I get a lot of questions about whether I like our open shelves in the kitchen.
I wanted to try open shelves in this house to see how I liked them. Since we planned to move in a few years, it was very low commitment.
Would they always look messy? Would they get dusty? Would I miss the upper cabinet space?
No. Sometimes. And no.
Against all odds, I do love these darn open shelves. I love seeing our bright colored dishes everyday. I love them so much that I even moved our everyday dishes to the open shelves so I can see them and have them right next to the sink and above the dishwasher. Super duper convenient.
I use most of the dishes fairly regularly. Sometimes the display dishes on the top two shelves get a little dusty, but it’s nothing major and they got dusty on display in the dining room before so I’m sort of used to it.
It’s totally worth a little dust.
But there are a few things that I would consider before going with open shelves:
- Do you have pretty things to display? If I needed a place for our plastic barbecue restaurant cups, then I’d probably go with closed uppers. (And I do have closed uppers for them, thank you very much.) But, if you have a collection of dishes/entertaining items/etc., then open shelves may be perfect. I am borderline obsessed with my Fiestaware dishes and have a lot of items, so it was a no brainer. And this area really brightens up our kitchen.
- Does clutter annoy you? I am talking to my perfectionist friends out there. I think seeing all your stuff everyday could easily become annoying to a person who hates clutter. It doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I kind of love it. Also – I’m not a perfectionist. You should know that by now.
- Do you have space for your other kitchen things? This kitchen was a pretty big upgrade in cabinet space from our last kitchen. So, I have plenty of room for everything I need in the kitchen without an upper in the area around the open cabinets. However, it’s worth mentioning that you probably won’t be able to store the amount of “stuff” on open shelves as you can in your closed upper cabinets. You will fill closed uppers until they are much more full because they don’t have to be perfectly styled. (I use that phrase very liberally because I don’t consider anything I do perfectly styled.) So, I personally wouldn’t take out uppers that are filled to the brim in order to replace with open shelves. I think filling them until they are overflowing would bug almost anyone.
All in all, I’d definitely like to work open shelves into our next kitchen. They are a lovely way to show off some of my favorite pieces and are actually really convenient for everyday dishes. They are a win.
We just put open shelving in, three rows. Bottom shelf is frequently used crockery, middle shelf is beautiful glass jars filled with frequently used foodstuffs and top shelf for display. We have no other upper cabinets and no pantry yet. But amazingly we love it! We are quite minimalistic in our approach to kitchen stuff so it suits us perfectly.
I’m more interested in your butcher block countertops. Everything I’ve read says to keep them away from a moist area. I’m thinking, ‘In a kitchen?!” I was wondering how well they held up, if they stained easily, and how often they need to be refinished, if ever.
Sarah – did I respond to this? I’m sorry if I didn’t. I sealed with Waterlox and haven’t had any issues, even around the sink and dishwasher. If you want more info, I wrote a full post about it. https://newlywoodwards.com/2013/03/a-review-ikea-butcher-block-countertops.html
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Wow, that picture caught my eye right away, because I’m planning a new kitchen, and am getting all my Fiestaware and jadeware and vintage things out of the cabinets and onto open shelves. It’s funny, I’m also doing white walls, with aqua and turquoise cabinets, though. It was lavender and light green last week, so I can’t wait to see what I finally pick. lol
Your shelves look great, and I may steal your design for the platters. I had been worried about the ‘cleaning’ situation, but I guess I can put away things that get too little use and too much greasy dust. Thanks for answering my question before I had to ask. cool.
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I have always been afraid of open cabinets, but when we moved last year, our new house had built-in wall cabinets that my husband had to re-drywall and paint. When he was done, it looked so nice inside that I decided to leave the doors off the top section (because I could easily add them again- commitment issues). I have fiestaware also and some other colorful pieces that we used often and I found that not only is it convenient, but the pop of color really does make me happy! On the top shelf I keep my glass cookie stands and colorful candles in jars. That shelf does collect some dust, but not nearly as much as I expected. Came from Pinterest. Great topic!
Thanks for stopping by! Happy to hear that you love yours, too. I think it’s just realigning expectations.
And I just don’t look at the top shelf so I don’t notice the dust. 😉
I like the dishes too! And..its not at all cluttered.
The pictures inspired me. I am going to have my kitchen renovated and my interior remodeling skills will be put to test.
It looks so colorful and cheerful! I don’t think I would be able to handle open shelving, although I do admire it in others’ homes. 🙂 I’d make sure it looked nice for company and photos but otherwise…it would be a disaster that I’d have to stare at every day!
That looks so good with all of your colorful dishes! I love the idea of open shelving, but it’s definitely not for me….I have too much hidden in my cabinets and I don’t have fun colorful things to display!
Found you through Decor & the Dog! 🙂
This is bad news. 🙂 I’ve been itching for some open shelving in my kitchen for a while. My upper cabinets are in serious danger now.
I love open shelving! We are incorporating it in our kitchen soon! love your colorful dishes too 😉
LOVE it in your photos! All the bright, fun colors 🙂 My husband is a clean freak who hates color so I have ZERO chance of having these in my house!! 🙂 LOL
Popping over from Decor and the Dog- Hello!!
I love the look of open shelving in well-styled kitchen’s like yours. I’m not sure how it would work in my own kitchen though. I’m hopefully replacing cabinets in the next few months, so it’ll give me an opportunity to really evaluate usability and style- we’ll see what I go with 😉
I love all your bright dishes displayed on the open shelves. We have some in our kitchen (only two), but we use the stuff we have on them often enough that dust is never really a problem. I think if we have them in our next house, I’d want something like you have with a combo so we can store away our “uglies” in the closed cabinets.
LOVE them! They’re so cute! I especially love those brackets! Where did you find them? I’ve been debating open shelving for our upcoming kitchen reno so I’m glad to hear you enjoy them.
I absolutely wouldn’t be able to deal with open shelving. I love it in your home. I love it in homes i see on pinterest etc. and i have pretty fiestaware too…but i am just too much of a spaz when it comes to stuff being out in the open…i would always be messing with it to make ti “pretty”
I love your open shelves! The dishes are amazing!
But thank you so much for your tips. I’ve never thought about the clutter thing, but now that you say that I know I can never have open shelves haha.
I am borderline obsessed with your dishware too! So pretty and cheery!
i totally thought of you last weekend at this flea market i went to. it was at a local college, so there were a lot of tables. brightly colored pyrex bowl collection like yours for 60 bucks.
If I had pretty, colorful, fiestaware, I’d probably be all over the open shelves bandwagon.
But we have brown dishes, and I would hate seeing the dust on unused items! haha
I love open shelving, like love it! Yours looks so pretty and all the colors brighten up your kitchen so nicely. We plan on adding a smidgen of open shelves into our kitchen, so I have a spot for my cook books, cake stands and other misc stuff! 🙂
I guess if you use most of them daily it wouldn’t be a biggie, but the dust would bother me if it was just display items. Yours looks pretty! xo Kristin
I wouldn’t even have thought about the dust factor. Thanks for sharing!
Well, I’m hoping I love them because I finally have them (yaaaaaay) except they’re actually still totally empty. I’m having commitment issues on what to put there. Wanna come style them for me?
It makes your kitchen so cheery to see all the bright colors! I don’t like clutter, but the way you have them displayed looks totally organized, so it doesn’t look cluttered at all!