The Popular Kitchen Trend Designers Secretly Hate

Open shelving has been the ‘it’ kitchen design choice for almost a decade. Open shelves can be a smart solution for homeowners looking for spaciousness in older kitchens, and as a growing population of design enthusiasts seeks opportunities to flex their design muscles by styling the shelves just right.

Benefits aside, professional designers preach caution when considering open shelving. The pros say open shelves don’t work for every home style, and their upkeep is often more than homeowners expect. “Open shelving in a kitchen can create interest, personality and keep the space feeling fresh, but I most often discourage clients from choosing it,” says designer Melanie Zaelich. Below, designers share why they don’t love open shelving, and what you can do instead.

Why Designers Generally Don’t Like Open Shelving

Open shelves, while designed for easy access, can create more problems than they solve. Designers say that open shelves are aesthetically inappropriate for certain design styles, and they lead to visual clutter and more to clean.

“In the majority of homes, open shelving can quickly make a kitchen look cluttered, disorganized, and dated,” Zaelich says. Because open shelves have been popular for the last decade, they can veer into cliche territory. “It can give off the look of ‘trying to hard to be trendy’,” she continues.

Further, kitchens are a functional space, and open shelves are actually not that functional, given how much dirt they can gather. “You’re going to get dust,” says designer Danielle Loven. “Open shelves are not practical.” Loven points out that instead of just cleaning your cooking surfaces, people with open shelves will forever be tasked with cleaning the shelves of dust and grease.

“For busy people, especially those with kids, open shelving can be difficult to maintain,” Zaelich says.

When Open Shelves Work Well

Open shelves are native to a few design styles. Rustic, unfitted kitchens (meaning those without installed cabinets) often feature a large open cupboard or “larder” for storing dishes and dry goods. This style of open shelving also works well in farmhouse or country kitchens. A piece of storage furniture can take the place of a pantry cabinet, adding personality and cutting down on the number of cabinets needed.

Modern design is another aesthetic in which open shelves are the norm. “To pull off open shelving well, you need a very large and minimalistic-style kitchen with plenty of wall space and few, if any, upper cabinets,” Zaelich says. The shelves should be an easy-to-clean material, such as hardwood or steel, and they should feature little ornamentation (no decorative corbels here). If you have a modern kitchen, Zaelich recommends styling open shelves with live plants and frequently used items.

What to Use Instead of Open Shelving

Open shelves are often used to create a spacious feeling in kitchens laden with visually heavy cabinets. To achieve this effect in a traditional kitchen, the designers we spoke with offered a few solutions from re-thinking your cabinets functionality to a clever paint trick.

Loven encourages people to think about highly functional lower drawers instead of upper cabinets. “Dishes in the drawer is a huge trend right now,” she says. “As we age, it’s easier to reach down and plop things in a drawer.”

When you have highly functional lower drawers and cabinets, you can leave upper space open for more period-appropriate styling, such as art or a wall sconce.

Another trick for a more open feeling in your kitchen is painting the upper cabinets the same color as your walls, using a hardier sheen on the cabinets. “This helps the cabinets blend into the wall, creating an open feel without sacrificing storage or making the space look cluttered,” Zaelich says.

Zaelich also suggests updating your backsplash or styling your countertops to increase visual interest (often the goal of open shelves) without adding more to clean.