Another room that was majorly simplified before the yard sale was the kitchen.
When I was in my late teens, I purchased a full set of dishes. This wasn’t just the 16 piece box with 4 place settings. This was 96 a piece set, service for 12. They were simple, white dishes, Martha Stewart brand and the set was on clearance for around $100.
Those are still the same dishes that we use today.
But I finally accepted the fact that two people just don’t need 24 bowls or 36 salad and bread plates. Or the 12 lovely coffee cups and saucers that we don’t use because we prefer mugs. So out they went, along with sooo many other redundant pieces of drink and dinnerware…too many to list.
I’d love to jump on the current kitchen trend and replace the upper cabinets with open shelving, but I’m not sure how good that would be for the value of the house, especially in a fairly small kitchen.
We were planning on replacing the cabinets anyway, and shelves would be way cheaper. What do you think? Would open shelving be worth it?
I am in the same boat–the cabinets need to be replaced and I love open shelves, but worried 2 years after I do it it will be the thing not to do.
With a small kitchen I agree with not committing to open shelves, maybe glass doors to get the same effect? It’s such a hard decision!
You too? 🙂 I’ve always loved glass doors.
I think replacing the cabinets with new snazzy ones and leaving the doors off until you get tired of that or go to sell the place would work just fine.
Open cabinets are a good idea, Mr. Public! And if we replace the cabinets now, then I wouldn’t have to paint the veneer the current cabinets are covered with.
As you probably know, we took the doors off our original cabs back when we painted. The plan was to have custom doors made for the frames, but I love love LOVE the convenience of them open.
Since you are such a tidy, organized, streamlined person, I think open shelving would work great for you. Plus it makes a small space feel more open and bright. Could you take down the existing uppers and store them or rehang them in a garage or basement? That way, if resale was a problem, you could put them back up (or let the new owners do it, but at least they would be available).
Or, Since your OTR microwave might be a problem with open shelving, you could simply take off the doors, paint or wallpaper the insides, and have open cabinets like we do!
I LOVE the idea of taking them down and storing them! The microwave wouldn’t be a problem at all, I can’t wait to get rid of it.
Wow I know I would have trouble getting rid of only a part of a set and keeping the other part. But way to go!
I also like open shelving but think those only look good if those are not cramed with stuff, which I know you could pull off. I personally could not have open shelving, at least not much, because I dust way too rarely 🙂
Yes, the cleaning issue crossed my mind too…not fun. 🙂
Hey guys cabinets need doors. Put in glass clear or obscure but keep the doors. What’s really cool is lighting for the cabs inside if you keep it tidy. Nice decorative finish is really really good inside also . I have a ton of ideas
Some decorative painting inside would be great with glass doors and lighting. That’s a very nice look.