The Best Wall Shelves to Display Your Kitchen Items
Wall shelves are a great way to maximize vertical storage and display space in your kitchen. Whether you have a spacious kitchen or a tiny galley style, wall shelves provide extra real estate to neatly organize cooking essentials, glassware, serveware, and your favorite kitchen collections.
Shelves mounted on kitchen walls keep items off the counters while allowing you to highlight your style. From sleek floating shelves to rustic wood ledges, there are so many options to choose from. Here we'll explore the benefits of kitchen wall shelves and the most popular materials and styles to help you find the perfect shelves to display your kitchen items.
Maximize Your Kitchen's Storage Potential
One of the biggest perks of installing shelves on kitchen walls is that you can expand your storage capacity. By utilizing empty vertical wall space that would otherwise go unused, wall shelves create more real estate to store kitchen tools, appliances, pantry goods, and other items.
Wall shelves are ideal for stacking plates, bowls, mugs, and glassware so they are easily accessible. Mounted shelves also provide a place to neatly display your collections of cookbooks, teapots, or coffee mugs without taking up valuable counter space.
Free Up Counter Clutter
How many small appliances, utensils, and kitchen odds and ends clutter up your counters? Pot lids, cooking oils, spices, mail, keys - it all seems to accumulate on the counters despite our best organizational efforts.
Wall shelves clear up the clutter by giving you somewhere else to store these items off the counter. They help keep your workspace tidy and create a visual sense of order in your kitchen.
Show Off Serveware
Traditional kitchen cabinets stash away our dishes, glasses, and serving pieces. But wall shelves let you prominently display your loveliest serveware front and center.
Open shelving makes it easy to grab platters, bowls, and casserole dishes for everyday meals or when entertaining guests. No more digging to find your special china - keep it out in the open on wall shelves.
Materials to Choose From for Kitchen Shelves
Kitchen wall shelves come in a variety of materials to complement your existing decor. Wood, metal, glass, and engineered wood are popular options with their own aesthetic appeals.
The Warmth of Wood Shelves
Nothing beats the beauty of natural wood shelves in the kitchen. Wood brings warmth and texture with options like oak, pine, maple, teak or bamboo. Wood shelves withstand heat and stains while adding a touch of nature.
Unfinished wood shelves have an organic, rustic vibe. But you can also stain, paint or distress wood shelves to match any color palette. Dark wood shelves pop against white walls, while light shelves enhance wood cabinetry.
Sleek Metal Shelves
For a modern, industrial look, metal shelves have sleek, clean lines. Stainless steel, black metal, bronze, brass or copper shelves make a bold statement.
Metal stands up well to water and stains while providing sturdy support. But it can show scratches over time. The right metal shelves lend kitchens a hint of urban chic appeal.
Delicate Glass Shelves
Glass shelves maintain an airy, open feel in kitchens. Their transparent quality allows you to display items while still seeing the wall behind. Glass shelves illuminate spaces and prevent a cluttered look.
Tempered glass shelves come in various tints like smoke or bronze. But they require gentler handling than wood or metal. Use glass shelves to show off glassware, cookbooks or decorative objects in sophisticated style.
Stylish Shelf Designs for Kitchen Walls
Kitchen wall shelves range from basic designs to architectural statements. Floating shelves, corner shelves and ledge shelves each maximize space uniquely. Choose a style aligned with your kitchen's existing layout and decor.
Sleek Floating Shelves
Floating shelves make a contemporary statement and are easy to install directly on walls. Their bracketless look creates the illusion of shelves mysteriously "floating."
Floating shelves work in any kitchen, modern to traditional. Varied lengths, depths and finishes like wood or metal allow customized storage. Keep floating shelves slender to prevent sagging.
Built-In Ledge Shelves
Ledge shelves provide a seamless, built-in look when installed across entire walls. Running ledges maintain a streamlined aesthetic for open concept kitchens.
Mix floating shelves with long ledges for contrast. Or, install ledges at staggered heights or alternate materials. Ledge shelves maximize space and display abilities.
Take advantage of wasted space in corners with angled corner shelves. Corner shelves utilize awkward, tight spots and have an architectural feel.
Curved corner shelves soften the edge. Display cookbooks, plants or decor on corner shelves that would otherwise collect dust in corners.
Wall shelves make excellent use of vertical real estate in your kitchen. Choose shelves in your preferred material and style to store, organize and show off your favorite kitchen belongings.