Kitchen with wall shelves not cupboards?

[plannit]

I've moved to a new place with a decrepit kitchen which I plan to renovate.

Victorian house, fireplace in kitchen - and stairs! So really only has the 2 walls to play with.

Anyway I'm considering removing the upper wall cupboards and just having shelves. Cheaper and whatnot but I'm unsure.

Has anyone done this or siren any amazing examples?

Thanks

I did this in our old house and planning on doing in the new house.

It opens up the space so well. However consider storage, as many larder units as you can, they store so much.

Ugh no. Unless you enjoy cleaning or don't cook in your kitchen. It will get covered with grease and always look untidy if you actually use the stuff. I've seen gorgeous pictures of shelves in kitchen but I just think of the reality. or maybe I'm a slovenly pig and it's just my kitchen that would be like that

Get a really efficient extractor then, otherwise you'll spend all your time cleaning stickiness off the shelves .

I did this on one wall. Sadly it looked nothing like my pinterest board and as mentioned glasses and crockery developed a fine layer of greasy scum from cooking.

It's much easier to wipe down cupboards doors, and those shelves need to be kept pretty organised in order to keep our from looking cluttered, but done well it can be an attractive option.

Beautiful, but hard work. Cupboard doors keep things clean. Depends how much you like emptying the shelves, cleaning everything and replacing it all!

We have done this. Removed all our top cupboards in our utility and kitchen. We also took down the wall and opened it up completely. We lost a lot of storage space. But I had a proper sort out and go rid of loads of stuff, used lots of clever storage solutions and the space looks so much better. We have a long shelf in the utility and a couple of small shelves in the kitchen.

Thanks everyone.

I had not even considered the cleaning!

Maybe the wall furthest from the hob could be shelves and the other one cupboards. Hmm. How far does grease float?

It's such a bizarre kitchen. I've found a hidden cupboard that looks like it hasn't been open since the fifties 'disguised' in the wall... explains why the knackered old wall cabinets randomly stop instead of going all along. I could make that open recessed shelves maybe.

We have them in our kitchen diner. I love them, it makes being in the space so much nicer without facing cupboard doors all the time. You do need to consider the aesthetics of what you put on them, though. I have cookery books and a plant and then some matching jars. On a other shelf we have colourful mugs with coffee making stuff. A recessed shelf would work well if that's the space you've got. Put the extractor on every time you cook and the stickiness left near the hob isn't too bad.

I had open shelving at my old house for my kilner jars full of dry goods. I absolutely loved it and everyone commented on it. They were set to the side of my cooker (one cabinet between) and I didn't have any issues with grease or dirt, though we did have a very good cooker hood. I would always have a mix as it would be very easy for them to get messy. I kept them purely for my labelled jars.

*by a mix I mean some cupboards as well so you can hide your packets of stuff.

The combination of grease and dust would be a nightmare!

I have some. The cleaning is a pain. I also think you lose storage space as for them to look nice things have to be more spaced out and as pp have said you don’t want your Tupperware etc on them so they’re not that useful. Great if you’re looking to make it look nice but not very practical.

Could your newly-found hidden cupboard be the answer to your storage problem? What size is it? I would keep it as a cupboard though, as opposed to open shelving

My last kitchen had the stairs in, and the area under the stairs was used as normal. There were 3 kitchen cupboards, one tall one, and a normal double floor cupboard with worktop. The space over the worktop was triangular as the stairs went over, but it was a great little space for all the tut, we had keys/change pot, letterrack, coffee machine and bread in on there, and it still looked tidy as it all looked set back, rather than out on a main worktop.

We have just shelves, but only two small cupboards' worth. I really like them. They are practical and it's easy to make everything look nice because they're just plates stacked or mugs standing next to each other. Decluttering is important though! Brand new extractor, too, so one year in and no problem keeping them clean. As I'm nearly 5', I appreciate that I don't feel crowded from above by cupboards so the kitchen is lovely and light and airy!

We have shelves in our kitchen, I have things like rice, pasta, flour etc in reusable glass containers. Then I have all seasoning on the shelves, living herbs, then I have a metal bar underneath the lover shelf with hooks and most of my heavily used utensils are on the hooks.

No way in hell. My kitchen is a good size, I have a large size extractor over the range and there is still a thin film of stickiness on anything left out permanently. I do have an old bookcase that has been repurposed as extra shelving for larger appliances such as Kitchenaid but I have now hung a curtain over it - not the greatest look - as even though I covered the appliances themselves the shelves got tacky quite quickly and couldn’t be bothered cleaning them.

@SamBeckettsLastLeap

Ugh no. Unless you enjoy cleaning or don't cook in your kitchen. It will get covered with grease and always look untidy if you actually use the stuff. I've seen gorgeous pictures of shelves in kitchen but I just think of the reality. or maybe I'm a slovenly pig and it's just my kitchen that would be like that

This is exactly my thinking. I love the idea but the reality not so much.

I wouldn't want open shelves. I want things closed away in cupboards to keep them clean..

I think one or two open shelves can look nice say with glass jars. And you need to be fond of cleaning. But shelves with crumpled cardboard boxes or tatty packets of stuff big no no.

I have shelves. You just clean them regularly that's all. We have a pantry so most stuff us out of the way. We have kallax also to store crockery. Looks lovely

You have two walls to play with - on one wall you could have all tall units such as a larder cupboard and the housing unit for your oven, your fridge and on the other useable wall have your work surfaces, sink and hob or range if that’s what you’re having - no top cupboards to keep it open to give your kitchen an open look. Put a matching bifold door on that recess for more pantry storage.

Larders/pantries are great for storing and hiding lots of stuff. Handmade kitchens of Christchurch daveyandalger.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Handmadekitchens-PriceList-v14-Sale-05.pdf
have larders costing around £900 and they are bespoke so can be made in any size up to 1m wide. They’re making matching doors for our pantry.

That looks lovely @SimonJT
We have glasses and cups on open shelves and it's fine. We just push the 'old' ones to the front so they all get used often enough.

I had open shelves in a previous kitchen.

Everything gets sticky... Don't do it!