It’s been a little more than a year since I renovated our kitchen, replacing ill-placed cabinets with open shelving. When I posted the finished renovation, I received so many questions and comments about the kitchen shelves:
“How will you keep them clean?”
“There will be grease and dust all over them.”
“I wouldn’t want all my stuff on display.”
All relevant concerns; all things that can happen with open kitchen shelves like these. So, one year later, did those concerns become reality? What’s the verdict?
I’m going to take the main questions in turn.
“How will you keep them clean?”
Verdict: Not really a problem at all.
On the lower shelves, I keep all the things we use regularly: plates and cereal bowls, glasses, the breadbox. Because we use them regularly, the dust doesn’t really settle too much on those shelves. If I notice any dust there, I just wipe them down – usually before I unload the dishwasher and put those things back on the shelves. I just wipe them off with a damp dish towel.
For the upper shelves, where I keep the stuff we use less frequently, I wipe down the shelves every two weeks to every month. When I do wipe them down, they aren’t that dusty. Normal course kind of dust.
“There will be grease and dust all over them.”
This comment was one of the main comments I got when my kitchen was featured on Apartment Therapy HERE.
This didn’t really happen. I don’t do a lot of frying or heavy sautéing in our kitchen, so there’s not a lot of oil flying around.
Plus, I’m kind of a neat freak and I clean up right after I cook. So there’s no chance of any oil or yuck sticking around long after dinner’s been done.
“I wouldn’t want all my stuff on display.”
I get this. Closed doors provide a clean look, hiding everything behind them. So, the verdict on this question is mixed.
On the one hand, I like that my dishes, cookbooks, and flour and sugar containers are out on display. They are nice-looking and the cookbooks provide little pops of color. Plus, they’re out and handy when I need them.
On the other hand, however, I would like the, ahem, less attractive stuff behind closed doors. For example, our drinking glasses are a mismatched collection, with some plastic and some glass, some adult-size and some kid-size. I could live without seeing those out every day.
Overall Verdict?
I really like the open kitchen shelves. They solved the problem of the cabinets being hung too high and I like some things being out and easily accessible. I like the bright, open, industrial look of them, too.
But, to be honest, if we do a full renovation of our kitchen, I’d like to add back in wall cabinets. I’d like to keep some of the shelving, but I would also like wall cabinets to hide the stuff I don’t really need to look at every day.
To read about the kitchen renovation (started three days before Christmas!), click HERE.
To read about the plan and process of taking down the cabinets, click HERE.
To get the full source list and breakdown of costs, click HERE.
A "recovering lawyer," I turned in my power suits for power tools and a life of DIY. I believe in merging old and new to make a house a home.
Thank you for sharing. That “if I had it to do over again” category of advice is very valuable. It was very helpful to address those concerns now that you’ve lived with open shelves for a year. My daughter and son-in-law have purchased land and will be building a home in the near future. Her Dad and I have built two homes, and I’ve passed on my “if I had it to do over again” experiences to them! Living and learning!
Thank you, Karen. I got such a strong reaction about the open shelves at the time that I knew I needed to revisit the decision after a year and write about it. Living and learning is where it’s at!
I’m so glad I found your blog Karen! I hope the lampe works for that smell. Now onto the kitchen-I am in the process of renovating and replacing my kitchen too. I can’t afford new cabinets but I can afford paint so I plan to paint the uppers creamy color and the bottoms a espresso, well kinda lighter than espresso, brown. Here’s where the open shelf thing comes in. There is a 3 cabinet peninsula that separates the kitchen and dining room, uppers and lowers. I took all the doors off and left them off the uppers (they were double sided) so now I can actually see people at the table. I got rid of over half the junk I had in them, extra glasses, etc and I love it. Haven’t painted them yet, but I WILL get it done. (School’s almost out so that will free up some of my time.)
Your blog was just the boost of confidence I needed to go ahead and remove the rest of the hinges. 🙂
Thank you, Rena! I’m glad you found it, too! And I’m so glad I inspired you to remove the rest of the hinges and open up that cabinet! I’d love for you to share pics of your progress – sounds beautiful!! Thank you for sharing!!
I also am happy to read your one yr later post. I think that you are right, if you use the things on your shelves regularly, you keep the dust to a min. But if you don’t use the things often, the dust can build up. For instance, I would like my cookbooks displayed, but I actually don’t use them much…I see dust accumulating. And I don’t want to more dusting to my routine. So altho I love the look of open shelving, I don’t think I will go there. When all is said and done, it is always important to consider how something will be used. I recently bought a really cute upholstered chair…but did not really think about it’s “cuddle” factor, and it just isn’t the chair I want to sit in for TV watching or reading a good book. But it is pretty! ?
Thanks, Linda! That’s exactly right – the use has to be the main consideration. Thanks!
Hi, Karen. Before and After articles are good, but the “long afters” are so helpful. Open vs. closed cabinets are a big change for anyone, and this information will really help someone decide for or against! Great articles.
Thank you, Cheryl! There was such a reaction when I first posted my kitchen reno, especially about the open shelving, that I thought it’d be helpful to do a follow up post. I’m glad you found it useful!!