The kitchen, like other rooms in the home, has no many ‘traditional’ features that when we re-design or create our perfect kitchen space, we assume that we must follow suit.
This is the case when it comes to wall cabinets. But we wondered, are wall cupboards still as favoured as they once were? If we were given the chance to completely re-design the kitchen, would wall cupboards feature strongly in the rustic or contemporary style?
We Asked, You Answered
And so, we posed the question: are wall cabinets in the kitchen for you? Once again, our followers on Houzz and Instagram didn’t disappoint (why don’t you join in? Follow us!).
The results were clear: upper cabinets are still in the running, with only a small handful of our followers declaring that they didn’t like cupboards on walls.
With this in mind, we thought we would look at the alternatives, and what a kitchen gains from not having too many upper cabinets crowding the wall space.
What can you do with all that wall space?
For some people, not having wall cupboards crowding their eye line is welcome, especially in a smaller kitchen. But we think that every kitchen could benefit from fewer wall cabinets. Just imagine all that wall space! What would you do with it?
- Mirror – we examined using mirrors in the kitchen in a previous blog post and we recently polled our followers to ask whether including a mirror in a kitchen was a good thing or not. Mirrors are perfect for any room and with frames complementing the style of kitchen furniture, you’ve got nothing to lose!
- Artwork – all too often we assume that the grease and cooking smells prevent us from adding any kind of soft furnishing or artwork. However, many of us now cook in a different way – there are not many chip pans gracing stoves as there used to be decades ago! – and so, the kitchen can be a place you accessorise. As well as mirrors, why not consider adding artwork to walls, or beautiful wall sculpture to admire as you drink your morning coffee perched on a wooden stool in your rustic kitchen?
But, would storage be a problem?
Yes, we hear you and we understand why: removing wall cabinets is all well and good but instantly downsizes the space for storing kitchen essentials
We have solutions:
- Storage shelves don’t have to be hidden – we love the collection of glass jars on show, the contents adding colour to a kitchen. You could wall mount these if you wanted.
- Floor or free-standing display units – a display unit is similar to wall mounted shelves, and can hold everything from cooking utensils to dinnerware. There is a display unit that will suit your rustic or contemporary kitchen perfectly.
- A sideboard – frankly, a sideboard in the dining room is the ideal item for storing less frequently used items, from tableware to serving dishes. They also work well in the kitchen diner. With a range of style and sizes available, from the half sideboard to taller display-unit-cum-sideboard, there is something for every budget. See our Sideboards collection here.
Have we changed your mind? Would you now consider reducing the number or eliminating wall cabinets from your kitchen?