A quick disclaimer… first, I once again apologize for the sporadic posts as of late. The reason for this is a good one. I found a job, yey! I’m officially a Sales & Design Associate for a residential kitchen cabinet company. I will be selling AND DESIGNING kitchens, bathrooms, custom closets, home offices, entertainment centers, etc. etc.

Now to the post for today. It’s all about open storage in the kitchen. Is it for you? Well it looks good but is it practical. This is a question you have to ask yourself. If you are a neat freak and you happen to have matching dishes or at least some sort of coordinating color scheme then this option may be for you.

It looks cool doesn’t it?

If you are thinking of adding open storage to your kitchen then why not go all out? Make the entire upper storage area all open shelving. What this does is create a sense of open space. It also allows you to add some color or unique treatment to the wall. Try a beautiful tile or wood slats like these kitchens.

For those of you that are only partial neat freaks then maybe it is best to limit the open storage to just part of the kitchen. Perhaps a nice place to store coffee mugs and a few dishes for breakfast. This creates a nice little zone that is specific to a task… like drinking coffee in the morning.

If you like the idea of only one open storage zone in your kitchen a great idea is the hanging pot rack. Mix it up a bit and hang it above the sink. This is a great way to make a boring window with no view interesting.

To keep a sense of order and to minimize the perception of clutter keep the color of the dishes and serveware to one clean look. White is always a classically clean look.

Another way to minimze the perception of clutter in open storage areas is to keep it limited to the ends of the island. A perfect spot for cookbooks and a few miscllaneous items that simply look nice when displayed on an open shelf.

If open storage is for you I hope these ideas inspired you.

Hope to share more next weekend when my head is hopefully a little less crazy with the beginning of a new job.