NewlyWoodwards

an unconventional home

An open shelf experiment

by

I love open shelves in kitchen. They are everywhere nowadays, and they always look so pretty.

When we renovated our kitchen last summer, I chose to leave the wall between the two windows empty for open shelves. While I know my messy-cabinet self well enough to know I couldn’t maintain all open shelves, I thought it would be nice to have some shelves to display my lovely rainbow colored Fiestaware and other fun items.

So, we installed all the other cabinetry, and there it stood for 6 months or so. It was not our top priority, but it drove me insane. Woe is me.

Finally, I convinced Ryan that the open shelves were the next thing on the list. (This particular list lives in my head, which means it changes at a moment’s notice.) I debated what style of shelves – more modern IKEA brackets, country-style wood shelves… but I ended up picking up these black metal brackets at Menards to tie in with the other black elements in the kitchen (like the faucet, hardware, and appliances).

Once we found Ryan’s long-lost tile drill bit (I think it was a trick to put this project off), he installed the shelves for me and I painted simple boards to match the cabinetry. I’m still waiting a little longer to place anything on the shelves, but I love the look.

(And the brackets didn’t come with black screws so I guess I’ll have to paint the screws. Ugh.)

Plus, this really gives me a lot more space for displaying pretty things than I’ve ever had.

More to come when I get something on those shelves. And maybe I’ll finally put up my fun kitchen clock. But, don’t rush me!

Now, what in the world will I do with all that space?

Comments

  1. Open shelves is a trend I like to look at but know I can’t live with. I do like having our glass front cabinets though. I’d like to change out the glass to a simple frost rather than the current texture, then paint the back of it.

  3. Yaaay! I love them.

    Jan built me open shelves in the kitchen for Christmas (that’s what I told him I wanted). I’ve only painted half and haven’t decorated the painted ones. Hah!

  5. I love the shelves! I’d love to have them in the kitchen, but my hubby doesn’t like them, so I’m going to try to persuade him with a few glass fronted cabinets instead. Can’t wait to see what you end up displaying!

  8. I love your kitchen. It’s what I hope we can someday do with ours. I love the cabinets, the wall color, the backsplash, the black appliances (I dislike fingerprint-y stainless steel), the rug, the floors, the shelves now, the curtains. Sigh. It makes me happy. I needed the eye candy.

  9. Love them! I like how you went with the black metal brackets to tie into the rest of the black in your kitchen. Can’t wait to see them all decked out!

  10. So pretty! They are going to look fabulous when they are showing off your wares!

  13. that’ll be great, and i think bringing in the black was a great choice. oh kitchen reno, when i one day get to you, you will have some open shelving too. can’t wait to see this all accessorized.

  14. Maybe open shelving is what we need to do for a quick fix to the lack of storage in our kitchen…will have to discuss with the hubsters…

    BTW Love your chalkboard…baby 18weeks. 🙂

  15. This is EXACTLY what I want to do in our kitchen. We have 1 lonely cabinet that sits on the opposite side of our sink & it just looks plain awkward there. I’d love to replace it with some simple open shelving and use it primarily as ‘display’ for some of our more unique pieces since we have no room for a china or curio cabinet.

    Thanks for the inspiration Kim! It looks FABULOUS!

  16. I love open shelving, but am convinced that I’m not organized enough to keep them pretty looking.

    I have much more faith in you! Can’t wait to see how you will fill them up!

  18. I like open shelving in photos, but when we were painting the cabinets, I realized that I don’t think I’d like them in my house unless they were strictly for decorative items. I stressed me out looking at all our different plates and bowls!

  20. It looks great already! Open shelves are great for stuff you use regularly, otherwise they collect dust.
    Your kitchen is so fun!

  21. I love open shelving too. It’s one of those things that organized & neat people have, so I probabbly will never have that in my kitchen, lol! But at least I can drool over yours.

  22. Totally loving open shelves. Someday we’re supposed to have some in our kitchen. I’m just a little worried about dusting them and whatnot, so you’ll have to let me know how that part goes. I love the brackets!

  25. That looks great! I love your whole kitchen, but the shelves especially are such a fun element. I’m excited to see them all decked out!

  30. Why can’t they make screws of every color? I mean I know they make some colors, but painting a screw can be such a pain!

    I really love your shelves though, the contrast of the black appliances, hardware and brackets is just perfect 🙂

  31. I love it! I think your fiesta ware is going to look so great on those shelves. I really like the idea of just a couple open shelves- I don’t have enough pretty stuff to display on all open shelving, and I know it would probably look messy. 3 open shelves seems like a great number- can’t wait to see it all decorated!

  32. I think you were smart to try open shelving on a small level. I love the look too, but I also know that the kiddie plates and stuff like that would NOT look great on open shelving. But I loooove the idea of using enough to display pretty items! They look fantastic!

  33. they are looking great kim!! i too love open shelving. though, i will tell you, if you use your kitchen a lot, which i think you do. it’s a pain to clean!

    try and fill it with stuff you use frequently. that way things don’t sit and collect dust and grease from cooking.

    your kitchen is looking ah-mazing!