Seriously, what is up with open kitchen shelving?

[Anonymous]

I got rid of ours. Maybe if they’re not close to the stove or you don’t cook and you’re just looking for more of a stylish look, but otherwise they get so greasy.

[Anonymous]

My dream kitchen is:

- No closed upper cabinets at all
- Sink and counter along windowed wall with deep sill for plants
- Oven and stove along solid wall with hood but no uppers
- Open shelving along third wall (away from stove and hood, could also be floating between rooms)
- Separate pantry closet with door

I really dislike the wall of cabinets look. The combo of large pantry closet, ample lower cabinets, and a handful of open shelves is the sweet spot for me. Visual interest, plenty of storage, and keeps things clean next to stove and sink.

[Anonymous]

Open shelves blow hard.

[Anonymous]

I like our cabinets. I think they look nice. Open shelves remind me of student rentals.

[Anonymous]

It’s a lot cheaper than cabinets when you’re redoing a kitchen.

But yes, my dishes do look perfectly stacked at all times. I mean plates and bowls and mugs are so easy to look perfect. I have a glass cabinet not open shelves though.

[Anonymous]

I only have white dishes and I have open shelves. Everyone who comes to my house compliments me on how nice the kitchen looks.

[Anonymous]

It’s going to be as dated as green cabinets and cabinet doors that open vertically. Hard pass. It’s going to be a problem on resale, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I only have white dishes and I have open shelves. Everyone who comes to my house compliments me on how nice the kitchen looks.

Sorry, but this is so boring. I don't want to have to pick my dishes to color coordinate with my current kitchen design or dust my dishes or make sure I only buy fancy, expensive cookware worth of display. I've never had white dishes (and don't plan to) and don't feel the need to show off my expensive kitchenware.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I only have white dishes and I have open shelves. Everyone who comes to my house compliments me on how nice the kitchen looks.

Sorry, but this is so boring. I don't want to have to pick my dishes to color coordinate with my current kitchen design or dust my dishes or make sure I only buy fancy, expensive cookware worth of display. I've never had white dishes (and don't plan to) and don't feel the need to show off my expensive kitchenware.

I have all-white dishes (at least my everyday dishes, not my wedding china), and I still have cabinets.

I love the thought that a compliment about your house/wedding/dog means people really love it. They're being polite. You have great taste in friends, not interior design or catered meals.

[Anonymous]

I like how they look but I know we aren't organized or neat enough to actually deal with them. I like being able to put things away and close the door.

[Anonymous]

Haha the hate for open shelving on this board has always been quite strong. We love ours and find it extremely functional, but I totally understand how it wouldn’t work for many and I think it’s for some and not others. We just have one shelf not two, so it mostly has things we use daily, our big bowl with fruit, a tea kettle I use daily etc so things just do not get dusty the way people warned me here. We also have plenty more plates and glasses in our bottom drawers so don’t feel like we have to keep everything nice or all matching. I dont know it just works well for us and don’t get why people feel so strongly about them. I love the simple look and for us it works. Dont do it if it doesn’t work for you! That’s a good life approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I only have white dishes and I have open shelves. Everyone who comes to my house compliments me on how nice the kitchen looks.

Sorry, but this is so boring. I don't want to have to pick my dishes to color coordinate with my current kitchen design or dust my dishes or make sure I only buy fancy, expensive cookware worth of display. I've never had white dishes (and don't plan to) and don't feel the need to show off my expensive kitchenware.

I have all-white dishes (at least my everyday dishes, not my wedding china), and I still have cabinets.

I love the thought that a compliment about your house/wedding/dog means people really love it. They're being polite. You have great taste in friends, not interior design or catered meals.

I do not regularly compliment my friends kitchens (I consider myself a pretty good friend! Most kitchens are just that though, kitchens and fine) unless they just redid it and I don’t think most do... not the pp this is just a weirdly defensive comment and seems to be more geared towards pushing that no one could POSSIBLY like open shelving or how it looks. Though I would say how many you see in design blogs etc would argue there are many that do in fact like how it looks. You can argue about functionality but is it really that crazy that someone might like the pps kitchen and genuinely comment on it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haha the hate for open shelving on this board has always been quite strong. We love ours and find it extremely functional, but I totally understand how it wouldn’t work for many and I think it’s for some and not others. We just have one shelf not two, so it mostly has things we use daily, our big bowl with fruit, a tea kettle I use daily etc so things just do not get dusty the way people warned me here. We also have plenty more plates and glasses in our bottom drawers so don’t feel like we have to keep everything nice or all matching. I dont know it just works well for us and don’t get why people feel so strongly about them. I love the simple look and for us it works. Dont do it if it doesn’t work for you! That’s a good life approach.

Oh and we do have a cat. There are items on the shelves so he doesn’t climb up? That has not been an issue at all as there just isn’t a place for him to lay. I mean sounds like open shelving isn’t a good fit for that poster which is fine but cats on the open shelving I don’t think is a common issue.

[Anonymous]

I generally hate it and think it's one of these trends of designers trying to make something cheap look trendy so that they can increase their profit margin.

It can be okay/acceptable if it's only a couple of shelves and used for some very basic things that might otherwise be out on the counter or stovetop --- like PP's example of the kettle (especially because kettles are often cute), or some commonly used items in nice looking storage containers, or something like a few small plants. But generally when I see a kitchen with a lot of them, I think it is a kitchen designed for people that are mostly eating out and just have a kitchen for show.

[Anonymous]

We have one open shelf in our highly unfunctional and about to be gutted kitchen. We used to have to keep our plates on that one shelf because they didn't fit in any of the cabinets. As they were used often, it was no problem actually. Now we keep spices, oils, etc there, and yeah they're greasy but still not really a problem.