Floating kitchen shelves vs. cabinets

The debate of floating kitchen shelves vs. cabinets is still a hot topic years into the open shelving trend. What do you put on floating kitchen shelves? Is open shelving strong enough to hold dishes? Is open kitchen shelving practical? How much storage space do I lose with shelving vs. upper cabinets?

FLOATING KITCHEN SHELVES ARE DIY FRIENDLY, AFFORDABLE & CUSTOMIZABLE

The first four pros of open shelving in the kitchen revolve around the fact that they are home owner friendly. Floating shelves offer a lot of flexibility to a home owner, not only in design, but also in affordability and customization.

Affordable

DIY friendly

Customizable

Easily fits any space

AFFORDABLE | ARE OPEN SHELVES CHEAPER THAN CABINETS?

Yes. Open shelves are cheaper than cabinets. The simple fact that there is less material needed to build them makes them a more affordable option than upper cabinets.

CUSTOMIZABLE | EASILY FITS ANY SPACE

Like we discussed above, floating kitchen shelves or shelves with brackets, is the easiest way to add your own shelving to your existing kitchen because of the various size options. Likewise, you can customize them to your space if you are building from scratch.

SEASONALLY CURATED

A lot of people use their open shelving for decor purposes OR for practical purposes. I like to use them for both! The seasonal decor changes I make in my kitchen all center around my floating kitchen shelves since I don’t like to have clutter on the countertops.

ARE OPEN SHELVES PRACTICAL?

Adding open shelving to a small space helps it feel more open and airy. At the same time, it can sacrifice some storage that an upper cabinet might provide. But in reality, many people have way more “stuff” shoved into the depths of upper cabinets than they actually use!

4 CONS OF FLOATING KITCHEN SHELVES

I think it’s fairly obvious that I am an advocate for open shelving. My floating kitchen shelves are one of my very favorite design decisions and I’ve never regretted it. But, in all fairness, I want to cover some of the cons! I know that visible storage is not for everyone, so make sure to take these cons into consideration.

1. Can look cluttered instead of curated.

2. Less hidden storage for very small spaces.

3. Always visible, so your dishes, for example, will need to be a style that you want to see all the time.

4. Dusting is necessary.

I think the first three cons of floating open shelves are pretty self explanatory. You’re going to see whatever is on your shelving, so you might want to buy new dishes or glasses or look for decor items to use. You also should take into consideration exactly how much storage you need as very small spaces or apartments just might not be big enough for open storage.

However, I do want to chat very quickly about how often you need to clean open shelving. First, I never have to dust my dishes. We use our dishes that are displayed on the shelves daily so they are washed daily as well.

However, the shelf does get dusty! Any flat surface will. The only reason upper cupboards don’t is because they have doors. And even then, I’ll bet you will be surprised about the dust that still gets into kitchen cabinets. So if you are highly opposed to dusting your shelves, this may not be the option for you!