How I faked an open shelving look in my builder grade kitchen.
After painting the kitchen black, I still felt like my kitchen looked like a generic builders’s kitchen. I also had (and still have) some cabinets that I don’t even use, one being the cabinets above the microwave. They’re too tall for me to reach and they also hide the power cord & plug for the microwave, limiting what could go on the lower shelf.
I had read a blog post on how to make a rented apartment kitchen feel more stylish, and one of the suggestions there was to take off all the cabinet doors for an open shelving look. While I don’t think I can ever go for complete open shelving, I did like the idea of having my vintage cookbook collection and maybe some plants out in the open. So, I took the doors off for a few days just to see if I liked it.
After I took them off and decided I liked the look – I took to instagram to croudsource ideas. Should I paint the back of the cabinets black so it looks like the wall? (Amateur “photoshop” using the instagram color picker tool below)
I loved the idea of the black walls, but in my mind, it just didn’t work because there were still tops to the cabinets. A friend of mine went above and beyond and suggested tiling the back to match my backsplash. I LOVE that idea and may do that down the road.
After about a week of decisions, I primed and painted the whole thing one day. Just like the Billy Bookcases, these are “cheap” builder grade cabinets made of veneer/particle board and you cannot skip priming. I used Kilz primer but any oil-based primer will do.
I did two coats of Kilz primer and one top coat of Sherwin Williams Pure White (this is the color of my trim and also the one I used on my bookcases). I love that I have a little display nook now. Currently featuring my vintage Richmond, VA FFV Cookie Factory Tin, my collection of vintage cookbooks, and my antique “edible birdnests” crock. What do you think?!
