I have a question for Heather and DSC readers! Moving to a new apartment – yay! – and contemplating kitchen storage/decor. There are a decent amount of cabinets, and also two or three open shelves. I’ve never really had open shelves in a kitchen. What do I put there? How do I keep it from looking messy? Any tips or pix are very much appreciated. -Amy G
It’s been awhile since we had a reader question! Time for all you brilliant dollar store organizers to weigh in. This question was found at the Dollar Store Crafts Facebook page, and we already got some good advice there:
Chris B.: There are a ton of baskets at my Dollar Tree in all shapes, colors and sizes. Mix baskets with knick knacks, art and utensils. Use the baskets for smaller items like flatware or measuring cups. You can also spray paint them if you can’t find them in colors you like.
Amy G: Any tricks to spray-painting the wicker kind?
Chris B.: Use lots of light coats of paint letting them dry for 15 minutes between coats. Also spray from every direction so you make sure it is completely covered.
Carrie H.: You could also glue small chalkboards to the front of the baskets and write on them so you would know what is in them.
Heather’s Ideas:
I have always wanted to paint the back wall of some open display shelving a contrasting color, so that’s my idea for a fun detail in a kitchen like yours. Use the open shelving to display dishes or other kitchen items you really like, or go outside the box and display other items you love but might not be natives to the kitchen (such as books, oversized letters, or vintage toys).
How about you? What would you do with Amy’s new kitchen, and how would you keep the open shelving from looking too messy?
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7 Comments
Becca
I LOVE having open shelves in a kitchen! They give you so many opportunities to display your favorite kitchen wares. In the places we’ve lived, we’ve had several themes and so several ways we’ve used shelving. Cookbooks are always a nice thing to line up on an open shelf so you can show them off and access them easily.
When we had a Coke theme, we leaned some of our favorite trays and dishes against an open shelf wall to display them. With a coffee themed kitchen, we put a few cute espresso cups and glass containters full of coffee beans on a shelf.
The kitchen we have now is slowly becoming retro and a little kitch, which I adore! We were given some old green metal apple containers that hold flour, sugar, etc. that started us in that direction. Check out a flea market or antique mall for a cute set that looks adorable displayed on a shelf- also, putting them there makes them a focal point and frees up counter space!
One more thing that can be cute in the right setting is to use lace, ribbon, paper, etc. to line the edge of the shelf to add interest. Think outside the box on what you can “display” in a kitchen! Vintage appliances or utensils? Old mismatched dishes? A collection of milk glass? All are things you can pick up and collect on the cheap at thrift stores even! How about random signs or old metal tins? Or maybe a collection that you normally wouldn’t find in a kitchen. Hope this gives you some ideas!
Nic-e
I love open shelving! It’s a great way to display and show off items you have. You could display wine bottles with wine glasses. You could also organize with wicker baskets in regular wicker or colored baskets to match with your decor. It’s a great way to hide unwanted clutter and pair like items together in the same basket. Cookbooks is a great way to show off your open shelving! For something different try stacking them with the largest book on the bottom and the smallest on top. You could also buy glass canisters and paint chalkboard paint on them so you could write what’s in them. It’ll look cute and it’s another great way to organize items such as coffee, flour, sugar, pasta, cereal, etc. You could also line up spice jars or hang coffee cups from the bottom of the shelf to display them nicely. Lastly, for a pop of color here and there you can put a bright colored cast iron pot or collander along with some other little personal decorative touches! Have fun with your new kitchen!!!
amy
You guys have great ideas – keep ’em coming!
Also have another question for y’all – tell me about shelf liner! The main kitchen cabinets are super-new so I don’t think we’ll need ’em (will we?), but I definitely think the pantry does, and the liners in the bathroom are old and peely. Where is the cheapest place to buy shelf liners? What’s the best kind to get? Are there cute prints that are affordable?
Thanks!
heather
I don’t know if it’s the best, but the dollar store has two kinds of shelf liner: the bumpy sticky kind that’s good for putting under dishes to keep them from slipping, and the contact paper kind.
Samantha F
Using cute patterned contact paper we have completely covered the inside of our cabinets (not just the top of the shelf where items sit but the back and side walls as well) to match the rest of the kitchen. It’s fresh and fun, especially with glass cabinets, like ours. We purchased the contact paper at the dollar store and have loved the results.
Amy
So we’ve moved and I’m in the process of unpacking. I couldn’t find any dollar-store contact paper but I found some cute ones at K-Mart and the roll lasted for a lot of shelves so I felt the $6 was well-spent. The shelves look so cute! The papering was pretty easy, although my dog kept wanting to “help” meaning she got in the way!
Of course my fiance does not understand why my girlfriends and I spent all afternoon papering shelves instead of unpacking boxes…boys don’t understand!
heather
This is from Pam at Gingerbread Snowflakes:
We have tons and tons of open shelves! The kitchen storage is very limited, so we literally expanded shelving into the dining area – one whole wall floor to ceiling shelves and another half wall.
We use ours to display collections – which happen to be most of our dishes as well as goblets, tea cups, cook books…. We had a guest in our home a few years back – she was from Africa but had been an exchange student in either Norway or Sweden for several years. She told me. as she was sitting in my dining room among all those shelves of dishes, that it made her feel as though she were back in her second home!
My daughter has actually placed a floor to ceiling open book shelf in her kitchen area and they use it as a pantry for canned goods and food boxes.
Actually, in my opinion, almost anything looks great on open shelving just as long as you take a bit of care to keep it neat. Design the space so it looks pretty and then put things back where they belong.
The only down side i have found is that kitchen areas do get a little more dust and grease than most other spaces, so dishes that aren’t used almost daily may need a quick wipe or rinse before use.