Apartment Therapy The Kitchn | Tip: Creating Well-Edited Open Storage

Tip: Creating Well-Edited Open Storage

We liked this simple tip from the owners of a beautiful home featured in Sunset. Their bright, eclectic kitchen is home-base to a crowd of three active little boys, and yet they still use open storage for their glasses and dishware. Here's how they decide what stays out, and what goes in the cupboard.

Here's the Schneiders' explanation of why and how they use open storage in their family kitchen:

Open shelves feel hospitable―guests can just grab wineglasses off the shelf―and force you to edit.

“Our rule of thumb?” says Schneider. “If you use it more than once a week, have it out. If you use it a few times a month, stick it in a cabinet. Once or twice a year? It belongs in the basement.”

Nice tip. Using something more than once a week means that it doesn't have time to collect dust and get dirty up on the shelves before it's used and washed and put away again — dust is one of our major hesitations about open shelving.

See more of their beautiful home here; it's a great little tour:

• Play House Bungalow Tour at Sunset

And see more open storage examples here:

• Kitchen Spotlight: Open Storage in Small Kitchens

(Images: John Granen, Kimberly Brown Seely for Sunset)

Comments (4)

I think that a section of open storage works well, if you have enough closed storage to go along with it. Otherwise, there is usually too much stuff to look attractive. Open storage shouldn't look jumbled.

posted by Aldyth on March 31st 2009 at 3:29pm
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Love the soapstone counter and sink, Chicago Faucet Company taps (we have both!), the table with the turquoise legs and bright green stokke chair. Lovely!

posted by mschatelaine on March 31st 2009 at 3:32pm
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That's pretty much my guideline, too. Little-used stuff means it would require dusting which is boo.
I also try to make sure I put out sets of matching items rather than mismatched singles of things, and to keep the color story simple.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/splatgirl/447292062/in/set-185957/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/splatgirl/250992941/in/set-185957/

OTOH, I've seen lots of eclectic, mismatched collections of stuff on open shelves that I think looks great.

posted by splatgirl on March 31st 2009 at 4:15pm
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Clicked through to the story at Sunset, and boy, do I have a new model for my dream home. Anyone with a family who's interested in beautiful, functional small design should definitely have a look at the whole article. Great find!

posted by umami girl on April 1st 2009 at 9:10am
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