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Among the major trends in kitchen design and kitchen remodeling today, open shelving is one of the biggest. You’ll find countless images of the beauty that open shelves can bring to a kitchen instead of using the conventional cabinets with doors. If you are thinking about doing a major kitchen remodeling in Brentwood, CA , you’ll probably consider open shelving at least once—and it may be on the top of your list of ideas you’ll present to your contractor.

But … is open shelving right for you? What are the pros and the cons? Someone homeowners love open shelving, while others prefer the standard cabinet design. Let’s look at what open shelves can do for you, and what they might make more difficult.

What’s to Love About Open Shelves?

If you’ve seen any of the photos, you probably already know part of the answer—open shelves can look gorgeous. An open shelf provides you with two tiers for decorating your kitchen. First, are the shelves and the furnishing. Second is the objects you put on the shelves, such as decorative mason jars, lovely plates and dishes in earthy tones, the glisten of glasses and goblets, and even the addition of items normally not stored on kitchen shelves, such as books, statuettes, and flower pots.

Open shelving is fantastic at opening up the feel of a kitchen. If your concern about your previous kitchen design was that it was dark and cramped, putting in open shelves can feel like a revelation. The open shelves let you do more with walls and tiles, which can be seen now where they were covered before.

There’s also a functional benefit, which is it’s just simpler to reach cooking tools and utensils. If you do a lot of cooking, this is a great advantage—and you can keep plenty of those objects off the counter space so you have more room to work.

What’s Not to Love About Open Shelves?

If you aren’t excited about shopping for new matching dishes and plates, or you would prefer simple functional containers for rice, sugar, spices, dry pasta, etc. (including just leaving them in their plastic bags), open shelves probably aren’t for you. To keep the clean and attractive look that’s one of the big benefits of open shelving requires a good deal of extra work. You have to be focused on decoration long after the kitchen redesign if finished. For some homeowners, especially those with large families and many young children, this isn’t practical.

Keeping the shelves clean also becomes labor-intensive, because they’ll gather dust quicker. Items you aren’t using will need to be dusted and cleaned routinely.

Finally, although the open shelf design may appear to offer more storage space, it often ends up the opposite, since crowding or stacking items tends to create a messy look.

Fortunately, if you don’t think open shelving is the best choice for you, there are many alternatives that allow you to enjoy a brighter, more open kitchen while still using standard cabinetry. Our designers will work closely with you so you end up with the perfect new kitchen remodel.

Advanced Builders & Contractors has served the Los Angeles Area for over 14 years. Request an estimate for your kitchen or bathroom remodeling.