Kitchen Reno--No Upper Cabinets
I love the look of kitchens with no upper or overhead cabinetry. Just seems lighter and less invasive to me…especially in an open plan living scenario. We are about to embark on our parlor floor kitchen reno and was curious if any other Brownstoners made this choice in their homes? How have you found it?…
I love the look of kitchens with no upper or overhead cabinetry. Just seems lighter and less invasive to me…especially in an open plan living scenario. We are about to embark on our parlor floor kitchen reno and was curious if any other Brownstoners made this choice in their homes? How have you found it? Do you regret the decision? Also, my husband was afraid it might detract in terms of resale value, as your average buyer likely wants the traditional layout. Any thoughts are appreciated!
Sounds good if you have the space…. now, wassup with those shit chairs? Not only are they uncomfortable, as soon as you move in them the floor will be scratched to hell…
It looks great, but you will need to allocate more floor space to make it as functional as a smaller kitchen with cabinets. Think walk-in pantry and a large buffet for your plates and glasses.
Done well, assuming you have the space, it won’t hurt the resale value a bit.
i just did a kitchen w/ open shelving backless uppers, doors on lowers.. it allows a future owner to put doors on the uppers, without losing the look of open shelving..will try to post a pic another day
I love the open-shelves look, and am currently renovating my kitchen, but am going for upper cabinets for two reasons: space and dust. Some of my uppers will have glass fronts to seem a little less “heavy,” though. And they’ll be custom-sized to extend all the way to the ceiling to avoid that “boxes stapled to the wall” look.
I like the look but agree that cleaning things on open shelves is a real drag.
i love the no upper cabinet look myself, but i ended up putting some in because a. i didn’t want an island for exactly the reason of wanting the kitchen to be incorporated into the rest of the space and for the rear parlor to function as a family room of sorts and there just isn’t enough storage space, and b. with 14 foot high ceilings, i wondered if the kitchen would look awfully low and squat without some upper cabs to balance. i’d love to see some victorian brownstone parlor kitchens wtih no uppers if you have any pics of that. ptf
You’ll note there are no dishes in these shelves. My uppoermost cabinets are for “deep storage.” Lower are glass fronted and make the kitchen a little airier.
The open shelves look MIGHT work if you’re far, far neater than I and all your dishes are white, but – different strokes and all that – I realyl don’t like the look of one row of cabinets. The gap between the top and the ceiling always cheapens. But maybe you’re thinking shelves.
Hey, go for it.
I did exactly that in my open plan kitchen space. If you want to see what it looks like, go to my website
http://sites.google.com/site/spacedesignproject/
best of luck with the renovation
Hi Boerum, fair question–you can’t see it here, but there is actually a free standing hutch on the other side of the wall that stores all the plates and glasses. And I agree–the open shelf thing is not for everyone–it definitely forces a certain neatness.