9/20/09

Open Kitchen Shelving... When do you need it?


You'll know open kitchen shelving is right for you when:
  1. You run out of cupboard space for dishes
  2. The dumb builder made cupboards on either side of your kitchen sink an "option" and the previous buyer never thought she needed cups by her sink and opted for the media niche instead.
  3.  You need a visual clue to run the dishwasher because your dish shelf is empty.
  4. You don't care if anyone sees the hazy white film on  your glasses because you want neighbors to remark about them so your husband will break down and buy a dishwasher that works.
  5. You're tired of hearing the cupboard doors slam when  your kiddos climb up on the counter and scavenge for chocolate chips or old sprinkles.
  6. You have 6 kids.
  7. You open the cupboard and stare inside trying to remember what you needed in that cupboard....

    Before having 6 children my dream kitchen consisted of granite counter tops, fancy cabinets with oodles of doors and knobs and a pantry the size of Rhode Island. Clean lines and hidden junk mean a well put together kitchen, right?
     
    Well fast forward to today: I fix 24 meals a day... 24 meals a day not including snacks, dessert, or the neighborhood Stove Top Stuffing or Ovaltine soirees. Now imagnine how many cupboards I open, how many dishes I soil, how many times I wonder where that bowl got put away. Too many I assure you. Open shelves are efficient. Our family eats the equivalent to a neighborhood diner worth of food a day and we require a unique set up in the kitchen to meet our needs... shelves. If they're good enough for a restaurant, they're welcome over at this palace.
     
    If you're considering a low cost way of adding character and function to your kitchen, open shelving may be fore you... as long as  you don't feel  you need to keep every dish clean all the time just to make the shelves look right.  Just remember that the kitchens above are inhabited by photo stagers, not REAL cooking, cleaning, soup slinging mommies!

9 comments:

Miss Mustard Seed said...

I love open shelving and I hope to do it some day. Right now I have walls of maple cabinetry that really needs some variety.

Amanda @ Serenity Now said...

Gorgeous photos! :) If I had open shelving then most of it would consist of half-full boxes of Cheerios and cans of green beans. ;)

Carla said...

I am with you girl, Well I wouldn't have the white haze on my glasses since we don't have a dishwasher , so with 6 kids that means allot of washing dishes. And sometimes it doesn't mean the cleanest dishes when kids wash them, that probably wouldn't be very pretty.
I am in the process of collecting all white and glass dishes so I can display them. Right now all the plastic plates, and cups mixed in with my dishes wouldn't look very pretty out in the open

~B said...

I recently had my husband build me some shelves and I LOVE them!
I've replaced all my dishes that weren't already, with white and clear glass. Also the glass food canisters. The cabinets now house all the plastic things and of course the food that didn't go into glass canisters.
I am so happy with the look and feel of my kitchen now.
~B

Heathahlee said...

I have mentioned that I wanted to open up some of our cabinets but my husband said the dishes would get to dirty. But like you pointed out, not if I'm using them all the time! I think you may have added to my ammunition! : )

ness said...

I LOVE love love open shelving! When we moved into our new house-that was one of the first things I did to our kitchen. I love being able to see where every bowl is-it is so functional:)

I do have a pantry {with a door} that hides all my cans etc....

Cheryl @ a pretty cool life. said...

I love the look of open shelving, but I fear the dusting and cleaning would be a nightmare. I have the next best thing--cabinet doors with glass windows!

Gena said...

I love open shelves, too! I have shelves right now waiting for me to paint them so my son can hang them. My kitchen has some cabinets, but a couple of them are not really usable. Don't you wonder who designs the kitchens that builders build? Obviously not a mom with kids!

Shirley said...

I love this open shelving concept. I am going to have my kitchen redone but in the meantime, I have an available wall and lots of shelving I've collected from thrift shops! I feel like going out and taking off some cabinet door right now!!!!

 
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