Time for the next installment of dreaming about the kitchen! And on to what may be the biggest issue. If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you know I am obsessed with open shelving in the kitchen. I just love it for its simplicity, its relaxed feel, for how it can expand a room, for how it allows for pretty display.


My man is not so convinced. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that he works with kitchen cabinets every day—so the more cabinets, the better. On a very basic level, because of his business, he just doesn't understand why anyone would forgo upper cabinetry. And it's admittedly not too fair of me to ask him to ditch so much cabinetry, the material representation of his hard work and skill, when I'm asking him to build this kitchen. He'd be really happy with this traditional look. Beautiful details! How can I argue with that?


But maybe we can find something in the middle? We're definitely going to want to compromise so we're both happy with and proud of the end result, but it's a small kitchen, so finding the balance between open and closed cabinetry could be tricky. Here's one idea I've noticed recently, with a pair of cabinets flanking an open shelf over a sink or range. That gets me a little openness and display area and him a few closed uppers.