The slow transformation of our kitchen continues, and this is another one we are so happy with how it turned out. What a great big difference it has made, getting rid of our cabinets, and building custom open farmhouse kitchen shelving!

A Bit of the Back Story

In this project, we were actually undoing a change we made many years ago.
One of the many reasons we bought this house in the first place, was because it had a lot of floor cabinets in the kitchen, and none on the walls! I really didn’t want a kitchen that felt closed in by a lot of cabinets mounted on the walls, that I would have a hard time reaching anyway.  However, it wasn’t long before we realized, the floor cabinets alone just didn’t provide enough storage for everything. 

And so Michael bought basic ready-made cabinets at Home Depot, installed it on our one empty wall, and then added oak trim and handles to match the rest of the floor cabinetry . . . .

I really grew to hate it.

It’s been there for at least 20 years. As much as I grew to despise the look of it, it was necessary for storage, as far as I could figure, for far too long. The floor cabinets stored plates and bowls, glasses, pots and pans, and storage containers.  And the drawers stored what drawers do, of course: utensils, herbs and spices, a junk drawer, etc. So the cabinet on the wall stored cereal boxes, crackers, rice, and that kind of thing.

I began to dream about open cabinets, with dishes and all in there. And I had come up with a good plan of how to rearrange everything in the kitchen that still needed to be stored. (Just put all that was up in the wall cabinet – cereals, crackers, etc. – down in the floor cabinets, when all of the dishes, bowls, etc. came out.)
But I wasn’t sure open cabinets was what I really wanted. Then I started thinking about open shelves. But as much as I thought about it, I couldn’t see in my head exactly what it would look like, that would look right in our kitchen. Until I did.  However, explaining it to Michael was not painting a good picture for him. I was being clear enough in my description, but he just didn’t think it was going to look good.  As I gave him the details, he kept questioning me, like….“Really?”. 

It was unusual. Because you see, with any big or small home projects we have ever done, we have always planned the whole thing together. We most always have the same vision, the same expectations, and the same excitement. But this time….Michael didn’t see it, what he was expecting was not good, and he definitely was not excited. 
This time, I had to ask him to just trust me, and build it like I’m saying.

And he did.

Good-bye, boring ordinary cabinets . . . .
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