Can’t decided if you like the idea of open shelving in the kitchen? Let me show you many different ideas and designs so you can make a confident decision.
Open Shelving Ideas For The Kitchen
I’m in love with open shelving in the kitchen. Isn’t this pretty? It gives you so many more options to decorate and show off your dishes.
Some people don’t like open shelves because they think their dishes will get dusty and that they would have to durst more often than if they had their dishes and glasses behind doors.
Others are afraid it will look too cluttered.
I really like the idea of open shelving in our kitchen because I have a collection of pretty vintage dishes that I want to show off and also accessible without having to open doors.
Right now, I’m using vintage crates for open shelving in our kitchen. Everyone who has ever visited our kitchen just loves the look.
But here is the thing – the crates were just a lucky experiment. I always planned to eventually install open shelving where the crates are right now.
That’s why I left space above the sink, on both sides of our window, when I designed our kitchen instead of installing more hanging cabinets.
Here are some of my favorite open shelving design ideas that inspire me:
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This is what I prefer. I think a few open shelves near the sink are practical and make the kitchen feel bigger. I mean, look how pretty this looks!
Do you also like the look and need to make a case for open shelving?
No problem, I’ll give you tons of ammunition. See below for my favorite open shelving pictures you can show anyone so he or she can visualize them.
Open Shelving Ideas For The Kitchen
Here are some beautiful examples I sourced.
An easy way to create open shelving is to just take the doors off existing cabinets, as in this example.
How stunning is this?
I love the farmhouse look, and my favorite part is the farmhouse sink.
The one thing I insisted on for our current home, the Blue Cottage, is a beautiful farmhouse sink.
This one pairs so well with the open shelf, and I like the added crown detail on this shelf.
BTW, this is the kind of farmhouse sink I bought after a lot of research: a 23-Inch Fireclay Single Bowl Farmhouse Kitchen Sink.
But back to shelving. If you are designing a new kitchen or are renovating, shelves instead of cabinets are always an option.
Do you prefer floating shelves over shelves with brackets?
I think these shabby chic white shelves with brackets are adorable.
You can create similar open shelving with these pretty corbels:
I love, love these rustic farmhouse floating shelves as well.
Here are a few examples of floating shelves.
This design decision definitely makes for a simpler, more open, and less frilly look, but I’m not sure I trust that the shelves would be able to hold the weight of all our bowls, etc.
Here are some short open shelves from Amazon:
I love, love these white shelves, but make sure that they are deep enough and can take the weight of the items you want to display.
Okay, I found even more beautiful ones — these are currently my absolute favorite shelves because of the gold accent!
As you saw in the beginning of the post, for now our kitchen looks like this: I’m using a book shelf and a vintage crate for open shelving on the left side of the sink, and three crates on the right side.
For this purpose, you want crates that don’t have space between slats, unless you only have large plates to store.
Glasses and cups would tip on the slats. You can score very beautiful old ones at the flea market. Mine were an inexpensive tag sale find, so I got lucky.
What do you prefer: not seeing your dishes and hiding them in cabinets, or open shelves to show them off? What do you currently have?
Obviously, you can install open shelving in any room, not just the kitchen: the bathroom or the office, the bedroom or the living room for extra storage or as a focal point.
Have fun designing your dream home!
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Jackie says
Thank you so much for sharing these open shelving ideas! I am having our kitchen cabinets painted, but I love the idea of having some wooden open shelving in the space too.
kathie richard says
I like all of them and will be having some done in the next week. My Honey do list lol.
Shannon @ Fox Hollow Cottage says
All so pretty. Make me want to rip a few cabinets out ;)
Dagmar Bleasdale says
I have planned to have a few open shelves but we haven’t gotten around to putting them up. Instead, I’m using vintage crates and a little bookshlef on the counter right now that every visitor including me really likes.
Bree @ Twinkle in the Eye says
Love, love, love open shelving and you have chosen some great examples.
Glenda says
Dagmar, I love almost every one of these! I’m especially fond of the basket idea with all the cutting boards. That would be so simple to do and it looks gorgeous!
PragmaticMom says
Pretty kitchens, all of them. You have a great eye for design.
Linda@nothingbutblueskyes says
I share with you the love of open shelving. My kitching doesn’t have much wallspace that isn’t covered with cabinets. When we redid the kitchen, I had a shelving unit installed over one of the counters, instead of closed cabinets. Then, when I bought my new dishes, I got Fiestaware, so now I colorfully stack them on the shelves. I tell people that the colors are art and I want to show them. I enjoy looking at them, too!! Right now, I’m in the process of putting the dishes away and taking out my holiday set. Never regretted having the shelves. Hope you can convince hubby!!
Dagmar Bleasdale says
Hi Linda, thanks for your comment! I’ll have to take a look at your blog to see if I can see pictures of your kitchen. I just made two Fiestaware cups into soy candles :)