One of the things I'd love to do is remove the doors on one of my kitchen cupboards. In anticipation of that, I moved all my dishes, glasses and servingware to that cupboard and neatly piled in the dishes. But my shelves — though the glasses were neatly lined up and the plates were well-stacked — did not look cool and awesome. It looked…well…sad. Really sad.
The Wall Street Journal recently had an article which laid out the tricks to take the open shelving in your kitchen from boring to fabulous. Their suggestions — which can work for shelves in any room — include:
- Start by putting like-with-like and putting the stuff you need to get to most often on the lower shelves where you can reach it.
- Stand up platters and cheese boards behind plate stacks. Mix in your worn wood cutting boards, that silver platter from Gramma you only use once a year, that oddly large plate you picked up at the flea market.
- Tuck in a favorite postcard, a treasured toy, a vase as if you're decorating a bookcase. I've got a few stray flowered teacups I've collected that I'll round up and scatter amongst my shelves.
For more tricks, including an explanation of the "gold triangle of decorating," see The Wall Street Journal | Poshing Up Kitchen Shelves.
Image: Jill Slater from The Bond Street Rooftop Kitchen
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pictures! i'd love to see what it looks like!
I've never been a fan of open shelving. Just one more place to collect dust.
As pretty as it is to display things on open shelves, I prefer to keep my less frequently used items covered in their cabinets so I won't need to wash them more than necessary.
Additionally, and more significantly, in the past 50 years there have been more than 15 earthquakes measuring over 5.5 in Southern California. I am very thankful for secure doors on kitchen cabinets - for without them I would never own (and use daily) the heirlooms inherited from my parents. I recall the heartache of my mother-in-law when she lost almost every bit of casual and fine china and crystal twice, first in the Sylmar quake (1971) and then the Northridge quake (1994).
A small, changing open display is lovely (easy to clean and little to lose) and secure, closed cabinets will keep things clean and safe!
This one's getting bookmarked for when the kitchen is finally finished!
Oh I LOVE that first pic. There's something about rough hewn wood texture with high tech appliances.
yeah its pretty but above the stove? really? its going to get a combination of grease and dust that's awful to clean.
When I have storage I like to shove as much stuff on it as I can... open shelving is simply not for me.
Re: Photo above
Pretty? Sure.
Practical? Not on your life.
A timely post! I figured this is the easiest way to update our kitchen. Just took down one pair of cheap wood veneer cabinet doors, the ones above the sink. There's now a simple and direct route from dishrack to shelves. We use almost everything often so dust isn't a problem. Different colors of Fiestaware create a fun display, but, yeah, somehow, it's still boring. Tip #3 is key, so we'll see how it goes. If we can get the one set of shelves to look good, the doors are all coming down (except the ones above the stove like matt m said). When we move, we'll put the doors back up. Easy!
Step one is to accept the fact that you will have to take everything down and dust/clean on a regular basis. If you bake regularly, you'll have to do it once every couple of weeks at least.
Group like items and curate carefully. If you have singular items, choose just a few to use/display. Too many dissimilar items is chaotic.
Try to include only things you will use regularly. If it's little-used, you'll have to wash it as part of your maintenance routine.
Regular use means it won't have time to collect dust.
If you're going to do the "stand up platters and cheese boards" behind stuff, use poster tack to stick them in place just in case. I once had a platter slide down and knock four Riedel wine glasses off the shelf and onto the floor. Big bummer.
Think of it as a shelfscape. Vary heights and textures, add pops of color and visual variety just like you would a table centerpiece or other chachke groupings.
I love the game of of combining practicality and aesthetics, and I love having everything I need handy. I can't imagine going back to everything inside cabinets.
I love the photo, but all I can think of is dust. I am really grossed out by the prospect of eating off something that has been in open storage. I rinse everything that is out in the open before using it.
I like the fire extinguisher so prominently displayed in the above photo!