After cabinet doors were removed
I happen to love open shelves. They might not be for everyone, but they work for me. I am not in love with my kitchen, but even little updates make me happy. I’d love to go back to a white kitchen but that will have to wait for awhile. As a quick change when we bought the house, I decided to remove several of the existing cabinet doors. It took about 5 minutes.
Removing a few cabinet doors was a quick and simple way to break up some of the wood and show off my favorite white dishes. It didn’t solve the fact that I don’t love my kitchen, but at least I can look at the dishes I love every day. Someday I’ll paint my cabinets white, get new counters and back splashes and add new knobs and glass doors to my open shelves (oh how I miss my old kitchen!) But for today, I’m content. I can live with it.
before we moved in and before cabinet doors were removed
See what the cabinets looked like when I was looking at the house, prior to buying it? Not much else has changed yet about the room, but the removal of the cabinet doors gave the kitchen a little more interest, charm and personality.
Ever since I took the cabinet doors off, I’ve received quite a few questions about the open cabinets. I already wrote a post about open shelves last year, but I still get the same types of inquiries.
Here are the answers to the most common questions I get on having open shelves in the kitchen.
1. Don’t your dishes get all grimy from the stove?
No. The dishes do not get grimy because the dishes I put there are every day dishes meaning, we use and wash almost all of those particular dishes every day or every week. They are constantly being washed. If these shelves were filled with decorative items only, I’d be a crazy woman cleaning all the time.
The upper dishes that do not get used as often are simply cleaned up as needed, or just prior to use, which is actually what I would have to do even if we had cabinet doors. Dishes that don’t get used get dusty or grimy, even if you have doors! Yes, it is true! It takes about 30 seconds to wash a dish so having to wash one every now and then prior to use isn’t a big deal to me.
2. Do you go out to eat instead of cooking?
No. We cook at home. Really!
the refrigerator chalkboard project
3. Do you have a maid that takes the dishes down and washes them for you every day?
No, I have never had a maid or a housekeeper. Somehow we manage to wash the dishes we use every single day. It is a MIRACLE! We have super human powers.
4. I love the look of open shelves but mine would never look that organized. How do you keep them looking neat and pretty?
Again, we have super human powers. Just kidding! Seriously, how could you mess up a stack of white dishes? Is that even possible? Notice how my dishes are all in shades of white. they never clash with each other or get messy because they stack easily and they coordinate. They always look good, no matter how I put them in the cabinet. I like to make life easier for myself, not more complicated. I would not choose to put ugly boxes of Saltines or Metamucil on open shelves because they would not look good. Ever.
5. What happens when your kids or husband put away the dishes? I bet the shelves look awful unless you style them!
My kids and husband all understand that you stack dinner dishes together, salad plates together and bowls together. That is the extent of my need to “stage” a shelf. All of our every day dishes go in the same two cabinets. The only way I can imagine my family messing up my shelves would be if they tried to stack plates teetered on top of cereal bowls or decided at random to put our Tupperware or fruit snacks where the white dishes go. But they don’t do that. I’ve trained them well.
6. What should I put on my open shelves, I never know what to put in them?
If you don’t know what to put on open shelves: here is your tip: White or other coordinating every day dishes, metal or glass baking dishes, baskets = always pretty. Boxes of crackers, medicine bottles and plastic food containers = always ugly.
On my baking shelves I use baskets to corral the unsightly and on other shelves I put canisters, baking dishes and muffin pans. They never look messy. Even when when one is “out of place” or slightly askew, it still looks charming. In fact, I think they make me look like I must cook. The Pioneer Woman would be proud of me.
7. How do you cover up the holes where the cabinet screws were?
Ahhhh, I don’t? The holes are small and I don’t even notice them. I could fill them with wood fill but I just haven’t bothered. Sometimes you just live with imperfect and yet somehow, life goes on.
8. What are you going to do with the cabinet doors you removed?
I immediately made “shutters” out of them for over my fireplace! Here is the post about covering the fireplace niche with the cupboard doors.
I solved two problems in one by removing those kitchen cabinet doors. I fancied up my kitchen a little bit AND I re-used the doors (after painting them) to hide the awful “giant TV hole” above my fireplace. I’d say it was worth it!
If you want to know about the wall paint, you can find the paint colors here.
9. I like everything behind closed doors, don’t open shelves stress you out?
The look of open cabinets is not for everyone. I know some people prefer the tidy look of all closed cabinets.
I don’t want every cabinet door in my kitchen to be removed, I like a mixture of open and closed storage. I do not get stressed out by real life stuff at my house and so having a few things I use that are visible just make me feel like I am living an authentic life. I also LOVE to be able to easily grab what I need right off the shelf!
If you love a little more eclectic kitchen, can handle every day clutter from things you love and if you love the look of a real working kitchen, give open cabinets a try! I promise, you won’t have to hire a maid.
Have you tried open cabinets? Are you afraid to try? What do you have to lose? {You can always put the doors back on if you don’t repaint and reuse them as shutters, that is. Although, I actually could put them back on since I am planning on painting my cabinets someday anyway!}
Related kitchen posts:
White kitchens
Kitchens: 5 Take Away Tips
How to have open shelves without daily staging
Love it, Melissa! We do this at almost every home we live in, because rentals have awful cabinets. It’s amazing how it instantly transforms a kitchen into some unique instead of something cookie-cutter.
And yep, we do all white, too, and I have to answer the same questions you just did. Usually just from my mother, though.
Awesome post!
Tsh recently posted..Let your Child’s Schooling Release her Education
That looks incredible. And I officially want you to come to our home and inspire me! Love the photos around the fireplace…it’s about time we put some art up on our walls here! Four years in the house is long enough to wait
Tiffany recently posted..Ten ways new appliances will make you happier
Oh yeah! I have removed some cabinet doors in my builder’s standard kitchen, and I love it!! I was inspired by Maria Garuti, from Vintage Simple, when I saw her kitchen in Kitchen and Bath Makeovers magazine. I saw her open shelf, and I immediately had my husband remove those cabinet doors!
I say don’t be afraid, people!! Save the doors, and if you absolutely hate it, you can always put the doors back up. I don’t think you should ever be afraid to do something you love.
beth recently posted..Cantaloupes!!
Wow, Melissa! This is the most involved conversation I have ever seen about open shelves. LOL I would love to take the door off of one of our cabinets but we are renters so I am not sure my landlord would approve. Our everyday dishes are a creamy, yummy yellow and I would love to be able to just reach up and grab them when I need them and their warm buttery color would make me smile to see as i wash the dishes…yes I said wash the dishes…we don’t have a functional dishwasher and we actually do survive (without a maid)!!! LOL LOL Too funny! I guess I have the same super powers that you have!
I personally love your kitchen. The colors are so warm and welcoming. The pretty area rug looks so good in there. I can smell the coffee brewing just looking at your photo!
Mary Joy recently posted..Testimony of Grace Shared by guest writer-Mrs Joseph Wood
Love your style of writing, information, ideas inpsiring, and makes me wanna decorate!!! Thank you
This is too hillarious…I love that people have asked you these questions!
I actually was just pondering doing this yesterday. I recently repainted our kitchen a light grayish blue and our cabinets our white. It looks very airy and beautiful but I feel like there is nothing that pops out quite as much anymore. And coincidently I already have a set of cabinets filled with properly stacked white plates!
Thanks for the tips…I think I am going to have to consider this a little more.
Ashley recently posted..Same House – New Eyes
Very funny post! We have some open cabinets in our kitchen (http://notsorandomstuff.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-convert-cabinets-to-open.html) and love them. I like how easy it is for the kids to put the dishes away. And I like that it breaks up that wall of cabinets.
Gina recently posted..Feeling Daring
we have some cabinets I’ve considered ‘opening’ but I haven’t because our cabinets are old and ugly on the inside and I’d have to paint them! HA! not the dishes I’m worried about here!!
as an aside- do all of your white dishes ‘match’ or were they collected over time- I think I recall you saying you added as you found them? That is totally what I want to do…
leslie recently posted..Josh
My name is Paula, & I’m addicted to dishes: now I want some white dishes!!
Actually, my everyday dishes are white… but, they have a pattern on the flat part – that counts, right? I still need some SOLID white dishes… sigh!
So pretty!
I LOVE open shelving. My husband and I bought our very first home about two months before we got married and immediately started renovating it. We don’t actually have a kitchen yet (I have a refrigerator and stove, but no sink, cabinets, or cupboards) and I keep telling him that when we get to put the kitchen in, I. want. open. shelves. I think they make a room feel bigger, for one. And why would I spend money on gorgeous dishes, just to hide them behind cabinet doors?
I’ve been working on re-doing our bathroom and the first thing I did was rip out the hideous medicine cabinet (it was ugly. really.). Then I went to Home Depot, got some shelf board, and put up two lovely, long open shelves, painted the same color as my bathroom wall. It looked so pretty that I just stood in there and smiled for ages and my husband asked if I was just going to sleep in there.
Anyway, I’m done now. Just had to share my love of open shelves.
Rebekah {honeyandcheese} recently posted..10 Amazon gift card giveaway at MyCardz
This post really cracked me up! Love what you’ve done with your kitchen (and by the sound of it you’ve got plenty other plans up your sleeve too). Our new kitchen was a huge compromise, mostly due to budget but also hubby and I having different views on kitchens, but this post has really inspired me to make a few small changes. Thanks!
Carin recently posted..A few journal pages
So I have to ask, if you covered up the tv spot with your cabinet doors, where is the tv? We have one of those tv niches above our fireplace, and I hate it! we have the tv in it, but I’m always trying to figure out out to cover it up so that you can’t tell there is a tv there. Nothing works yet that doesn’t risk knocking my things off the mantel. If I had real courage I would just get rid of the dang thing! The tv that is.
We just painted our cabinets white and are still working on the doors for the upper cabinets. The surprising result of not having cabinet doors on, is that I am really liking the look and the ease of putting things away. When we finally put the doors back on, I have already selected three cabinets that will stay “door-free”. I can’t wait to see how it turns out!
Jeannine B. recently posted..My First Slipcovers
Ahhh…Those are the shelves I hope to have one day. But first we’ll have to outgrow the stack of Dora plates, plastic Ikea cups, and random hand-me-down table ware from grandma. I did get a set of white plates a few years ago but not everyone in the family is allowed to use them. One day though…one day.
April recently posted..To path- or not to path The Bungalow Gets Grass Part 6
Love your shelves. Definitely not a good fit for me, though. My beloved handyman, who has done wonders for our money pit of a house, said it best. He was building shelves for our computer room, and made the suggestion that perhaps I should consider adding some doors over part of the shelves. He’s been in my house enough to know that our level of clutter requires a cover up!
Thanks for the inspiration! Here’s my version!
http://liferearranged.com/2010/10/little-project-big-difference/
jeannett recently posted..Little Project- Big Difference
You inspired me to open up my cabinets! I love it! Though out of the corner of my eye, I keep on thinking I need to close the cabinets…still getting used to no doors!
http://domestic-fashionista.blogspot.com/2010/10/lighten-up-already-painted-kitchen-and.html
Ashley recently posted..Defining a Living Space – Rearranged Living Room
I opened up this post and the very first photo really grabbed my attention. My kitchen has the same “big window over sink, around a corner with a bank of cabinets, and microwave hanging from the top cabinets” feel that yours has. What caught my eye was not the open cabinets, but the lamp by the sink! It never in my wildest dreams would have occurred to me to put a lamp there. But I love how it looks!
I showed the photo to my husband, and then immediately grabbed a lamp from another part of the house, and rearranged my kitchen countertops to include the lamp. I scrounged a short, stout pot of ivy to place next to it. Result? Fantastic!
I really love the new look of our kitchen, and my family does too. Thanks for sharing the results of your great eye and talents!
I love this idea! I thought about trying to find an extra set of doors of our cabinets and putting glass in them and just setting the regular doors in the garage since we are renting but maybe I will just take them off!! We have enough cabinets!!
Holly Rhodes recently posted..Some love for the entry
I am afraid of this, because we have not a matching dish in the house! BUT it’s on my selfish dream list, and I told my darling recently I’M GOIN’ FOR IT! The second I have the $$$…
Twitter: CookingAtCafeD
says:
Melissa,
I never knew that the cabinets you removed…
Were the ones you used to hide the TV hole!!!
When reading that I literally said, “No WAY!” – out loud.
That is so cool – re-using them. I would have put them in the basement for 10 years until we sold the home.
You are so inspiring!
Dana at Cooking at Cafe D recently posted..10 Easy Steps to Finding Your Perfect Paint Color (Our Jimmy John’s Kitchen Redesign – Part 2)