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Great Open Kitchen Shelving That Will Inspire You

Maxwell Ryan
Maxwell RyanCEO
Maxwell left teaching in 2001 to start Apartment Therapy as a design business helping people to make their homes more beautiful, organized AND healthy. The website started up in 2004 with the help of his brother, Oliver. Since then he has grown ApartmentTherapy.com, added TheKitchn.com, our home cooking site, and has authored four books on design. He now lives with his daughter in a lovely apartment in Brooklyn.
updated Mar 12, 2019
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Sara Kate and I have been talking about redoing the kitchen at my family’s country place the low budget way — by ourselves. Mainly, our plans consist of ripping all the old IKEA cabinets out and replacing them with a really nice stove and restaurant quality open shelving. We’re both ready for open shelving, partially because we like the look and partially because it’s easier to do. To get inspired, I pulled together some great pics that lead the way.

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(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

A few tips:

  1. Cups, dishes and bowls look good / food looks bad = avoid open food storage
  2. It is important to edit down and organize your collection = only shelve what you love
  3. Allow everything to breathe visually = space between objects is important
  4. Plates (heavy) go on the bottom / glasses (light) go above
  5. A darker or colored background provides contrast and can highlight the style of your dishes
  6. A mirrored background will reflect a ton of light and open up a small space

>> Mat’s S.S. Waverly (This kitchen was so good, I included the whole apartment in The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces.)

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(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

>> House Tour Boston: Jeanine’s Sun-Filled House

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(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

>> Moline’s Black and White Kitchen

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>> Open Shelving Ideas from a Georgian Home

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>> Yiming’s Prewar Black Kitchen (Also featured in full glory in The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces with pic above.)

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>> Look!: More Open Kitchen Shelving from Our Readers

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>> Look!: Even MORE Open Kitchen Shelves from Readers

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(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

>> Open Shelving in the Kitchen @ House Beautiful

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(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

>> A Different Kind of Kitchen Cupboard

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(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

>> Tips for Organizing Your Open Shelving

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>> Before & After: Erica’s Open Shelving

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>> Metro Shelves in the Kitchen

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(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

>> Roomark: Tran 8.12.08

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>> Kitchen Inspiration: A Modern and Industrial Renovation Via Dwell Magazine

(BTW, if you have open shelving that you are really proud of, send me a pic and I’ll post it to add to this collection – maxwell@apartmenttherapy.com.)

 

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