I do love the look of them.........in someone else's home, so someone else can keep it clean, tidy, and dust free.

They're a terrific feature but they require the right kind of kitchen and the right kind of cook. If you're neat and organized, they're great. However, they're not the best for busy families.

They're great for neat freaks who spend most of their time cleaning, polishing and arranging everything thing they own between trips to their therapists. For everyone else, install traditional cabinets (no glass doors).

They are a dust trap

No way! As others have said, they collect dust and I do not want to spend too much time keeping things neat. I have better things to do!

I love my open shelves because we do have a busy family. A closed door cabinet has the mugs, plastic cups and misc other odd dishes. Because I do use all the dishes and bowls they are not dusty. Shelves are given a quick wipe down whenever suits me.

I wouldn't do them throughout the kitchen. I would limit perhaps to one section and only if you have nice pottery or items you want to feature (hand thrown, mid century modern or something special). Otherwise I think the upkeep is difficult and it can easily look cluttered especially in open plan homes where the kitchen is exposed to the family/living area.

I agree with Robbi. If you want to do a small area as an accent to display rarely used dishes, this can create some unique visual interest to your space. You simply have to think about your personal daily function and if you are bothered by clutter. I don't recommend them at all if you have a very busy schedule, a mixture of color/sized dishes that wouldn't visually look nice stacked, or if you are aggravated by clutter; then you are simply asking for extra work, cleaning and stress. See attached photos of it done well as an accent.

We just bought a home and will be renovating the kitchen. I had planned the area around the slide in range and chimney hood to have cabinets - the wall is short, only room for a 24" on either side. My bf suggested open shelving. I agree with the guys above and take it a step further, in my case, it would be almost purely decorative/no storage space at all. I would not want anything there but a beautiful books, maybe a plant and super nice/rarely used pottery. And while I am thinking we have enough cabinet space on the opposite side of the kitchen to suit our needs, still not sure I want to lose that extra storage or constantly need to get up there and dust - I can see lots of dropped/broken precious pieces. Still thinking.

I would definitely not do all or my lower cabinetry as open shelving. No matter what your lifestyle - whether you are a busy family with kids or two young professionals, I believe this could become a mess/eyesore very quickly. If you love the look, heed the advice of the guys above and go for open shelving in a few key places you can reach, use and keep very tidy on the daily.

Hope it goes well!

Leslie

I LOVE the look. My sister did this in her house and it looks terrific. Very industrial chic but... the dust that appears is annoying to her. Form or Function? That is the never ending question.

Oh the look! Sigh...It is beautiful. But, I have too many other things to dust and keep clean and grease free. So I enjoy this concept on Houzz and magazines!

Not generally as the cleaning will have to be very often... I am doing an open 'bookcase' cabinet in the kitchen as far away as possible from the cooking area for cookbooks.. It really depends on your style and needs and level of commitment to maintain them. I would have to wipe them down at least every other day as we cook often...

They're perfect...for people who loooove to clean. If you like standing on a step stool rearranging display things or simply cleaning stuff shelves are for you! I don't want my dishes out with the dust and grease. Even with a range hood some grease escapes. I love cleaning my kitchen--counter tops, floor and appliances--but moving stuff around on shelves...not for me.

I think open shelves in a kitchen are great for the right people in the right location. By that I mean somewhere that the dust will be kept to a minimum and the shelves will still appear clean without a daily dusting. In more dusty/desert climates it is harder to keep the dust off the shelves and it becomes a nuisance. It is also only an option for someone that is neat and organized as you will need to arrange the items on the shelves in a way that will look uncluttered and appealing to the eye or the open shelves will be more of an eyesore than an eye-catching design feature. Which brings me to my last point, you also need coordinating dishware or other coordinating items for display. If you have a mishmash of handed down kitchen items and dishware it will not show well on open shelving.

Unfortunately I could not vote. Yes I like open shelves and will be using them when it is time to redo my kitchen cabinets. Yes, I will have a little more dusting (or maybe not ) to do but I like the look of open shelves and the cost will be substantially less than upper cabinets. It will force me to let go of some of the things I have been moving around in my cupboards and not using. We have cats who will think that we did the shelves just for them. I know most of you will say ewwww but my plan of placement will ensure my "boys" will have access to specific shelves only. Since I have a spectacular plate unit ready and waiting for the project to begin, the only shelf I am a bit concerned about is the one for my glassware. Obviously we here at quirky cabin live a rather relaxed life style and a little bit of dust or cat hair can be dealt with with a quick rinse under the faucet.

We recently did a project with custom metal brackets for shelves and matching hood! We love the way it came out!

Range Hood · More Info

We've put in 2 shelves on the left and right of the sink. They are hanging low enough for easy cleaning and their surface is hig gloss, so a quick wipe is all it takes to keep them clean.

One holds tea tins, a couple of tea cups and some glasses, all things we use daily, so no time for dust to settle. The other, shorter shelf is mostly there to visually balance the longer shelf. It just has a framed picture on it, nothing else. Both these shelves are on the sink wall, so at quite a distance from the cooktop.

After 6 months of cooking, I can say that my new kitchen is much easier to keep clean than the old one, mostly due to the new and stronger vent hood and also due to the surfaces. The old OTR MW fan was way too small and weak to catch the fumes and everything ended up greasy quickly. No more.