07/03/2021
OPEN, BACKLESS CABINETS
How to Make Your Kitchen Beautiful with Pretty Cabinet Details.
Introducing some open, backless cabinetry into a kitchen breaks up the monotony of cabinet boxes hanging on the wall and allows you to introduce more visual continuity with your backsplash tile.
Let’s face it, open shelves look fabulous, but we’re not all cut out for it. I know we see it regularly on Pinterest and Instagram, but I’ve yet to have a client really follow through with the open-shelves thing. Sometimes we start out with it on a plan, but usually, the anxiety of maintaining the look of it outweighs the prettiness factor.
So if you’re planning your new kitchen and you find yourself doing the same internal debating about open shelves vs. open cabinets, then consider the idea of an open, backless cabinet as a compromise.
I think this is a natural companion to the open shelves trend because it maintains a similar light & airy feel. I also really love that it carries the pattern or texture of your backsplash tile up the wall, which brings a lot of continuity to the room. No more “a row of solid boxes hung on the wall” look!
The other really cool thing about this idea is that it can offer you an “out” down the road if you tire of having everything on constant display. You’ll just need to order a set of doors for those particular units, and you’ll be back to stashing whatever you want in there in no time.
The key to this look is to have a beautiful backsplash tile that you don’t mind seeing A LOT of. The marble subway tile in the image above works great because it gives texture and pattern while still being a very neutral backdrop to all of the pretty little things on display. I recommend that you stick with a backsplash tile with a simple pattern & color. Although a dramatic tile may look great, it will be difficult to style the shelves without the whole thing looking too busy.