I love two contradictory things: minimalism and styling shelves with art, books and accessories. A kitchen with no upper cabinets melds these two loves perfectly. If you’re looking for a striking idea for your kitchen – consider taking the upper cabinets completely out of the picture. You can still put in a few shelves if you want and have a cupboard somewhere – but removing the uppers creates a striking environment and gives you a unique kitchen. If you’ve got a beautiful view – add some windows instead. If you have a piece of art you love – hang that instead. You’re probably in the room for at the least a half hour a day – you might as well enjoy it!
This is my favorite – I love the simplicity of this kitchen. This is from Plain English and, if you haven’t seen their kitchens before, stop what you’re doing and rush to their website! (Source)Dark green kitchen cabinets, striking tile and what a window! This is from LA based Commune – they tend to do a lot of kitchens with little to no upper cabinets. I think that helps set their kitchens apart. (Source)If you’ve got a nice view – why take it up with cabinets? I like the simple choice of plain white cabinets here. I don’t like the chairs at the table, but this is not a post about chairs. (Source)This is a working kitchen in LA jewelry designer, Irene Neuwirth’s flagship boutique store – another kitchen by Commune Design. (Source)This kitchen manages to be minimal yet soft – I love the bright white and windows in lieu of upper cabinets. (Source)
What do you think? Could you live without your upper cabinets? It is a luxury to be able to get rid of the uppers entirely. Maybe that’s another reason it’s so appealing – if you have no upper cabinets you must have room somewhere else for all your things. Either that or you have learned to live a simple, minimal life with no need for things like rice cookers, boxes of odd teas and extraneous coffee mugs and for that I’m envious.
Laura is a Denver Interior Designer who runs an Interior Design Studio based in sunny Colorado with a strong commitment to livable and interesting interiors. She also runs The Colorado Nest, a Denver blog about Design, Art and Life in the Mountain West and co-hosts the book podcast "The Inside Flap" on iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play.
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1 thought on “5 Unusual and Gorgeous Kitchens with No Upper Cabinets”
Reblogged this on Nomad Real Estate Blog and commented:
Mitch and I are going upper-free in our new kitchen. One, because we’re thrifty, two because it looks awesome and three (and most importantly) I’m too short to reach anything above the first shelf. Here’s a blog I stumbled upon when looking for affirmation about our choice~
The Colorado Nest 
Reblogged this on Nomad Real Estate Blog and commented:
Mitch and I are going upper-free in our new kitchen. One, because we’re thrifty, two because it looks awesome and three (and most importantly) I’m too short to reach anything above the first shelf. Here’s a blog I stumbled upon when looking for affirmation about our choice~