In a recent article on controversial kitchen choices at Apartment Therapy, a reader quiz revealed a 2/3 to 1/3 split on open shelving, most readers preferring closed cabinet doors to open shelving in kitchens.
What are the pros and cons" With closed upper cabinets, the kitchen can look visually cleaner and more cohesive. Closed cabinets conceal disorganization, a benefit to those who don?t want to be styling their kitchen shelves every day. However upper cabinets can make a kitchen feel more cramped.
Open shelves can make a kitchen feel more airy and open. Yet it takes effort to maintain the open shelf look, not only cleaning and dusting the shelves but constantly organizing the items that live there.

 
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Personally, I love a mixture of glass and closed upper cabinets, especially when designing a kitchen for resale (see this kitchen) but I also love to add a little bit of open shelving for display (see this kitchen). Today I?m in Vegas overseeing my current kitchen remodel and the installation of the kitchen cabinets at the flip house. When designing the new kitchen cabinet plan, I opted for a mixture of cabinets and open shelves for storage and display. This kitchen design plan was for resale purposes so I took a more traditional route using upper cabinets on either side of the hood but also added two open shelves next to the sink window to give the space modern appeal as well.
 
 
 
Another option that looks very fresh is the medley of sh...