Well, I guess I'm in the minority camp that not only thinks it doesn't look so "off" (in fact, with the color of the walls and soffit, it looks intentional and, by the photo alone -- "ok' to me), but also, if the look really leaves you uneasy, then I would suggest the glass shelves. Somehow, the idea of edgebanding alone seems like only a partial fix. Wouldn't the eye then be drawn to the contrast between the lighter shelf and its now darker edge?
I'd go with painting as the second choice fix, although admittedly, that would probably be considerably less expensive than the glass shelves.

Btw, Boysrus2, your hutch looks great! Can you please share what kind of lighting system you have for the interiors? Thanks!

I like the photo shop pic with the dark edges. The light interior is a personal decision and don't change it if you like it. I think Morton5's edgebanding solution is practical and economical.
What are your knobs and handles? They are perfect for you cabinets. I'm hoping they might be perfect for mine. :)

Looking at it again, seeing the photoshop re-do etc. I agree, the interiors are fine, in fact very nice, it is the shelves that could be re-done to march the cabs. I had initially thought it all needed to be done but I was mistaken, in fact, if the shelves are darkened the lighter interiors will be quite lovely. I think this fix over glass shelves would be excellent:) Good luck, you are close to perfection.

I don't like the dark stripes any better than the light. Boysrus2's glass looks great, but not contemporary. Any chance of trimming the shelves so they aren't right up against the glass? Not sure, but I thought pulling them back a half inch might help.

The deluge of advice continues...

I think glass shelves can definitely look contemporary. I have them in my horizontal cabs, which by the way are espresso with a white interior, and frosted glass.

If you live near an Ikea, and your cabs are standard sizes, you may be able to use Ikea's tempered glass shelves. They come in sizes for cabs of the following widths: 15", 18", 24", 30", and 36". Subtract 1 1/2" for the width of the shelf-- but that is a rough guide, actual measurements may be off a fraction of an inch, so you will want to measure for your particular application. A two-pack of 36" shelves costs $24, so they are very economical.

Looks to me like the cab you posted might be 21", though :( .

The easiest, least expensive way to make them disappear is with paint. Use a color that is half again as dark as the interior color, just on the front edges. If the interior is white, use a medium grey. If you don't like it......you still have ALL of the other options. To try it out. Paint a length of masking tape and put it on. If you want to get more complicated, you can purchase very small cans of black (or brown) and white melamine paint and mix them yourself in very small batches of different intensities. Start with the white in a separate container and add the black to it. If it doesn't get dark enough for your taste, add the white to the black. Remember that you will only need an ounce or so to paint the edges. Good luck.

Morton, you are right....I was looking for a bit more contemporary. I used some paper to mock up darker shelves and they still bother me.

Josie, thanks for the photoshop pic! See, I think the prominence of the shelves still bugs me a bit.

Boysrus, that is one gorgeous hutch! I love your glass. It looks like you're using it for decorative things....mine is for all my everyday stuff. A few hundred is not so bad, but multiply it times four for me. Getting worse....

Charlikin, I am also short, so if those shelves are eveny spaced, I lose access to half of them. :( Here's a pic of the other side where the shelves are evenly spaced. Does this look significantly better? (And thanks for the compliments!)

Raehelen, I do think I will get used to it over time, just like I don't see the spaghetti mess of wires under the computer desk anymore. Dumb confession....I don't want to have something that looks "just wrong" to everyone else. I think your stained glass sounds marvelous and think the lighter interior may reflect more light back so that you'll the the art better. JMO.

Martha, you're invited to dinner any time! :-) I agree that the dark edge will be too contrasty to solve the problem. I am beginning to think that I should add more frosting to the insides of the glass...

Owls, the knobs are RH Adeline and the pulls are RH Bistro 8", both in Satin Nickel. I heard the later were being discontinued. I have a bunch of extras I still haven't returned if you need some! The appliance pulls are Liberty Colossus Blueprint. (That's the DW on the left.)

MissO, thanks for stopping in again with fresh eyes.

Rhome you are brilliant! There is nothing else I can say! I'm going to go pull a door off and see where the edge disappears....

I think the light shelves look fine and, in fact, based on the photoshop of the dark shelves, I think I prefer the light color. It looks very clean and contemporary to me.

But based on the different opinions you are getting, I don't think there is a "right" way and a "wrong" way to do it.

Either way, it is not a disaster. The shelves can easily be replaced.

I would wait a bit though because sometimes something seems very jarring when new, and then you get used to it and like it.

For instance, I have never really liked full granite backsplashes. But we had extra granite, and I loved the granite, so we used it for my butler's pantry. When it first went in, I hated it and so did my husband, so much so that we seriously considered pulling it out and getting a different backsplash. It just felt so jarring and over the top to me.

Now, I absolutely love it, it is one of my very favorite things in my kitchen.

Live with for a while, see how it feels when the cabinets actually have stuff in them,and then fix it if you don't love it.

I actually like the light, and though just a subtle difference, the even spacing does somehow make it look all the better. Live with it for a while. I like that you were willing to try something different.

Amy, you still have a few more options left....if the glass front bothers you can have new solid doors ordered. The door fronts only shouldn't be too expensive. But I have to say, I really like the glass fronts. You can also tint the inside of the glass, so it won't be so see through, and the shelves may not be as noticable. Lastly you could see how chrome shelves might look. That may solve your problem of the shelves being durable for everyday dishes.

BTW Boysrus, that is one beautiful hutch.

Oh amysrq -- I just love love LOVE seeing more of your fabulous home! If your name is on a post I'm reading it.

In our dining room we had bookcases built; they are the same color as the walls and ceiling (a really dark raisin). In theory it's lovely and if we used the bookcases for just books they'd be superb (because the colors of the spines would be the stand-out), however we have just a few books in there -- it's mostly display for tchotchkes / souvenirs, and they are lost in the dark interior.

The bookshelves do have puck lights (at the top) and the shelves are safety glass and I think able to hold 200lbs. (We didn't need them to support so much -- it was a misunderstanding between the glass man and me: I was calling them bookshelves, so he wanted the glass able to support all books.) So absolutely you could have glass shelves strong enough to support your dishes.

Anyway, this is my (long-winded) way of saying I think you were right to go with the lighter interior, esp. if you're thinking of one day painting. I absolutely understand live_wire_oak's point and think that would look stunning but, in my mind's eye at least, if the interior of your cabs were also dark it would defeat your purpose (of trying to lighten up).

But what about the suggestion of painting the interiors the famous Amy Red?

I appreciate the height issues, Amy. :-) I do think the evenly spaced shelves look significantly better, though.

I love the idea of making the glass more frosted/opaque. And maybe also of trimming the depth of the shelves a bit so the edge isn't quite so up against the glass. I think the combination of these two things might do the trick. (Uh, really the combination of these three things - you know, that evening up the shelves thing. ;-))

The people on this forum are so creative and generous with their ideas!

Amy - I think the color of the your existing shelves looks fine. It seems to be less noticeable (the lighter interior) in the 2nd photo you submitted with just the 2 glass cabinets than your first photo because you have 2 glass doors next to that dark solid cabinet door. But I bet when you look at your kitchen as a whole - the shelves would all look fine with the lighter interior.

If anything - switch out the solid door with glass!!! : )

I like the lighter interior but would replace the shelves with Glass. You can get custom glass shelves for about $20 a piece if the Ikea ones can't work for you. I think with glass shelves, the uneven spacing would not be a problem and you will have light shining down from the top all the way to the bottom of the cabinet with glass shelves.

Good luck!

I think it's fine as is, but since you don't, why not simply cover the edges with black electric tape, live with it a few days, see how it feels?

If you decide you want them permanently dark, use an iron on oak veneer, stained jacobean or espresso [haven't actually seen a stain called 'expresso', but you could do a dark stain, then a thin coat of watered down black-- would get pretty close to the cab color].

Wow! Everyone! Morton, you are right, a deluge of help. I mostly lurk here (regular on Home Dec)....you guys are amazing. Thank you to all!

Well, I was just at Ikea yesterday, can you imagine? It is a two hour drive, but I am resigned to the schlep for the time being. I never seem to have enough bookcases. (Just bought four more yesterday.) The cabinets are 24" and 36" so that might just work. Gyad....wouldn't that be great...

jjazz, I used colored paper to mock it up....still too obvious. I am feeling like more frosting or glass shelves is the answer. I don't really want more wood. Even though this is a wicked sunny space, I am attached to the look and idea of glass.

Josie, jeannie and gam, I think I will "live with it" at least until the next pilgrimage to Ikea.

Oh, and rhome, I wanted to tell you that the shelves can only be cut back 3/4" because of the brackets. (Yeah, I could drill more holes for the brackets...but we're just not feeling handy these days.) Combined with a bit more frosting, it might soften the look enough for my liking. May or may not be more cost effective than the new shelves if I can get them at Ikea.

RMK, you are so sweet to say such nice things about my McCottage. ;-) I wish I had the guts to paint them red. Do you think they'd turn pink with the etched glass? Scaaarry!

Charlikin, I actually had moved some of my dishes to a low open shelf in the adjacent breakfast room. Maybe I could move a few more of my daily dishes to that more accessible location.

Homepro and Downsy, thanks for the thumbs up, too. Homepro, I am heartened to hear that glass may only be $20. I haven't priced it yet. I need 12 shelves....maybe more if I decide to distribute the load some.

I am going to go measure for the Ikea glass now.... Really, a big thank you to everyone here!

Hey amy -- waving -- We have glass shelves in the laundry/pantry with Ikea aluminum frame doors (not as nice as your dark rich wood) but if someone 'shopped and thickened the frames it might give you a better idea.

Pro on the glass: you're short so you can see up and through to what's there. Con on the glass: constantly scary as I keep the auction china (old photo here) in there and it's heavy also I worry about chipping the shelves putting things in and out. I don't use these every day and I would find them too delicate for that (though others clearly don't and you might not).

For 36" I'd go with wood unless it was strictly glassware storage or lightweight items.

The pale shelves in the dark cabinet don't bother me. They have a nice contrast-y contemporary look which fits with the kitchen.

I feel it would be totally resolved with the right backsplash which will even things out and pull the eye away from the lightness there. Until that's worked out I wouldn't touch them.

I wouldn't have wanted you to have to trim them back much more than that anyway, since then you'd end up losing function.

Oruboris, I didn't know iron-on veneer existed until today. I could have some fun with that. Thanks.

Rococo, love that laundry room! Interesting idea to sit tight until the backsplash decision has been made. I wouldn't turn down an opinion on that if you were to offer it, btw. (I have a separate thread started...)

rhome, I though of that too....functionality again. But I also realized that most of my dishes could overhang the edge.

I measured for the Ikea glass. I might be able to get them to fit using Vaseline. Not looking good for that one. Oh well, the traffic from New Haven was ghastly yesterday and I don't relish going back anyway.

I don't know if the glass shelves for IKEA's kitchen cabinets are different from the glass shelves IKEA sells for its Billy bookcases ... I hope so, because we had IKEA glass shelves in our Billy bookcase. The memory of those shelves (purchased in 2002, so maybe things have changed) doesn't make me feel good about frequent-use. They held our tchotchkes just fine, but when I think of the weight of a stack of dishes and the daily in-and-out, in-and-out, well, I guess the nervous nellie in me says "no." (Have you seen that show Little Britain? My first thought was to write "computer says no": if you've seen the show that joke will make sense, otherwise "computer says no.")

As you may already know pink is my all-time favorite color and I am a sucker for it (Betsey Johnson's my pink-twin) -- hot pink dashed with raspberry is my absolute favorite! So I kinda like the idea of a hot pink cabinet interior ... however I was thinking of you and your red, and I didn't even think of the frosted glass casting a white glow. That would be really disappointing!

Next time you're at IKEA do look at their glass. My fingers are crossed it'll be thick enough to provide mental comfort.

Haven't seen the other thread but I did have a passing thought based on the cabinet. But before I venture I'd love to see pics of the whole kitchen a closeup of color counters. You got? No sense in suggesting something if you're moving in another direction.

Ikea glass is surprisingly strong -- it's holding 30-40 plates but I'm very, very careful putting things in and out.
Also, I'd check on the lip of the current and be sure it's not going to chip easily.

My ikea glass shelves are very strong and hold a lot of places and there is no visible flexing.

Good luck!

The interior color doesn't bother me -- it might if you changed the wall color. If you cut the shelves back a little it would soften them -- like the dishes that sit back a bit.

If you decide to get glass, you don't have to order them from the cabinet company. I ordered mine with wood shelves and then went to a glass shop to get the glass ones cut -- because I thought the wood was a bit too heavy. I got 6 shelves for a 15 x 15" cabinet for about $100. They price by the square foot, so it gives you an idea. I suspect they would suggest a thicker glass for the 36" cabinet -- or a center support.

If you do go with glass you can use some of that ribbed, clear shelf liner on it, to cushion the clatter. The shelf liner is available at Target.

If you have shelves made, please get tempered glass for safety.

I'm really in the minority (out with live wire again) :OP

I really don't like them at all with the light interiors. I think it sort of looks like you forgot to get them stained...sorry, but if I were wandering in to buy your house that issue would say to me "Cheap" even tough it's obvious you haven't gone cheap...really it's a lovely space, but unstained (matched) interiors are cheaper and often that's why people don't change them.
I think they'd be KILLER in red (it seems to be an accent color you like). I'd paint those puppies in a new york min in a fabulous red. It will provide the brightness you were seeking and give you a very high end...thought about every little thing..kind of look :) And your dishes will look wonderful. I'm so excited about it I want to find some to do mine with LOL Red red red....hummmm where can I add that? LOL

Rococo, so as not to veer off topic here, I will give you a link to the other thread below. If you have the time to look at it, that would be great.

Glad to hear from so many that the Ikea cabinet glass is confidence-inspiring. If it doesn't fit, I will get my local glass shop to help me out. They are really great and I know they won't steer me wrong if I go that route.

Here is a link that might be useful: Here's the backsplash thread

Morton wrote:
**If you live near an Ikea, and your cabs are standard sizes, you may be able to use Ikea's tempered glass shelves. They come in sizes for cabs of the following widths: 15", 18", 24", 30", and 36". Subtract 1 1/2" for the width of the shelf-- but that is a rough guide, actual measurements may be off a fraction of an inch, so you will want to measure for your particular application. A two-pack of 36" shelves costs $24, so they are very economical.**

I just looked at Ikea's website and could not find any packages of glass shelves, nor any in those sizes. How did I miss it?-- I searched for *glass shelves* and *glass cabinet shelves* but it didn't turn up what I need. The interior measurement of my cabinets are 19 1/2 by 10 1/2, so by your comments, I think I would need a 21-inch shelf. It's a bit of a drive to the nearest Ikea, so I'd like to see if they have what I need before I trek out there.

Regarding the OP's questions, I definitely would go with the light interior to show off the contents. Glass shelves would allow the light to flow better, but if you want wood shelves, I think the light shelves work. I think dark shelving draws more attention to them.

And yes, as someone else mentioned, the shelves look better equidistant rather than randomly spaced.

Your pale shelves don't look peculiar to me either. I don't really like the dark stained shelves because the net pattern interferes with the appearance of the door front. Wooden shelves up against the glass doors are going to stand out, full stop. Your cabinets are contemporary. The dark shelves right behind the dark framed glass doors don't provide the visual distinction between the door form and the content form, so it looks like you have one of those traditional glass doors and that just doesn't fit with the contemporary neighbours. If you don't like the look and are nervous about 1/4" thick tempered glass shelves in a 36" width (understandably, perhaps), you could get the thick glass shelves eventually - 1/2" to 3/4" or thereabouts. And of course you don't have to go to this straight away if not you're feeling froggy just yet.

And I just don't see the sense in having a dark interior (and dark shelving) with a glass door - one picks glass doors to lighten the appearance of the kitchen and with a dark background behind the glass you've just busied up the appearance of a still dark cabinet! Doesn't make any sense to me.

We have glass doors that are more opaque than your glass and don't see the shelves at all. In our case, we orderred a door that local glass company installed the glass. Another option might be to take your doors to glass company and change the glass. I think it cost us about $50/door.

Below is the link to the Ikea shelves. They don't have glass shelves in the sizes you would need. Give a local glass store a call and price the shelves for your cabinets.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Ikea Glass Shelves

You can find the Ikea glass shelves by going to their website and punching the product code number 04580000 into the "Enter Your Search Here" box in the top right hand corner.

They are not expensive. They are sold for 36 inch wide cabinets, but we are going to either double them up or order thicker glass ones for our 36 inch cabinets - not sure if they are strong enough to handle a 3 foot wide load of dishware.

Oooh, I like the idea of the red interior.

i-chic - I think we've caught each others' red fever. I've been finding myself drawn to it a lot lately. Which is odd, as red just doesn't fit our house at all.

Amyrsq, my glass shelves cost a few hundred dollars for the entire order of safety glass shelves (three 39" shelves). They were done in a couple of days from a local glass shop and are 1/4" thick.

We do use the hutch daily as all our everyday glassware is in there along with glass bowls, vases and cake pedestals. My shelves are loaded with every inch of space used, and there is no flex to the shelves. I'm completely confident that they can hold the weight. If you did want to put stacks of plates in your cabinet, place those on the bottom which is wood.

Thanks for the info and links for the Ikea shelves. Guess I'm out of luck there, but at least I didn't have to drive all the way there to find out.

;)

I suppose I missed my chance when you were asking how to install the glass, but I think that putting it in the other way (bumpy side out) will result in a bit more obscured look. If I had replied then, that would have been my suggestion. The bumps will refract the light going through the panes and also diffuse the room light at the surface making it look fuzzier. You have nothing to lose trying it. You could have someone hold a door (taken off it hinges temporarily) to test my hypothesis.
Other than that, there's nothing better than glass shelves with glass doors. I really like light interiors; they help me see what's in there when I need to.

Casey

How about experimenting with a patterned shelf liner, either for the edge of the shelf alone or for the sides and back of the cabinet too? Something in the browns and creams? Or, Home Depot sells really easy to use window liners - you could make your cabinet doors more opaque? Or cut a pattern in the window liner (I'm looking at the Effectiv workspace cabinet doors at IKEA as inspiration - the frosted glass with the flower pattern in them).

Casey, we actually did install the glass with the texture out, contrary to the general advice here. DH was pretty insistent and...well...sometimes he is right on these things.

Chloe, adding more frosting to the back sides of the glass is a possibility. I am happy, however, with the level of obscuration of the stuff, if not the shelf edges.

Boysrus, I will need six 24" shelves and six 36" shelves. I assume I am looking at somewhere between 500-1000. Lkremodel, I just spent 350 on the glass panels (Bendheim) and I wanna be done! :-)

I think I will live with this for a while....at least until the next Ikea trip.

Mindstorm thanks for weighing in. I have always appreciated your modern sensibility (as well as your interest in/knowledge about paint) and I also learned a new term today...feeling froggy. :-)

Color in the interior is a different issue from the shelves. I think a color could be great -- if that's the look you want, but the shelves would still have the same issue. if you painted the interior of the box, I think you'd need glass shelves even more than the current look.

There is no reason you have to get glass shelves right now. Give yourself some time to live with them and the budget a chance to recover a bit if you need to. Glass shelves are an easy thing to add at any time.

You don't have to get all the glass at the same time. you might even want to get one and test it to make sure it gives you the look you want.

And be prepared for more decisions -- thickness, tempered or not, greenish standard or super clear (clearer costs a fair bit more) polished edges -- front or all sides, etc.

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you had so many glass front cabinets. It is a more significant decision cost wise for you. I agree with lascatx, give yourself some more time to see if it grows on you. If not, you can change it later on down the line.

I ordered glass for a 12" cabinet that was 1/2" thick and tempered for under $70. There were five shelves. I would contact your local glass shop and get a real price. They are not that expensive and they are many times using scrap pieces of glass from shower doors.

Good luck!

lascatx, you make a very good point about using an accent color and the fact that the shelves would still be obvious. It's not like I hate the way it looks now, it just caught me off guard.

Boysrus...no worries. I just had to have lots of glass! ;-)

Homepro, the shower glass scraps is a great idea. I don;t think my local glass guy does shower doors. If I decide to try a few glass shelves, I will be sure to call some shower places for a quote as well. Thanks!

I love your cabinets. LOVE the wide drawer pulls on the lower cabs...looks like you could hang a kitchen towel, love that!

Looking at the photo, I truly love the light interior, I love the way the lighter color plays with your dishes, a dark wood stain would obliterate that.

But here is the problem: due to different variables, the shelves "read" lighter than the rest of the interior.

Look at your photo: if the shelves were a certain, SPECIFIC color, they would disappear, visually. A bit more gray would blend them into the offwhite, yellowish gray background.

If it were me, I'd head to the paint store and grab every possible paint swatch in the right color family. Cut them up and tape them to the shelf. Then stand back and see:
Which one is the winner; which one makes the shelves disappear?

Good luck, whatever you decide!

I like the light interiors with the present wall color. I think it's more of a contemporary look than dark interiors would be. I have clear glass fronts on some of my dark cherry cabinets and the shelves and interiors match the exterior stain, but it's a more traditional kitchen. Even so, the glass fronts, in virtue of being transparent and reflective, do lighten things up. So, you wouldn't lose the entire lightening-up even if you did stain the interiors dark. Still, as I said, it would make for a more traditional look if you were to darken the shelves, interiors, and shelf edges. I wish you had photos of the entire kitchen with backsplash mocked up as well. I wouldn't be a fan of red interiors. The bookcase and artwork make for the right amount. If you want more, put a couple of red pieces in the cabinets, rather than painting the edges or interiors.

Amyrsq, if you're still following this, are your cabinets custom? If so, do you have any insight about how the shop got that color?

Thanks!

Fixer, you are right about the gray paint. I did some mock-ups with gray paper and that is certainly an option. For now, I have moved on to the back splash, hoping the distraction (both mental and visual!) will help.

KitDet, don't worry, there's no way I will paint the interiors red. :) Too much of a good thing, IMO. Particularly if I go with the green tile I am headed for.

The funny thing is that this decision to have the interiors all done in a light color was intentional and well thought out -- for both aesthetic and functional reasons. Even though I specifically ordered light interiors in all the cabs, someone took it upon themselves to do a "that's the way we always do it" on my order and the glass front cabs all came in with stained dark interiors. They all went back to be rebuilt.

Plansrus, the cabinets were made by Apple Valley in CT -- not custom. It is a standard finish called Tobacco. The wood is cherry. Kind of a shame to stain cherry so dark, but I was afraid maple wouldn't take the stain as well and the decision to go so dark was sort of last minute, well after the cherry cabs had been specified and priced. The room is very bright and I do appreciate the grain of the cherry though.

Well here's another minority vote for liking the light interior as-is. It does brighten and modernize the look in a good way.

Why don't you fill up the cabinets and give it a couple weeks and then see how you feel about them? They'll have a different appearance once you get some stuff in there, particuarly if it's colored stuff. If you still don't like it, the next thing I would try is the glass shelves.

amysrq,
Nice kitchen... can you tell me what paint color you have on the walls?
Thanks,
Miss Mary

Hi MissMary,

The paint is an Ellen Kennon Full Spectrum Paint color called Amy's Sarasota Sand.

Here is a link that might be useful: EK

nice kitchen. i would change for glass because i like the light coming through.

do you have more pics of you kitchen??