Open kitchen shelving - what’s it really like to live with?

[soupdragon321]

Hi, do and I moved house recently and need to redo kitchen. We had thought long and hard and are now thinking of having open shelves on the wall where the cooker is - there are cabinets below. On the shelves would be our plates, bowls on one side and cups and tea/coffee making stuff in the other side of cooker as that side is nearest sink - we’d be getting a quooker tap. We’re just wondering what it’s really like to live with open shelves rather than just be swayed by lovely pics on Instagram. Any options/ experience would be greatly appreciated!

Mine don't get greasy or sticky at all! And I'm really house proud. They aren't right above the cooker though but a whole section of wall to the side, like an open pantry.

We have open shelves. I love them! None next to the cooker, though. We have just enough plates, bowls and cups on them for us, plus one or two extra, so we use all of them regularly. No dusty plates at the bottom of the pile for us! We've had them a year and there's no greasy film on them, either. Because we don't stack them with loads of things, they're really easy to keep clean.

I imagine if you put either lots of different-sized plates and bowls on them, or cookery things you don't use often, they'd get dirty. But we just have two short ones for plates, bowls and cups, plus one for drinks bottles and one for cereal and one for the jars of coffee and tea bags.

It works for us and I love the way the kitchen doesn't feel enclosed with lots of overhead storage (I'm quite small so find wall cupboards quite intimidating, actually! Plus I can only really use the bottom shelf unless I resign myself to having a step stool in the kitchen).

I think they can look very cool, but I would only get them if I were the type of person who is really neat and tidy, likes cleaning, and has an eye for how to organise things in an Instagramable way or it would end up looking rubbish.

(I will not be getting them myself for this reason!)

My DD has them around 600mm from the hob - they get grease residue all the time. Total pain. The kitchen is small and a cupboard wasn’t an option on that but of wall but they take a lot of regular cleaning. Ok for the house proud, large kitchens and showrooms. Not great for people who cook and are short of time.

Too hard to keep clean and looking nice in a co-ordinated way.

In a similar way I'm disappointed by my walk in wardrobe. I couldn't work out why it doesn't look like the 'adverts'....then realised that to look 'Instagram' appropriate all clothes have to be the same colour as the room.

DH and I are hardly going to have a full wardrobe of pale grey, white and dusty pink clothing....😂

I had some opposite the cooker in one of our houses and it was fine. Having them near the cooker with the grease and dust would finish me off. In our next house we are having cupboards to the ceiling if we have wall cupboards at all

Last kitchen I had some open shelves just for tea and coffee things, taps, coffee pots, mugs and cups. It worked well for that as high use items.

Near the hob (within a couple of feet each side) they will eventually get greasy.
Otherwise they will only get dusty but it's not like daily cleaning needed unless you have a coal fire.

I like a few shelves and utensil racks so items are easily to hand but its best to use them for frequently used items (measuring jug, grater etc or crockery and mugs) that are washed every few days. Or things that are very infrequently used like huge casserole dishes that you can pre-wash on the rare occasions you get them down. Cookbooks just put them well away from the cooker.

Unless you are going for an eclectic look, limit your items stored to ones that co-ordinate and it looks less messy.

Also have the shelves so they can be easily wiped over with CIF every so often - so not rough wood or metal slats, just a flat surface is best.