SO frequently that you feel yourself becoming irritated at the tedium of having to open a cabinet door each time you have to retrieve them.

Allow functionality to be your guide.. :)