Dust/grease catchers, IMO, but lots of people like them. What will you put on them? Size them for what they have to hold. How will you climb up to clean them?

the wall will fill up quickly with the volume of shelving and then loaded up. I would paint the wall a color as a backdrop [the white is too cold] and bring home the various depths of shelves at Ikea and play with those a bit to see for yourself. It depends on what you use them for....how rapid the turnover of items and how comfortable with what you want to be reaching for.... stacked things or just a row of cups /bowls for example and display objects or a combination. So many ways to do it.

I agree you need to decide the function, or what you want on the shelves. Measure the Kitchen Aid and any other appliances you may use on a regular bases and adjust to have room for those underneath, with a little extra room. Measure the items you want on the shelves. Our client changed the kitchen desk to a bar with open shelves. The shelves matched the size of the mantel in the adjacent room. It's a great design for the kitchen, opening up the space. I love the geometric designs in your kitchen! Click here for link to photo in kitchen with shelves.

I do not like open shelving in kitchens but it seems like storage is a must in this space so why not some glass door cabinets there to keep it light but useful and less dusting too

For a more functional size I would do 12" so your plates are able to fit.

I'm just curious though, do you have a pantry? For true function, in a kitchen that size, I would opt for upper cabinets. I love the look of shelves but if they are too full or messy it just doesn't seem worth it aesthetically or functionally.

Thank you for your ideas! I have no need for extra space. I feel that the wall is empty, and I can use a little bit of color on the wall.

If you do end up with floating shelves just know that they do cast shadows on work surfaces so under shelf lighting is needed. An accent paint with art and a table lamp off to the right might warm things up if you don’t need the storage.

Another idea might be to do a counter to ceiling dish hutch on the far right (maybe an appliance garage there to house a few of the items on the counter)

https://www.houzz.com/hznb/photos/carnelian-ct-kitchen-remodel-farmhouse-kitchen-portland-phvw-vp~150759903

Although I am just starting our 20 month delayed kitchen/laundry/powder room renovation and was struggling a bit with open shelving, I am absolutely getting rid of my uppers (see pic of partially demolished kitchen), tiling the wall from counter to ceiling (3x12 slightly irregular subway in a straight horizontal stack), and using 2 floating walnut shelves on each side of the window. The fridge will be boxed in with small cabinets above.

I already dust open built-in bookshelves in the dining room so I can do the kitchen shelves too 😁. My shelves will also be different lengths, 18” on the left of the sink and about 30” on the right. The lovely white folding table (been there 9 months, long, painful screwed up flooring story) will become a peninsula with seating and a waterfall edge swoon so the right shelving needs to be longer. We lived in Europe for 6 years so I have some fun things including a Vespa espresso set from Rome and a few foreign language cookbooks that will take pride of place on those shelves. Put your shelves up, decorate with some fun pieces, and enjoy!

Yikes, forgot to attach pic I mentioned.