Open Shelf Cabinet Ideas

In every area of your home open shelf cupboards have a particular place. The cabinets must be designed correctly or else your ideas will not be appealing to the eye. This is very important, do not over use open shelf cabinetry designs in one area. They add value to a kitchen, or bathroom vanity design when they are used in moderation. The reason for this is because all of the stuff inside large volumes of open display areas just absolutely looks like clutter.

I would much rather see two cabinets in a kitchen that have glass doors and some nice lights shining on minimal amounts of china displayed rather than six cabinets with open shelves housing an entire set of china.


The truth of the matter is that cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom will look better when the majority of them have doors on them.

In kitchens, keeping the balance is important. If you have one open shelf cabinet to the left of a window putting one on the right side balances things out nicely.

A popular place to have a lighted display cabinet in a kitchen is in the corner. Actually across the corner on an angled upper cabinet makes for a really nice design.

Any time that you can add lighting inside of your open shelf display cabinetry the better the looks are, especially if you are using glass shelves.

Things to avoid having in your open shelf cabinets include books and office supply items. These two items in my opinion look tacky when they are on display.

Some of my favorite ideas for open shelf cabinet’s contents are photos, decorative vases, colorful plates or fine china.

I really find nothing at all attractive about having cookbooks on the kitchen shelves. If you’re going to have open cabinets, then put something worth looking at in them. Creative ideas for things to display can be found by investing some time shopping.

Open shelf cabinets should always match the cabinets exterior finish. Some cabinet manufactures try to make all of their cabinetry out of white boards and then put wood doors using, let’s say a cherry finish. Then, they will have glass door cabinets designed with the open look and the interior of the box will be white. How tacky is that? If you are having your cabinet’s custom made, make sure to ask your manufacturer if they will be making the interior match the exterior on your open shelf cabinets. You must express your ideas on this subject prior to them manufacturing the boxes.

When you have framed glass doors on your open display cabinets with mullions, make sure that the cross pieces are in perfect alignment with the shelves. Don’t settle for adjustable shelves that are not following the same line as what is on the horizontal door slat.

Ideas for open shelf cabinets in the bathroom include having tall cabinets or small display cupboards recessed inside of the wall.

Another great look works well by adding an open section in the bottom of the base cabinets and have a door above it. This design is nice for placing towels in the bathroom vanity area. I would not suggest doing this in the kitchen.