Saturday, we were in the vicinity of Ikea, so we had to stop in. Of course. We left with our cart full and a couple weekend projects we couldn't wait to tackle. Creating some open shelving in the kitchen has been on our list for a while, and after selling the zebra-printed rug last week, we had some extra funds for other projects and decided to put it toward opening up this inconvenient space:
All of our cabinets are insanely high--even for our 6'+ selves, but this cabinet's function was even less ideal because it was positioned over a corner with the dishwasher being only 8 or 9 inches away. Try to imagine unloading the dishwasher and trying to open this cupboard--you have to perform some serious Matrix moves. Putting stuff on the right side of the cabinet was especially hard because the whole countertop was in your way and also the doors of the cabinets. We decided open shelving was our answer here.
First, we emptied everything out of the cabinet and took off the doors and unscrewed the screws that were mounting it to the wall. After a little hammer and chisel action and yanking and pulling, the cabinet came off. We have plans to use it in the laundry room down the road, but for now we moved it to the garage aka limbo.
The wall behind the cabinet was in decent shape, but needed a bit of prep work before we could hang our shelves. Some spackling, sanding and two coats of paint brought it up par.
We debated between white and stainless steel shelves, but in the end, stainless steel was the way to go for us. These shelves were perfect, except they were a bit too long. So we cut them down to 38 1/2" and the brackets hid the cuts. Genius.
And here's how it looks:
We picked up a few succulents while we were out and they are hanging out on the top shelf along with their future homes: those putty-colored pots. As for the framed quote, "What I love most about my home is who I share it with" it is temporary until we find a cool clock to go up there. I love the height the frame adds, but I don't love how you can't read the whole thing. Temporary.
Our plates, bowls and glasses fit so well on the shelves and we can easily get to them. So in addition to looking good and opening things up, it is worlds more functional.
So there you have it, another easy and inexpensive change that has really amped up our kitchen and has us cheering. And to save you on scrolling, here's a side by side before and after:
What do you think?
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WE'RE CHRIS + JULIA
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We were patting ourselves on the back yesterday because we moved a bunch of stuff from one dark brown cupboard to a big dark brown pantry.
As you should!
Whoa! What a difference!!! It looks fabulous!!!
(loving the new blog layout too!!)
Wow, awesome work done by you, I like the pics.
http://www.gecanderson.co.uk/product/decimetric/index.html
I love it! The kitchen looks bigger and more open now.
You are such visionaries! wow!
i love open shelving! it looks great! the couter tops look great too!
Looks great! I love the shelves- nice work.
Looks great!! Nice work!
i love this change! it looks so good! i'd leave that art piece up there, i think it looks cool. the nice thing is you can always change up the display.
Cool! I would've never thought of that idea but I think it looks so classy. Great idea
Love the open shelves!
So beautiful! You really have transformed your kitchen! I love every change you have made :)