How To Style Open Cabinets for a Beautiful Kitchen

FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedInReddit

I love the look of open cabinets in kitchens. Be it to display beautiful dishes or just grab something from an organized pantry area, they all look beautiful. In this post I’m sharing my tips on how to style open cabinets.

As we’ve been house hunting I’ve been thinking about what type of things I’d like to do in our new home. I know right off the bat I’d like to change things about a kitchen since that’s where I spend a large portion of my time.

I’ve seen open cabinets look great and I’ve also seen them look messy. So when it comes to styling cabinets there are a few things I’ve seen that can keep them looking great instead of messy.

How To Style Open Cabinets

First, I highly recommend choosing just a few cabinets to open. You can do one or two in the whole kitchen, a whole wall, or even just a corner cabinet. Do not open up every single cabinet in your kitchen. This will likely lead to that messy look we are trying to avoid.

Before you style the inside of your cabinets figure out if you’d like to leave them plain white, add a patterned temporary wallpaper, or paint the inside of your cabinet. It really depends on what look you are going for in your kitchen and I’ll have examples below.

Finally, pick out exactly what you want to display in these open cabinets. Please consider if the items you place in these cabinets will be useful in those places. You don’t want to display glasses in an area that is far away from where your drinks are.

Open Cabinets Styling Ideas

Below are a few styling ideas I found that I think show a good variety of the ways you can style open cabinets in a kitchen. These are purely open cabinets, not floating shelves, so you can possibly pull these off in a rental.

Add a Vintage Touch

In this kitchen you see vintage Pyrex bowls as well as a few steel pieces that help to give a more vintage feel to the kitchen. Vintage pieces can add an interesting focal point in a kitchen with open cabinets.

Add Modern Patterns

While we see open cabinets a lot in farmhouse style kitchens, this shows us it can work well with other decors too. Adding a modern pattern in temporary wallpaper along the back of your open cabinet works great for more modern kitchens. 

Adding an Eclectic Flair

Using an eclectic or bright pattern can completely change the way your kitchen feels and make it fit your overall style. It’s a great way to add your own personal style to your home in a way that’s unique.

Paint The Inside

I love the two tone cabinets, in this kitchen they took that bottom cabinet color and added it to the inside of their open cabinets. I love how simple and beautiful it is while helping to draw the eye up from the floor and making the room seem taller.

A Boho Style Apartment Kitchen

Open cabinets in a kitchen look great if you are going for a more bohemian style. Luckily this style looks great with those old late 80’s early 90’s cabinets you see in old apartments when you add loads of easy to maintain indirect sunlight plants.

An Open Pantry

Using the same style of glass jars to store pantry staples in an open cabinet kitchen pantry is great for several reasons. One, you will likely know when you are running low on pantry staples easily. Two, it pleases the organizer’s soul.

Styling Open Cabinets

Don’t be afraid to get creative with your open cabinet ideas. You can try to hand-paint designs along slats, at the bottom, across the back, or on the inner sides of the cabinet to draw interest. Temporary wallpaper also provides a way for you to switch up your decor style easily too.

For Bohemian or Eclectic styles, pick out mismatched dishes, jars, and other objects at your local thrift stores. For a more modern style pick plain plates and use a black and white pattern on the back of the cabinet to add a focal point.

Open cabinets in general should be the focal point of your kitchen, so you’ll want to make sure you are picking the right things to display. They don’t all need to be interesting objects unless you are going for a maximalist style. Just a couple of pieces that draw the eye are all that’s needed to make your open cabinets look professionally styled.

Want more kitchen decor ideas, check out this post on modern farmhouse kitchens.

What style do you want to try in your open cabinets? Let me know in the comments below. Follow me on Pinterest for more like this and pin this to your favorite kitchen decor boards.

FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedInReddit