I put some new shelves in my kitchen, and I’m deciding what to put on them. I was thinking about using them for dishes, pots and pans, and things like that. Has anyone out there done this? How did you deal with dust? Do you have to wash everything more often? I’m trying to make it easier to get to things when I want to bake, but I want to know what I’m getting into. Thanks for any advice or suggestions!
I keep most of my spices on an open shelf in the kitchen. Dishes get dusty and dirty and the open but just need a quick rinse before use. Bugs might get into anything in a cardboard box or any container that doesn’t seal up. They can get into cabinets too but why make it easy for them?
Some of both, actually.
I too have an open shelf spice rack in the kitchen and an open shelf over the stove for oils etc. In addition, I have a walk in pantry which is all open shelving, in fact. I love the pantry, things don’t get as dusty as in the kitchen for some reason. And it’s awesome not to dig things out of cupboards!
But actually IN my kitchen proper, like they often show in magazines, three or more open shelves for dishes and cups, etc? Yeah, that would never work for me, much as I appreciate how lovely the look is.
I see all attractive dishware, combined with elegant placement, that would prove problematic day to day.
Some of both. Dishes, pots, pans and glasses behind doors and sealed food more on open shelves.
My kitchen was never cabinet-completed. Thus I have a variety of open shelves serving the storage purpose. My advice would be that open shelves are fine if you use the contents often enough not to have to rinse more a trifling few of them. The same does not apply to food items if they are adequately sealed from intrusion. All my (nonperishable) food items are exposed and it makes it easy to grab. I love that part of it.
What my lack of cabinets has meant for me is that some of my cooking utensils have been relegated to closet storage because I rarely use them. Overall, I like the fact that I now know what utensils I use a lot and those I don’t. A minor benefit is that I can occasionally get rid of something that has been in the closet for too long a time.
On the other hand, I really miss having a fully accoutred kitchen.
Had pots and pans and dishes on open shelving in the kitchen once. Dust you can rinse out is annoying, but tolerable. What we discovered was that in addition to dust, cooking grease also settled on items, and we needed to thoroughly wash items that we seldom used when we got them off the shelf.
This would be my objection to open shelves as well. An industrial strength exhaust hood might help but the noise would be prohibitive in a home kitchen.
We learned this also. The old grease that settled also did not come off the easiest. We went to using the open shelving for the more decorative seldom used display items like the matched Coke or Disney glasses. Or for the foods in canisters like sugar and flour and for cereals dumped into Tupperware. Also the recipe books were on full display next to the spice rack. Never so glad than to be able to remodel and put in sufficient cabinetry along with a huge pantry.
My kitchen came with one wall of cabinets (with doors), and one entirely empty wall. We installed shelving on the empty wall, so we have both open and closed shelves. All of my cups/plates/bowls are in the closed shelves. My open shelves have my pans and my dry/canned/jarred goods and my spices.
I like the open shelves for the dried goods. I find that I’m much more likely to remember to buy those noodles I bought on sale, or use the jar of pasta sauce, if I can see them. I also don’t mind having my frequently used pans on open shelves, since they are really easy to take out/put away.
I’ve decided that when I have the money to give the kitchen the full remodel that it needs, I will look at closed shelves down below, to counter top height, and open shelves above, on one wall. That was I can hide the awkward and ugly stuff, keep the grease and dust down on the seldom used stuff, but still have the easy of access for what I use regularly.
I like the combination of some cabinets and some open storage. I have the same problem–if I put food where I can’t see it, it expires before I can use it. I just forget I have it. I need to see it, or it’s not there. I also need to write the expiration date really large where I can see it without having to haul everything out and look at the tiny print on the bottom, in silver ink on a gray background.
Thanks to everyone for your responses. I was thinking it might create more work if I put dishes or baking pans that I don’t use very often on the open shelves. I don’t want to have to wash them every time I use them (cause I’m lazy, and also it takes more time, and it takes me forever to cook anything anyway).
I’ve read all the Marie Kondo books, and I’m thinking more about different ways to do things. I know some people think she’s odd, but she really does have a lot of good ideas. I’m not doing everything exactly the way she recommends (I’m definitely not on board with having only enough books to fill half of a shelf :eek: ), but it has been very helpful in reorganizing and putting things in places that work better.
I like doors. That way I can close them, and if the food is in a jumble, no one else knows. It also keeps the cat from sleeping in the cake pan, which she would undoubtedly do if given the opportunity (I’ve caught her in the salad bowl more than once. “I fits!”)
My pots and pans are hanging- cobwebs sometimes.
Glass fronted upper cabs for everyday dishes and glasses and extra storage. I love the displays of grandmas China, moms dishes and other eclectic treasures I want keep. No plastic or chips behind glass in fact I purged junk. Open shelves to n a lower end cap holds cookbooks and crock of corks.
Closer to the stove I would like open shelves for oils spices.
:smack: I misread this as “Kitchen Slaves”.
I use open shelving. It’s decorative for a price; dust. Just make a can of compressed air visit with your cleaning routine and give whatever you use a quick rinse beforehand. A quick blast once a week and there is barely any dust, it looks excellent.
Edit: Just keep them away from the range top. no grease spots.