Wall Cabinets or No Wall Cabinets?
When planning your kitchen design, one of many decisions is whether or not to include wall cabinets. The choice isn’t based solely on storage considerations. No, the real difficulty lies in how having the cabinets or not having them will influence the look and feel of your kitchen.
There are pros and cons to removing upper cabinets. You can substitute “floating shelves”. The open shelves look great when everything is clean and neat and arranged perfectly. The question is: do you use the dishes on those shelves? Or leave them out as display pieces only? And if they are display only, where are your “real” dishes?
Benefits of Wall Cabinets
Probably the biggest benefit to including wall cabinets in your kitchen design is the added storage space they provide. In addition to storing the plates and glasses you use every day, you can store the dishware you reserve for special occasions in your cabinets too, without having to worry about the dishes collecting dust. If the wall cabinets have glass fronts, you can display some of your attractive or decorative dishware that doesn’t get used often.
Another benefit to having wall cabinets is that they give the kitchen a put-together look. If you don’t like the look of a solid run of wall cabinets, many options exist to break it up, including clear or opaque glass fronts instead of solid doors, a cabinet or two with no doors, staggered heights, cabinets that extend down to the countertop, cabinets that extend all the way to the ceiling, cabinets with mullion panes, stacked cabinets with interesting detail on top. Plus wall cabinets can be configured to work with a wide array of styles, including transitional, traditional, contemporary and farmhouse kitchens.
Benefits of No Wall Cabinets
In recent years, a new trend of no wall cabinets has emerged in kitchen design. When wall cabinets are omitted from your kitchen, you’ll have more space for displaying prized items, tile, lighting or windows.
Open floor plans are popular because people want a feeling of openness, and having no wall cabinets helps to create this feeling in the kitchen. It makes the space feel larger. Plus, homeowners say that items stored in wall cabinets that extend to the ceiling are “inconvenient” to get to.
Something else to consider. Most people store their glassware in the wall cabinet next to the sink or dishwasher. If that cabinet is gone, where to put the glasses? Deep drawers lined with a nonslip rubber liner are ideal.
If you have a fabulous view that you don’t want to cover up with wall cabinets, then no wall cabinets is for you. But if you have a family and cook in your kitchen a couple times a day, you are not going to want to have to keep your open shelves looking photo-worthy all the time.
What’s the price of not having wall cabinets in your kitchen? There’s a chance that not having wall cabinets may negatively impact the value of your home if you choose to sell it down the line. If you don’t plan to sell your residence anytime soon, you shouldn’t hesitate to skip wall cabinets if you prefer the look of open shelves. Homeowners who plan to move within the next few years and want to preserve the resale value of their residence may want to play it safer and incorporate wall cabinets into their kitchen design.
See What Your Kitchen Will Look Like With and Without Wall Cabinets
When trying to decide between installing wall cabinets and leaving them out of your kitchen design, Craig Allen Designs can help. Based on your input and our ideas, we can create a virtual design for your kitchen. Then you can see it with and without cabinets.
Seeing what your finished kitchen will look like helps you make sound decisions. And sound decisions will get you the kitchen you’ll be happy with for years.
Learn about our kitchen design services now and contact us when you’re ready to have a complimentary design consultation that can make your dream kitchen a reality.
