Styling Open Shelves In Your Kitchen

Today we are chatting about styling open shelves in your kitchen. But first...do me a favor and throw out the word “styling”  and replace it with “using” or “utilizing." That's right...USE the items you put on your shelves! What better opportunity to reduce the steps it takes to unload the dishwasher and look pretty all the while?!?! So...why open shelving? When designing a kitchen, I usually incorporate some open shelving because it’s a practical way to access everyday dishes as well as displaying your collections. I did this in my own kitchen and found it liberating! Here are some tips on how you too can utilize your kitchen shelves.

1. Say farewell to the broken batches of mis-matched dishes you collected through college. I did this and felt like I won the Biggest Loser! This isn’t to say that some of the sentiment can’t be added to your shelves, but clean things up and start with a blank canvas and build from there.

2. Go dish shopping and find your soul set! This is your big chance to put your heart on display. Mine was from a company called STAKK. The white porcelain bowls and mugs looked like they each had a hat brim and I just knew we needed to be together. My daily bowl of cereal has felt much more valued ever since.

3. Line em’ up! Just like a restaurant, put like things together at an easy to reach height and really start to zone your kitchen. In what order do you set the table? What glasses are you going to use for parties? I for one feel like such a dum-dum when I’m in someone’s kitchen and can’t find what I’m looking for. You just made all of your friends and family feel sooo smart by putting all the tools at eye level! Now, ANYONE can set the table. #Winning (No one wants to be the idiot that doesn’t know their way around the kitchen.)

4. The top shelves. This is where you get to display your pretty serving dishes and entertaining doo dahs! Pellegrino bottles look good in every kitchen but go to the grocery store or local cookery and find things you love that you’d use! I’m crazy about the examples below of spice collections, aging spirits and modeled copper.

And finally..there really is no right or wrong when it comes to your kitchen because it is, in fact, your kitchen!  Display what you love and the people around you will find themselves comfortable and ready for a great party.

Cheers!