Open shelves are a great way to display decorative accents in the kitchen, but they can easily become cluttered. Learn how to prevent clutter and keep your shelves looking clean. Start by putting frequently used items on lower shelves, suggests Fresh Exchange. Then, store less-used items on higher tiers.
Benefits of Clutter-Free Open Shelves
The kitchen is one of the most used spaces in the home, which means it’s also the most susceptible to clutter. Whether it’s splattered food or stacks of plates, the mess can make a room feel chaotic and difficult to work in. Fortunately, there are ways to prevent open shelves from looking cluttered. By arranging items with both function and style in mind, you can create a visually appealing arrangement that’s easy to maintain.
Start by storing the items you use most frequently on lower shelves, like plates and drinking glasses, suggests Mel from the DIY Playbook. Then save the middle and top shelves for less-used items like mixing bowls, cookbooks, and cutting boards. Sticking to a color palette, as suggested by Lily & Val, can help your open shelves look more cohesive. Adding texture to your shelves can also be a great way to keep them organized. For example, if you have a collection of old bottles, arrange them by size on a shelf, as featured in this kitchen by Omega PLC.
Assessing Your Kitchen
If you’re considering installing open shelving in your kitchen, it’s important to know that keeping these shelves organized will require a more deliberate approach than simply setting up some pretty dishes and pantry items. Learn some basic dos and don’ts for a clutter-free and stylish look that will keep your kitchen looking fresh, year after year. First and foremost, thoroughly declutter your shelves.
- Remove anything that doesn’t earn a spot, from dated cookbooks to the Tupperware containers and plastic kid’s plates that you only pull out for holidays or special occasions.
- Removing this kind of rarely used stuff is a great way to make space for everyday dishes, glassware, and supplies.
- Once your shelves are clean, sort through the remaining elements and consider establishing a color scheme.
This will help your collection of vases, serving bowls, and decorative accents appear more thoughtfully grouped. As a bonus, the color scheme can also serve as a visual guide for putting your items back on the shelves. For example, if your tea mugs are a lighter variety, you might want to store them on lower shelves where they will be easy to grab while cooking or entertaining.
Decluttering Strategies
Open shelving in a kitchen innovation can be both stylish and practical. However, it’s easy for the shelves to become a visual mess without some simple organization tips. As a rule of thumb, it’s best to group similar items together to keep the overall look organized and tidy. For example, store the dishes, glassware, and other kitchen necessities you use most often on lower shelves where they’re easier to reach. Reserve higher shelves for vases, decorative accents, and other decor.
This helps ensure that each shelf is filled with a cohesive collection of items instead of just a bunch of random stuff, per Fresh Exchange. It’s also a good idea to store less-used items out of sight behind closed cabinet doors, where they’re less likely to gather dust and grime. You may also want to consider removing any items you don’t love to look at on open shelves, like chipped mugs, plastic kid’s plates, and old cookbooks, per Homes & Gardens online. This is a great way to make sure your kitchen looks its best at all times.
Organizational Tools and Containers
Open shelves can be an amazing way to display kitchen decor and show off your style, but they can also be a challenge to keep clean and organized. With a little bit of time and effort, you can enjoy this bold storage trend without the frustration of dusting or cleaning a messy shelf.
- Start by being selective about what you keep out.
- If you’re displaying dishes that don’t get used often, be sure to store them somewhere they won’t be a magnet for grime and dirt.
- If you have longer shelves, consider grouping items together to create barriers between smaller decorative pieces.
- Also be sure to decant pantry staples like jars of pasta, beans, and canned soup into more attractive containers that will look better on open shelves.
This will give your shelves a streamlined appearance and prevent them from looking cluttered with unsightly branded bags of ingredients. You may even want to use a scrap bowl, such as this one from Fresh Exchange, to capture food scraps, which you can then empty into the trash or compost.
Stylish Shelf Displays
Styling open shelves can be a challenge. The goal is to keep them looking tidy, yet still feel tailored to your personality and home. A good way to achieve this is to stick to a color scheme, per Jenna Sue Design. You can build your palette around neutrals, accent shades, or even a specific theme. Another style trick is to be selective about what you display on your shelves.
Store the items you use most frequently, like tea mugs and plates, on lower shelves for easy access. Place less-used dishes, decorative items, and extra-large pots or canisters on higher shelves. You can also add visual interest to your shelving by incorporating decorative items or artwork. A few books, vases, and even indoor plants can add a nice pop of color to your shelf displays while keeping them looking pulled together.
Maximizing Vertical Space
If you’re able to purge unused items from your kitchen shelves, it’s an instant way to prevent clutter. But if that’s not feasible, you can camouflage the more utilitarian objects by pairing them with decorative items like urns, vases, and houseplants. This creates a visually appealing vignette and can help you keep your shelf decor clean, even when it’s full of things you use on a daily basis. Another trick for avoiding messy kitchen shelves wall is to limit the number of objects displayed. Stacks of multiple plates, for example, can give off an overwhelming visual impression.
To avoid this, you can display a limited selection of functional dishes while keeping the rest tucked away in closed cabinets, advises the DIY Playbook. You can also keep your shelves looking stylish by displaying shorter objects alongside longer pieces to add visual variety, suggests Food 52. And if you have tall or narrow shelves, you can double your storage space by using risers. This gives your shelves a neat, tidy appearance while allowing you to store larger items like pots and pans and glassware that wouldn’t fit on lower shelves.
Practical Tips for Open Shelves
It’s easy for open kitchen shelves to look cluttered and messy, so it’s important to keep a few things in mind to ensure they stay how do I clean and maintain the kitchen organized? For one, “it’s best to limit the amount of items displayed on each shelf,” per Fresh Exchange. This creates a layered look that’s visually interesting without feeling crowded or overdone.
- Another helpful tip is to focus on displaying the functional pieces of your kitchen first, then adding decorative items.
- That way, the ‘fun’ stuff (like a bowl of fruit or a decorative vase) is easily accessible while the practical dishes and other items remain out of sight and out of mind.
- Keeping this in mind, store the everyday items you use regularly on lower shelves where they’re easier to reach,
- while more decorative pretty items can be stored on higher shelving, suggests Home & Garden online.
This makes it a breeze to keep your open shelves looking polished and neat. Lastly, remember that dust can build up quickly on open shelves, so consider giving them a quick swipe every few weeks to keep them looking their best.
Reader Success Stories
If you’re a fan of open kitchen shelves, you want them to be a display of your style and functionality. But if you’re not careful, they can turn into the cluttered mess that some people fear when they think of them. Clutter is caused by dishes and other utensils that aren’t regularly used, from bakeware that only sees the light of day during holidays to a popcorn maker that gathers dust in a base cabinet. Ideally, these items should be stashed away until needed. But that’s not always practical, especially if they need to be accessed for entertaining or cooking.
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