Personally, I am against open shelving. The dust that will collect on your dishes and subsequent washing required aren't worth the open space. (Also, I've learned in a city apartment, that closed cabinets are a must for keeping tiny fury creatures from making your muffin pans their bathroom. Ugh.)

I find open shelves impractical, because dust and similar stuff lay on dishes or other things stored on open shelves, so if it was up to me I would avoid open shelves unless it was about a couple of shelves for decorative purposes.

What is more, living in a country with high earthquake activity (talking about myself), it is dangerous to keep dishes, cups, glasses and other breakable objects in shelves without "doors" to hold the stuff inside since they could jump off the open shelves anytime during a quake and even hurt someone.

I think a small amount could be attractive and appealing -- assuming the bulk of your kitchen will be cabinets with doors.

i think mixing it up with open shelving and regular cabinets is a great idea. just be smart about placement. my open shelves are directly above the stovetop which is a huge problem for a layer of grease that builds on glasses and plates after i fry anything! put them above your sink and you're set.

My significant other just bought a house (I didn't contribute financial but was involved throughout the process). Personally, I would have been attracted to open shelving in a kitchen, with the caveat that there should also be adequate "hidden" storage.

Another thought-- you mentioned that you are looking to brighten up a corner-- and I think that an alternative solution that would definitely add value would be some glass-doored cabinets with built-in lighting. Different price point for sure, but more widely appealing.

Ask a few Realtors. If your home has an industrial- or loft-like look, open shelving might be fun. If the shelves are in a place where a cupboard wouldn't work, that'd be O.K., too. I'm guessing that most people like the look of open shelves but would rather be able to stow their belongings behind closed doors. My upper cabinets have textured glass inserts(IKEA), and I'm ever aware of what I put in them (all-white dishes from The Dollar Tree!).

Everything on earth is pretty much "a fad" and will eventually seem dated. Designing your house for some future buyer is a huge waste of time and money. Return on such improvements is generally minimal (and I say that as an architect). I guarantee you that whatever you have, the person who buys your house will remodel something and will not have your tastes.

Make your place work for you now, so you an enjoy it and don't worry about the needs of some future, unknown person.

Today is full of "I'm doing this right now" posts!

We're giving our kitchen a much-needed facelift - we don't have time (or moolah) for a full-fledged renovation, but we need to get the house in shape to sell. Currently, my kitchen is a disaster with half-painted walls, terrible cabinets that don't close properly and missing doors on cabinets. We've decided to tear down all the upper cabinets, install beadboard and get a carpenter to make some craftsman-style open shelving and frame-out the bottom cabinet doors w/some shaker style moulding.

My feeling is, I don't have money to buy decent cabinets and installing cheap cabinets will make it look, well... cheap. This way, I can get a facelift and freshen up the place with some custom shelving w/cool, chunky brackets & a nice paint job for the same price as cheap cabinetry.

I'm with DCarl1 (I'm also an architect) -- don't make design decisions based on the future buyer of your house. Enjoy it while you're living there and do what you want with it.

i see the sticky dust that accumulates on my range hood on an almost daily basis, so i know how my open shelves would look as well. in a dust free world, i'd love that look, but in the real one, no thank you. now if i could only convince my husband of the logic of this...

What about a bit of a compromise: cabinets with glass doors?

You'll still get a more open and airy feel without the dust problems.

I too like a couple open shelves mixed with a majority of closed storage. But I think of open shelving working best for people who cook all the time: there's no time for dust to settle.

But I definitely think selective open shelving is best. My grandparents have two open shelves above the counter that separates the kitchen from the breakfast nook. They keep just dry storage jars and everyday plates and bowls and glasses on them. I'm sure my grandmother dusts the shelving regularly--but they also cook at home every night and entertain on a weekly basis.

Full disclosure: They live pretty much directly over the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and everything definitely fell and broke then. But so did dishes inside cabinets at my house; that was a huge quake. But nothing has fallen in regular everyday tremblers. The shelves are quite sturdy, anchored between load-bearing beams, which may help.

I'm with DCarl1...it's yours so do what you want. You may stay long enough to do another kitchen remodel. RE agents often say that prospective buyers aren't looking at what you have, they look at what they can do to suit their taste.

Open kitchen shelving has been around ever since there have been kitchens; popularity comes and goes.

Personlly, I love open shelving. The dust business is not a factor for me as I use all my shelved stuff on a daily basis so they are washed often.

I do think it is smart to consider the resale value when deciding on kitchen or bath renovation. You can do whatever you want with painted surfaces, replacing the floors is typically not a big deal, same back-splashes, etc, but the bones (cabinets) are painful to change.

What I learned about open shelving is don't do it in a tiny kitchen that has issues with ventilation. I removed doors from all upper cabinets last Fall to repaint and reinstall them within a week. They're stuck in the garage since then, because I like the look.

My kitchen has no windows, no vent going outside, so I cannot boil water for my tea without steam getting onto the closest dishes. I need to re-wash all the glass dishes before using them, as they are all covered with a fatty film every time I cook, and I cook often. So I'm putting the doors back, and will keep an open shelf for display only, and maybe cut a couple of other doors for easy access to plates and mugs.

Go for open shelving if your kitchen is well vented, you can install doors without a great hustle, and if they are away from your range.

From the few months we've had "open shelving" -- really just cabinets with doors removed -- I've loved it. But I also made sure we had plenty of hidden storage, too. I think if you use your dishes often, you won't have to worry about cleaning as much.

Of course, ours don't get as much dust on them because the shelves are still covered. But I definitely plan on open shelves one day...at least for part of the kitchen. Oh, and not over the stove (I think someone already said that).

I am currently house shopping and would not buy a house with open shelving in the kitchen---except for a wee bit to feature a collection of something.

In general I think I would like a few open shelves but enough space to put the less pretty things like pots, pans ect.

But as others have stated unless you are in the real estate buisness put in your home what you love now. And shelves to me seem like an easy thing to change (compared to for instance a bathroom with pink tiles).

My husband and I just bought a house, and one thing that attracted us, I'll admit, was the open feeling of the kitchen. There is no wall between the kitchen and the dining room, but the counter becomes more of a "breakfast bar" into the next room, with shelves hanging over it - they have clear glass shelves and doors - so the space is very airy feeling.

But now that we're planning where stuff will actually go, I'm thankful that it's the only clear cabinet I have to deal with. I guess we'll put our glasses in there, but there's not much else I'd care to look at all the time, especially from other rooms.

In brief: the (semi) openness probably WAS a selling point, but has become an impractical point.

I agree with the collection of dust and/or pet hair and/or other random stuff that you don't necessarily want in your dishes and glasses.

My idea, if you want to open up a dark corner, would be to do glass cabinets.... Maybe with white or stainless steel frames?

I have open shelving and I love it. I store the dishes & glassware I use every day on the lower shelf and more decorative items above (vintage mixing bowls, vases, etc.) I don't have much of a problem with dust on the every day things because they are used every day and washed and put back. I do have to dust the upper shelves once in a while, but my theory is you will clean what you love and it won't seem like a chore. I do it in a reasonable amount of time. I've never experienced grease on my shelves and they are near the stove. Go figure. Maybe it's because I don't fry. I can't stand to fry because it makes the house smell horrible for a long time after. I don't find it impractical since I love it.