27 Open Shelving Kitchen Ideas for the Perfect Prep Space
Why hide your beautiful dishware and cooking tools behind closed (cabinet) doors? Floating or open shelving kitchen shelves not only help organize your bowls, baskets, plates, and teacups, they make them into functional works of art. Mix and match your entire collection or organize the pieces by color for a clean, modern display. By keeping your favorite items out in the open, you’re more likely to grab that platter or pitcher—not just for special occasions but for everyday meals. Whether it’s one long shelf or a stack of three, these open shelving kitchen ideas are sure to make a big impact.
Photo: Fernando Marroquin1/27Inside the Mexico home of designer Mónica Calderón and her husband, architect Ezequiel Farca, the yellow kitchen features bracketed yellow wall shelves in addition to closed yellow kitchen cabinets. Aged walls and black and white accents offset the bright color in this modern kitchen design.
Photo: Lelanie Foster; Illustration: Dorcia Kelley2/27Writer and producer Lena Dunham’s Connecticut home is bursting with color, and the kitchen is no exception. Turquoise zellige tiles play off of the baby blue lower cabinets. Instead of upper cabinets of that same blue hue, Dunham and her creative crew—comprised of architect David Bers, contractor Rick McCue, and her parents—opted for short white open shelves that allow the kitchen storage to act as a splendid display for her jadeite dishes and pink glassware.
Photo: Olivia Joan3/27Former Chopped contestant Romilly Newman’s kitchen may be a tight squeeze, but boy does it put its tall ceilings to use! It features wood shelves all the way up that brick wall, with items clearly organized so that all of the regularly used pieces are close at hand for day-to-day cooking.
Photo: Miguel Flores-Vianna4/27Artist Bosco Sodi and his wife, Lucia Corredor, worked with AD100 firm Decada on their sprawling property on the Greek island Folegandros. The interiors are understated, allowing the beauty of the remote locale to do the talking. Case in point: its kitchen, which flaunts shallow floating shelves filled with ceramics crafted on the nearby island of Sifnos.
Photo: Miguel Flores-Vianna5/27Open shelving is best used not for tight, maximized storage solutions, but for cookware, dishes, and other kitchen decor and accoutrement that is pleasing to the eye. You can use these decor pieces to establish or tie into your kitchen’s color palette, as is the case in Belgian designer Jean-Philippe Demeyer’s kitchen, which contrasts its pink-and-white tiled walls with blue accents on its floating shelf and the curtains around its circular island.
Photo: Pernille Loof; Styling: Michael Reynolds6/27Open kitchen shelving can be a wonderful interior design tool for visually breaking up the space on your kitchen wall. This is the case for a blue-and-white kitchen designed by AD100 Designer Rafael de Cárdenas, which features three open shelves sandwiched between an exhaust hood cover in the same blue tone as its cupboards. If you add open shelves that are quite high, as is the case here, try using the storage space for cookbooks or decorative cookware that you’re not reaching for on the regular.
Photo: André Jones; Styling: Leila Nichols7/27Open wooden shelves offer easy access to an assortment of spices and jarred goods in this California cabin by designers Fritz Haeg and Jeremy Schipper. With its salvaged windows and sink, wooden countertops, and large table in place of a kitchen island, this space leans farmhouse-style, and the wicker baskets and crocks on the open shelf above the windows cement that position.
Photo: Meghan Marin8/27Perhaps the most impressive of shelving ideas can be seen in this kitchen by New American Voices designer Matt McKay. A series of ceiling suspended shelves are the perfect solution for a minimalist kitchen with large windows or for a space that uses its shelves to offer a soft separation between the living room and kitchen, since they don’t rely on wall mounting. Cabinet doors, begone!
Photo: Simon Upton; Styling: Sara Mathers9/27At model Sienna Miller’s Buckinghamshire cottage, open shelving is used for dishware, food storage canisters, and pots and pans. Beyond the pendant lighting, the green in the kitchen’s pink-and-green color scheme only comes through these elements that would be covered up if it weren’t for the choice of open shelving. Miller’s small kitchen proves how useful open shelving is in helping tiny spaces not feel too cramped.
Photo: Nikolas Koenig10/27Open shelving lines a wall in author and photographer Kelly Klein’s Palm Beach kitchen. The space also features a Sub-Zero refrigerator, a Wolf range, Dornbracht sink fittings, and a custom-made hood.
Photo: Björn Wallander11/27To provide a handsome focal point in a South Carolina home’s storage pantry, which is visible from the foyer, designer Barbara Westbrook backed open shelving with a slab of Italian marble; the space, off the kitchen, has its own sink and appliances and functions as a secondary prep area.
Photo: Oberto Gili12/27Open shelves add to the airy feel of the kitchen at a Dominican Republic estate.
Photo: William Waldron13/27Lucky Brand executives Dave DeMattei and Patrick Wade display an assortment of ceramic pitchers and serving pieces in the open shelves of their Los Angeles kitchen. A Charles Edwards light fixture is suspended above the marble-top island, and marble subway tiles are used for the backsplash behind the Viking range and hood.
Photo: Roger Davies14/27In a Napa Valley kitchen, open shelves flank a sink area, which is illuminated by sconces from the Urban Electric Co. Pendant lights designed by the homeowner, designer Rela Gleason, are installed over the stainless-steel islands; Thermador refrigerator and freezer columns (one unseen) bookend the far counter, and the range is by Wolf.
Photo: William Waldron15/27Dodie Thayer lettuceware enlivens a kitchen shelf at lighting designer Christopher Spitzmiller’s upstate New York home.
Photo: Oberto Gili16/27Neapolitan majolica tiles decorate the walls and floor of the kitchen in a Naples apartment revived by Studio Peregalli; dishware is stored and displayed in a Welsh dresser.
Photo: Simon Watson17/27Stainless-steel shelving and cabinetry add a contemporary edge to the kitchen of designer May Daouk’s Beirut home.
Photo: William Abranowicz19/27For the kitchen of actress Julianna Margulies’s New York apartment, designer Vicente Wolf suspended steel shelves above the island.
Photo: Oberto Gili20/27In the kitchen of Lynn and Sir Evelyn de Rothschild’s Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, home, which was built by Rivkin/Weisman Architects and decorated by Mark Cunningham, the reclaimed-oak open shelves feature brackets by Rocky Mountain Hardware. The backsplash tile and farmhouse sink are by Waterworks, and a Ralph Lauren Paint white was used on the Rivkin/Weisman–designed cabinetry.
Photo: Scott Frances21/27In the kitchen of a Sagaponack, New York, home, metal shelves complement the Wolf range and hood. The utensil rail is by Rösle, and the floor tile is by Urban Archaeology.
Photo: Scott Frances22/27A colorful collection of vintage pottery fills the shelves in the kitchen/family room of actress Diane Keaton’s Beverly Hills home.
Photo: Simon Watson23/27Piano duo and sisters Katia and Marielle Labèque collaborated with Axel Vervoordt on their Rome apartment. The kitchen features open shelving and a rustic cabinet, which conceals appliances.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn24/27At a Tennessee home, which was renovated by the architecture firm DA|AD and decorated by McAlpine Booth & Ferrier Interiors, shelving is suspended above the kitchen sink.
Photo: Nikolas Koenig25/27Architect and decorator David Mann equipped a New York apartment kitchen with custom-made stainless-steel cabinetry and counters that he offset with walnut shelves.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn26/27Antique Wedgwood and Coalport china is stored in the pantry of architect Jim Joseph and musical theater composer Scott Frankel’s historic Livingston, New York, home.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn27/27At designer Ray Booth and TV executive John Shea’s Nashville house, the working pantry is lined with open shelves for tableware, with Kohler sink and fittings.
