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Do your upper kitchen cabinets have glass panels? If they do, you are no stranger to the struggle of arranging things inside them so that they are beautiful and practical.
How to style glass kitchen cabinets is the struggle of every kitchen owner who has some. Visitors spot them from the first moment they walk into the kitchen. This is why glass cabinets always have to be clean and beautiful.
Which items to put inside? The choice behind glass doors can be overwhelming. You can store your cups, glasses, plates, baking utensils, or even purely decorative items. Whatever the decorative items may be, make sure they are well organized and arranged in a way that displays no clutter or mess.
Keep in mind that the way you style glass kitchen cabinets will dictate the entire look of the kitchen. For the best results, check our tips on how to style glass kitchen cabinets.
Learn how to style glass kitchen cabinets in a few simple steps
Here comes our step-by-step guide to the perfect glass front kitchen cabinets.
Pick the best colors
Image source: Amy Kartheiser Design
A place with a cohesive feel requires a well-balanced color palette. While there is not much to do in a white kitchen with glass doors, you can still complement the looks with colorful kitchen decor and fancy furniture.
Luckily, some simple tricks can help you do this. Select cohesive colors that work well together, and arrange items accordingly. This doesn’t refer only to the dishes you will display. It also concerns your walls, dining chairs, light fixtures, rugs, and all other items in your beautiful kitchen. You can even consider a playful arrangement of imperfect plates in different sizes to make the cabinets look even better.
There is no rule to as how many colors you should choose, but a good way to go would be two or three. Wooden cabinets with glass doors, for instance, work the best with white dishes and black appliances.
Which colors you match is completely up to you, as long as you preserve the overall flow of the kitchen. Also, pay attention to textures and patterns, and good results will be guaranteed.
As mentioned before, you don’t necessarily need items to be identical – imperfect kitchen decor looks even more natural and homey.
If you find the color palette plain and minimalist, try out colorful dishware. ´White dishes inside white cabinets may look clean and organized, but they can become boring over time.
Here are a few tips that can help you: If you intend to bring the summer months feeling inside your kitchen, hang some blue curtains. You can then match them with white and blue dishes, and the result will be amazing.
Make sure you have an even amount of every color you decided to use. Kitchens are normally small, so try to use lighter colors to optimize the space. For instance, if the bowls are black, you don’t necessarily need black plates to match them.
Don’t forget function
Image source: Kimberley Harrison Interiors
Kitchens are not only supposed to be beautiful but also to serve a function. Where your items are placed will be decisive to as whether you are working in a functional environment. This may not matter to you that much at this stage, but it will over time.
Position your items in the right way and come up with a game plan. Think of which items you use the most, and how you could accommodate them in the right way. By doing so, you will also be able to buy all items you need in the proper quantity.
This, of course, depends only on you. Do you want to have all dishes on the left side of the sink and the glasses on the right side? Which items do you use every day?
Here comes an extra styling tip: Opt for two colors instead of one. You can get some wooden bowls and glass bowls, or both white and black plates.
Also, don’t forget to display cookbooks, preferably on higher shelves. You can stack them under smaller items to add height and attract the interest of your visitors. Cookbooks are usually colorful and beautifully designed. Thus, their place is not behind solid doors.
Keep it simple
Image source: Cynthia Bennett & Associates
This is the time to get creative, but don’t overpack your glass panel kitchen cabinets. You don’t want them to look overpack and messy since everyone will be able to see what is behind the glass doors.
When it comes to styling glass kitchen cabinets, less is more. Bulky items that don’t look that nice but are still necessary should remain in lower cabinets, ideally behind solid doors.
Even if this means you won’t use all the different colors you planned, it is worth it. Kitchens should be practical rather than well designed.
Styling glass
Image source: Brian Stevenson Construction
Glass is a decorative element on its own, and you don’t have to do much to enhance its looks.
The most important point here is to choose the appropriate glass for your kitchen. If you opt for seeded glass, the cabinet doors will be less transparent and you won’t need to worry that much about what you put inside. Seeded glass is normally handmade, and you will love its texture and the warm feeling it distributes around the kitchen.
If you want even less transparency, consider ribbed glass or wavy glass. Both perfectly distribute light.
Try these options and enhance the power of your kitchen cabinets, instead of spending hundreds of dollars on decorative items.
Stack the dishes
Image source: Millennium Cabinetry
If unsure how to style glass kitchen cabinets, try stacking the dishes.
Glass front cabinets can look just as nice with crooked mugs and bowls.
As suggested, you can stack dishes on top of the cookbooks, as this will provide enough color, height, and visual weight. For more visual contrast, try stacking decorative items and bowls on top of the other dishes.
You can even display smaller items vertically, and make sure the weight varies on all open shelves. To do that, you don’t necessarily need a built-in plate rack. Try redoing some of the items you already have.
Stay well organized
Image source: V Fine Homes
Make a plan and stick to it. If you have enough open shelves, use only one of them for each type of item. For instance, put the coffee mugs on one shelf and the wine glasses on the other. Make sure that all your plates are in one place.
This creates a feeling of cohesion and uniformity, and it is also very practical. If you do this you won’t lose time looking for a dish while you cook.
And yet, we don’t discourage you from mixing things up while decorating your glass cabinets. As long as the colors match and there is no clutter, you will have optimal results.
Create balance
Image source: Irvin Serrano
Balance is the most important feature of well-designed glass kitchen cabinets. You can ensure it is there also by selecting items in appropriate sizes.
For instance, if you jumble too many small or large objects on one side, the glass cabinets may look cluttered.
The best way to go is to match sizes appropriately, for instance, to combine clusters of smaller items with a single large object. For instance, if the glass front cabinets are divided into several parts, you can arrange your items in two mixed columns.
You can pile up stacks of differently sized plates next to each other, and decorate them with a canister or a cookbook. An oversized pitcher on the middle shelf will create a diagonal balance and will look even better. Whatever you decide here, make sure all items are visible even when the kitchen cabinets are closed.
The bottom rows of upper cabinets can be arranged similarly. For practical reasons, we would recommend you to arrange them with larger items mixed uniquely.
You can leverage the height in a way that makes viewers interested. An idea would be to place visually heavy items away from each other. The same rule applies to color – a stack of black plates placed next to a black bowl won’t attract the attention you want them to attract.
Make sure your most decorative bowl is visible
Image source: Millennium Cabinetry
Your fancy bowls and jugs can be the centerpieces of your design project, especially if they bring in fresh and unusual colors. To break things off, place them in a very visible place and make sure everyone notices them.
Avoid showcasing too many large and decorative objects in the glass cabinets, as you may use the overall balance of the kitchen.
Showcase items in columns
Image source: Masterpiece Design Group
Another great thing glass kitchen cabinets allow you to do is to arrange beautiful items in columns. If you have the space for it, a vertical arrangement will help you make use of the full potential of your kitchen.
You need to balance the items on both sides of the glass front cabinets. Failing to do so may result in an off-balance look.
Once you’ve arranged items appropriately in two columns, take the design to a whole new level. Add interest with an entire shelf of decorative items, such as large bowls or cookbooks.
Final thoughts on how to style glass kitchen cabinets to look stunning
When decorating your glass panel kitchen cabinets, don’t put dishes in the center of attention. As small as they are, they may overwhelm the room with their textures and colorful details. Instead, try picking smart items and balancing the flow, so that the room looks compact and visually interesting.
The most important tip when deciding how to style glass kitchen cabinets is to stay practical. Don’t fill up the cabinets with large items or dishes you don’t need. Moreover, don’t sacrifice function over form just because you own a glass kitchen. There are still other cabinets you can use!
Think of colors that make you feel welcomed, and items that you always wanted to display. Inform yourself of cohesive and compatible colors and textures to ensure that the overall look of the room is beautiful. A great way to make items stand out is to choose colors opposite those of the back panel of the cabinets.
If you enjoyed reading this article about how to style glass kitchen cabinets to look stunning, we also wrote about subjects like how to build an outdoor kitchen with pavers, why are kitchen cabinets so expensive, how to vent a kitchen sink under a window, and how to calculate linear feet for kitchen cabinets.
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