Floating or open shelving can serve many purposes when designing your dream kitchen and it can be a beautiful and practical way of enhancing your space and giving it more personality. It is an easy and appealing way to incorporate materials such as timber, silver, metal or brass and can break up cabinetry and add flexibilIty to your design. You can combine open cabinets/ floating shelves with closed cabinets or make use of difficult areas that are too small or awkward for closed cabinetry. Depending on the size of your kitchen, closed cabinets can sometimes make the space feel heavier or dense – lightening up the walls with open shelving can help alleviate this.
Other benefits include the ability to change the look and feel of your kitchen with styling or collectable pieces that you wish to display. The key to making this is choosing items that suit the design and aesthetic of your space and curating them in a way that helps to create interest.
Some additional ways to add wow factor include making your shelving the same colour as your cabinetry so that it feels like a natural extension to the cabinets below and painting or tiling behind the shelving in an alternate colour or pattern to add depth and interest to the items being housed on the shelves.
Keep your styling chic and minimal and don’t be afraid to add some additional décor items such as potted plants, books and décor objects to give more personality and warmth to the display.
Here are some fantastic examples of how open shelving has taken kitchen design to a whole new level:
