Flower Love
Kitchens are one of the smallest, but most difficult spaces to decorate. This is mainly because kitchens require a balance between practical and beautiful as we spend a lot of time there and use them for some of our most important daily activities. So how can you bring style and function together?
The safest way is definitely to have an open shelf in a kitchen where you can display your beautiful items instead of putting them in cabinets where no one can see them.
It can be a daunting task from an aesthetic point of view, but there are few tips that can make handling open kitchen cabinets easier:
Position and appearance
Image source: LKID
What your open shelf design will look like depends almost entirely on where it is located. This task also has a lot to do with functionality.
For example, hanging shelves above the prep area or sink is more of a practical solution, while those hung in the dining area are meant for display purposes.
Hence, your open-shelf kitchen ideas will mostly depend on where the shelves are located. The focus is on saving space in small and cramped kitchens who prefer their storage to be easily accessible rather than hiding behind the heavy, traditional cabinet doors.
In fact, 50% of the time, people who implement shelving make their kitchen even more crowded than it already is.
Rule number one is to avoid placing open shelves too close to the cook to avoid splashing. The closer they are, the more stray stirring oil you need to remove from them.
Pay attention to contrasts
Image source: Alice Lane Home Collection
Before doing anything, think about the elements that you have already implemented in your kitchen: if the cabinets are bold, keep the shelves simple and decorate them with a few monochrome elements that don’t look or feel overwhelming.
Take out to take in
How could you possibly have a clear picture of your shelves with thousands of things on them?
Take the decoration down, look at it and decide: your project with empty shelves is most likely to be successful because you can edit one shelf at a time and fit each one into the overall picture.
choose a topic
You display items because you want users to see them. So make sure they are combined in an engaging way.
A good idea is to choose a common color theme and add elements accordingly, e.g. For example, combining white dishes with antiques, colorful or oriental teacups or any other mix of colors that we think might look entertaining.
Develop a nice strategy
Image source: April and the bear
Think about the elements you use the most and organize them in a structured way so that you can bring them closer to your fingertips.
By structured organization, we mean a pragmatically organized kitchen in which cups, mugs, bowls and plates are harmoniously organized and yet easily accessible.
Mix items
Image source: WW Builders Design / Build Associates
Mixing items is often misperceived as people believe they should look similar to each other in order to look good together.
For example, displaying collections of brightly colored mugs with a few monochrome elements will look awesome, the role of the mugs being to create interest and variety.
Avoid placing heavy objects on it
Image source: Erotas Building Corporation
Why should you put that heavy baking dish or saucepan you never use on the shelf? Last but not least, putting heavy items off hanging shelves is risky and unsafe as it is not practical.
If you really don’t have any other space for your heavy items, keep them on the bottom shelves.
lighting
Image source: JWT Associates
Lighting can add a completely different and emotional dimension to the way you present items in the kitchen, especially if you decide to go for a creative solution, e.g. B. the installation of a plug-in shelf lighting or a few scented candles, if this is not the case.
Don’t leave shelves empty
Image source: Bosworth Hoedemaker
They’re already there, so why not keep in stock most of the time? If you need to remove the items you regularly use, consider seldom used items as replacements.
The point here is to display enough items to mask the empty shelf effect that looks dull and boring.
Look at works of art
Image source: Kathryn Long, ASID
Kitchen shelves are a great place to display your favorite artwork between and behind the dishes on display.
The technique also expands your shelves vertically, especially if more items than usual are displayed on lower shelves.
Improvement of the graphic attractiveness with borrowed stock items
There is nothing that cool labels cannot decorate. So look at the tomato cans, beautiful tea caddies and jam jars that you imported from other countries.
They look absolutely perfect on your upper shelves, giving up the lower shelves for frequently used items.
Reading material
Image source: Jace architecture
Above all, the kitchen must be a functional place. So why not add some neatly placed cookbooks full of creative dinner ideas?
They add color and interest to your shelves while being available to help you prepare a delicious dish.
Do not exaggerate
Image source: Venegas and Company
When used carefully, open shelving can be a real boon and can help make small and cramped kitchens look larger compared to their actual area.
Once they are there it will be difficult to resist the temptation to cram them without these space-enhancing details, but as challenging as we are, we should keep things simple and handle them with the utmost care and vigilance.
The same rule applies to colors – depending on your preference, you can not miss two color schemes and neutral shades.
Balance
Image source: Lisa Gabrielson Design
Symmetry is more than visible in the kitchen. So try to keep the shelf elements as similar as possible. If you’ve decided to take down doors and hang shelves instead, choose a dark color that will contrast most of your dishes to make them stand out.
Shelves that give off natural warmth
Image source: Dyna contracting
The shelves should ideally be made of natural, warm and friendly materials such as a combination of wood and stainless steel that will ensure balance throughout the kitchen.
Wooden shelves are obviously just one of the options that will make your kitchen feel warmer, and you can always try to translate this invaluable material through dishes or similar small elements.
Show as little glass as possible
This rule is especially true in states like California, which are at high risk of earthquakes. However, displaying glass items on open shelves is a recipe for danger wherever it is used, not to mention families with teenage children.
The best option is to store glass in closed cabinets, ideally so that magnets and similar security systems are used to prevent the doors from opening easily.
You can install small lips on shelves to hold glassware in place and avoid even small disasters.
Reorganize your collections
Image source: Fivedot
Designing kitchens to be clean yet functional is a challenge, but that doesn’t make it impossible. In fact, we don’t even have to completely reorganize or bring new items on board.
Sometimes it is enough to reorganize our memorable spice and grain collections or swap branded boxes for clean glasses.
Clean regularly
Image source: Martyn Clarke architecture
Do we even have to say that? Open shelves are difficult to maintain as they collect more dust than other similar items and are time consuming to clean as many items need to be removed, wiped down, and returned to their original position.
Those who have hung their shelves over the stove will most likely handle fat too. This means that we need to clean and dust our shelves as often as possible so they don’t get dirty over time.