When you look at photos of kitchens with open shelving on the walls, you tend to find perfectly arranged matching cups & plates. But will they really look as neat in reality in a family kitchen that has not been staged for a photo shoot? If you are not very organized and have a mishmash of cups and plates, closed cabinets may be a better option for you as open shelves can easily look cluttered. However, with a few little tricks you can make open shelving look great. For instance, choose your nicest crockery for display, even if they don’t all match, and hide the less attractive ones behind doors. If you plan to store food items on the shelves, you might want to invest in some glass jars for your oats and cereal instead of having them in their original packaging. Wicker baskets and wooden storage boxes can also look lovely.
When it comes to the actual shelves, there are plenty of options too. For a more traditional look, you may want to have corbels on the shelves but if you are after something a bit less fussy and more contemporary, you could just have plain shelves or ones with a small upstand, like in our Weybridge kitchen.
Open shelves can be practical since your crockery & food is at easy reach. They also bring some casualness to a kitchen. If you are not too keen on open shelves but would like to display your crockery, glass fronted wall cabinets may be the thing for you. Either way, a kitchen is for living, so you should not have to spend too much time arranging your cups for the next photo shoot!