Kitchen Shelves Revealed

Hi everybody!

The kitchen shelves are done.

We love it. I never thought we could get away with having shelves for our dish storage. 

I never thought they could replicate the storage we had in our old behemoth of a cabinet. 
Read my opinions about shelves here.
Read more about this project here.

The old cabinet was 48 inches wide. It had no soffit above or cabinets next to it in order to help support the weight. In my opinion it was too big and too heavy to be floating in the middle of a wall.

Once the cabinet was removed, I was able to see exactly what caused this. It looked like the cabinet sides and front were pulling away from the back. If the side and doors had given way there would have been nothing supporting the shelves and they would have crashed to the floor. 

At first I was sad this happened to the cabinet we just painted less than two years ago but Bill immediately commented that he loved how open the kitchen looks.

He loves feeling like he is not going to get bonked in the head with a cabinet door that someone (me) has left open. 
Ouch!

The Behemoth provided tons of storage but I was able to relocate all of the old and antique glassware to the dining room. 

We needed storage for the remaining glasses, bowls and several sizes of plates. Random jars got recycled or moved to the laundry room. 
How many empty Prego jars does one person need? 

The shelves looked oddly unfinished so a trip back to Pinterest revealed that a board in between the brackets helped make everything look balanced and complete.

Every crack and crevice got a bead of caulk and a coat of Dover White Semigloss Enamel from Sherwin Williams. I had enough leftover from painting the cabinets.

I love this color. It reads white but isn't stark. 

These took two days to dry completely. 

They look a little too glossy but the shine will diminish over time as the enamel dries and cures.

The top shelf is for stuff we never use. 
I can't reach it so therefore it isn't practical for every day but the room looked odd without it. 

I thought maybe the shelves would bother me as the dish supply became depleted 
in-between the cycles of the dish washer. 

No. 

I love it full and in various stages of depletion.

We ordered a few more white plates and bowls from Replacements Ltd.  

Bill did say that he wasn't sure this would be a viable option if we still had kids at home. 
I don't know, but so far this is working for the two of us. 
Everything has a place and nothing extra is getting set on the shelves.
This wasn't a very expensive fix.
The total cost for the brackets and the boards was less than $80.00.

I love it!
Have a great day.
Katie   
Linking with,
French Country Cottage   
The Scoop 
Savvy Southern Style
A Stroll Thru Life   
From My Front Porch to Yours

Dish Storage/Open Shelving

Good Afternoon!

We have dish storage.

I told you about our sad builder basic kitchen cabinet that was beginning to fall apart. 

It is hard to believe that ginormous thing was able to hang there but it's gone now. 

I kept the doors and hopefully we can repurpose them. 

I patched the texture on the wall with a combination of mud, paint and sand. This is what we used in '98 but back then, it came premixed.  

It creates a stucco look that has had amazing longevity. 

The wall needed to be touched up. 
Sadly, there was no original wallpaper back there. 
It would have been very time capsule-ish.  
This color is Kilim Beige by Sherwin Williams. It's the very pretty, buttery color my sister-in-law used it at their lake house. 
After pinning a ton of ideas,I headed up to Home Depot to get brackets and boards. 
I chose the same brackets used on this blog.

These brackets were a bear to hang.

They were very difficult to get level. Even creating a template of the back of the bracket didn't prove successful. I was very frustrated and tired by the time they were up I felt like a bear. 

I was exhausted and only did two shelves. 
You know when you work hard on something and then you're underwhelmed?

Well, that's what happened. Bill seemed underwhelmed too. 

He thought the bottom shelf was okay but the top shelf was a waste because it was staged with decorative stuff instead of dishes we need.
"What do we need that cow up there for?"
Um please?

"There have to be a few decorative things up there or it will look bad." 
FYI: Cow pitchers annoy spouses almost as much as pillows. 

These shelves were securely on the wall but it just didn't feel like it. 

So the peace of mind I expected with them didn't come. Dishes smashed all over the floor kept flashing around my brain. 
Dog gone it, Google!
The next morning after coffee, I got to work on the third shelf.

Notice the little cow pitcher got moved to the top shelf. 

A near disaster with a vent pipe from the sink was averted. 

Thank heavens the plumber was here installing a toilet. 

 Now it's in balance with the other cabinets and the vent hood. The decorative stuff we never use can go up on the third shelf.

These seemed a little insecure and bland so they got tweaked again yesterday morning. 

I added a board under each shelf to brace the units. 

Now they feel secure. 

The brace is drilled into the studs and the shelf is drilled down into the brace. 

The boards were reclaimed from another project that I did 20 years ago. I like the contrast of the natural boards and the white. 

But as I said on instagram, "It's fun for now because I'm too tired to paint."

About the time it was finished, Bill sent this text.
"Hope you're done "wreaking-renovating" our house and taking it easy!
I was.
This project was not on the agenda for this summer. 
I was missing the cabinet but this is cute and will be fun to style for the holidays.

Talk to you soon,
Katie  
I like to party at,
French Country Cottage    
A Stroll Thru Life  
Coastal Charm
 The Scoop  
Inspire Me Monday   
Savvy Southern Style