Email Answer: Cabinet Conundrum?
Q: I love your blog and would love some advice. We’re saving up for a full kitchen remodel, but want to make the best of it in the meantime. Our current kitchen cabinets are “builder standard” and there are about 18 inches between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling. At some point we’d love to have extra tall cabinets that extend all the way to the ceiling, but right now we’ve just got a giant space up there to deal with. I’ve tried to “decorate” that area by displaying some nice serving pieces, fun ceramics, vases filled with lemons and limes, etc. However, I don’t want it to look like overflow storage. What would you suggest doing in that “dead space” above the cabinets? Leave it empty? Decor it up? Help! Thanks so much. – Jennifer
A: There’s really no right answer to this question since it’s all about personal preference, but we like the idea of “grouping like objects” (you know, things that are similar in texture, color, material, etc) which can look less chaotic and more balanced and unified. We always love a grouping of textural woven baskets along the top of the cabinets to keep things looking consistent and extra charming (like these examples from Domino and House & Home):
Of course some people prefer to keep things totally bare up there (like this kitch from Coastal Living). It would be easier to dust, but again it’s your call. And if you’re in the mood for extra credit, adding some chunky decorative molding along the top of your cabinets is another way to make them feel polished and lovely just the way they are. Oh and adding some above-cabinet lighting can also introduce a ton of ambiance (you may even be able to plug a strand of white string lights in behind your fridge and drill a small hole to feed them through the upper cabinet to create a super affordable glow up there).
There are a lot of eye-pleasing solutions, so just displaying a collection of simple platters and plates can do the trick (like these from Cottage Living):
Or blue and yellow glass accents (like these from Sunset Magazine) might be the perfect thing to polish off the tops of your cabs (just picture them above solid cabinets instead of inside glass ones)…
A collection of white ceramic pitchers or similarly colored pottery would look nice- since it has the tone and the material in common (like this example from Cottage Living)…
… and these two spaces from Country Living continue that idea (just picture these objects above closed upper cabinets instead of displayed on open shelves):
So our suggestion would just be to figure out what you love and try to amass a nice collection of that item (whether it’s sunny yellow Fiestaware or an affordable collection of 40% off baskets from Michael’s (which can also double as concealed storage for other objects that don’t look as good when they’re out in the open). And our other tip would be to ensure that the objects aren’t too petite since that’s the fastest way to make them read as “clutter” instead of proportionate and balanced accents. So when in doubt, go with fewer larger items up there instead of a million little ones.
Oh and we’ve actually seen people remove their upper cabinets and rehang them at ceiling height to eliminate that space above them and then they just install a nice open shelf below them for charming exposed storage. So that’s another more creative and hands on option for you that’s still relatively cost effective (check out more details about this amazing Cottage Living kitchen makeover right here).
So that’s our take on the top-of-cabinet conundrum. What do you guys prefer when it comes to accessorizing the top of yours? Share and share alike.
Psst- Wanna know how to paint your cabinets? Check out that step by step tutorial right here. And for a bunch of other decorating tips and tricks check out our How To page and scroll down to the “Decorating Lessons” category for tons of ideas and advice.
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our cats can jump from the countertops to the top of the cabinets. they’re not typically allowed on the countertops, but they still manage to get up there. but they’re the reason that we keep the area above our cabinets cleared of all clutter. anything that’s up there could fall when our cats are up there watching us or laying around.
after we moved in, we added door hardware and some darker crown molding trim to add a bit of interest to the maple cabinets that came with the house. we like the look. i’ve got an old blog post about how we’ve altered our kitchen cabinets to make them look more high class. if you’d like to skip to the goodies, here’s a link to the before picture, and a link to an after picture.
Caitlyn, do you have a source for the $4 fabric bins? I’ve been looking for some inexpensive ones.
Ugh I struggle with that too. Extra tall cabinets werent in the budget and I didn’t want to dust a shelf down below (though I love how that looks), so we ended up with staggered height wqll cabinets. If I want to put something on top, I’d only be able to do it on the shorter wall cabinets because the taller ones come too close to our 8-foot ceilings! Haven’t quite figured that look out yet… thanks for the inspiration pics!
We have a friend who just stenciled in a very pretty script a phrase above the cabinets. Depending how much space you need to fill up you could make the phrase short or long. It escapes me right now what it said, but the overall effect was lovely. It was clear that the friends put design ideas into the place, but still was totally uncluttered. You could even play around with some Italian sayings about food.
We keep all of our old wine bottles over part of our cabinets. I put a white sticker label with info (price, where we bought it and the number of stars we give it) on the bottom. We started saving them to make something out of them… A table? Outdoor sculpture? I don’t know yet, but I like ‘em as decor!
I got mine at either Home Depot or Lowes. They were actually being sold as Christmas storage (they’re a pretty sage green so I’m not really sure what makes them so holiday). I know they can be much more expensive at Tarjay and the like. IKEA has them cheaper I think. Quick internet search the cheapest ones I could find were $10. I think they were one of those right place/right time deals.
Thanks for that info for Jenn, Caitlin!
xo,
s
I went with the xmas lights over the cabinet look when I didn’t feel like taking my xmas lights down to the basement this year, ha. If your cabinets meet in a corner there may be a little wasted space that you can run an extension cord through. I’m lucky enough to have an outlet in that corner, and ran a dark-colored extension cord up to the top of the cabinets and ran a string of lights down each side. The plug is hidden behind a plate leaning in the corner, so you hardly even notice it’s there. The best part is that, in my tiny apartment with only 2 windows, 0 of which are in the kitchen, I can still navigate to a glass of water in the middle of the night without burning my corneas.
Here’s a pic: http://tinypic.com/r/9bc57s/5 It’s a little dark because I was trying to capture the nice “glow” :)
That looks awesome AJ! Thanks so much for sharing the link!
xo,
s
I, too, have been struggling with a good look for my insanely low cabinets (which I just raised – I just have extra tall ceilings). My cabinets already have moulding on the top of them, which I love, plus I have crown moulding along the top of my ceiling. I used to have a plant and some antique boxes up there, but when I remodeled my kitchen I decided that I didn’t like that look anymore so I left it empty. However, I have toyed with the idea of adding a solid piece of wood with moulding at the top to make it look more streamlined, even if it doesn’t go all the way to the ceiling. I love this post, I really liked reading everyone’s opinions and seeing/hearing the different tips. Thanks John and Sherry!!!
Hey guys,
I’m interested to know whether the floating shelves in the last picture are the same width as the cabinets above it or whether they are smaller. Does anyone know? Thanks x
Something clever I’ve seen recently is take those existing cabinets, move them up to the ceiling and add a shelf below. It looks like a great solution; the frequently used items can be easily accessible in open shelving. Wish we would have thought of this cheaper solution ourselves before jumping into a major kitchen redo.
First of all….just want to say…I love your site. I happened upon it one day, and now I am a daily checker! For all of you who have space above your cabinets, here is a trick my mother-in-law taught me….. lay waxed paper on top of the cupboards. It catches all kinds of yuck and makes clean up a whiz. When you are in the mood to “spring clean”, just wad up the dirty waxed paper and toss in the garbage, and replace with new waxed paper. It’s cheap and easy! If you have the space, use it, but don’t make it so cluttered.
Thanks for sharing this! I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with the top of my cabinets for a few years now. I have a few antique looking bird cages (large and med sized) so I’m going to see how they look on top of the cabinets! I might pick up a few more if I love the look.
The space above my cabinets in my new home was driving me crazy and I wanted a “quick fix” rather than waiting to collect the perfect items over time. I picked up 6 of the dark woven rectangular and squarish storage baskets that they have at Target right now and they look great! I have white cabinets but a dark espresso-stained dining set in my eat-in kitchen so the dark baskets ties the table color in with my cabinets and gives a nice cohesive look to the room. If later on I happen to collect some great handmade ceramics or baskets to put up there, I can just replace my Target baskets and use the baskets for storage somewhere else in my home!
If you find baskets made of plastic (they still look like the wicker) then you can easily wash them in the dish washer, sink or bathtub.
I personally would choose something that is easy to wash because the oils from cooking deposit on items and the dust sticks right to it.
It is definitely a pet-peeve of mine that cabinets don’t go to the ceiling…what a WASTE of space! Argh! (I am also taller than most women at six feet so I can actually reach!)