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The New Trend in Kitchen Design~Open Shelving
I am constantly keeping up with today's decorating trends via the most popular magazines, blogs and internet websites. It's a chore I absolutely love since home decorating is a passion of mine.
What I am seeing more and more of in kitchen decorating is "Open Shelving".
The concept of replacing upper cabinets (Or at least some of them) with open shelving tends to give your kitchen a more open and airy feel.
Open shelving doesn't seem to take away from the amount of storage available, but you truly must become a "neatnik" when utilizing the space.
Rather than to simply stack dishes haphazardly as you might in a closed cupboard, think about your arrangement as you would arrange a "display shelf" instead.
As I perused images on the web, I found it difficult to find photos of very lovely arrangements. Ones I would consider using as part of my kitchen decorating.
But alas, I did find an interesting photo that depicted more of what I would consider a useful, yet decorative use of the shelf space.
Look at the creativity used with this display. Shelves are offset and separated, with artwork, dish collections, plants and vinegar bottles used as "merchandising" rather than simple storage.
I loved this idea!
Our kitchen in our Idaho home is enormous which is just wonderful. But being that it is part of a "great room" design, I actually prefer not to take away from that wonderful "open" feel.
My thought now leans toward open shelving as the solution.
I envision matching baskets, my collection of decorative urns, candles and specialty plates amongst the standard dishes and china I would want to store on the shelves.
By separating dishes or glassware with art, collection pieces or beautiful candle holders, the space begins to appear less "utilitarian" and more decorative.
Group items together instead of spacing them out on the shelves to achieve this look.
What about adding flair to the background wall as well! My idea is to paint the background a soft, warm tone and then stenciling a wallpaper style design in gold, silver or copper. It will give the area a soft elegance you will just love.
So if you are remodeling or if you currently have no upper cabinets, consider this great alternative to not only save thousands of dollars in cabinet costs, but to also add a feeling of open comfort to your kitchen.
I have a great collection of white dinner/serving wares...I wanted access to those items quickly and I like the look of some open storage. My solution was to remove the cabinet doors and paint the back of that cabinet in the same wall color. They look great and the pop of color behind the white dishes add some interest to my space.
Posted by: Teresa | May 18, 2009 at 11:17 AM