I think replacing cabs with shelving is a trend - that doesn't mean all trends are bad, per se, I am sure at one point having a microwave was seen as the "new, trendy thing". In this kitchen's case there are still cabinets - this is just sort of a feature wall, and I agree with Stephanie that upper cabs here would have been very heavy-looking. Kitchens have always had shelves (see the vintage thread) but the doing-away with all upper cabs might be something that looks very dated at some point.

Then again, I think people are going to be thinking our generation was nuts tearing down all these walls and making kitchen visible from the living room. Our kids will be inheriting our kitchens and framing out new walls to hide them (ducking tomatoes being thrown at me lol).

We deserve to be happy in the moment, I guess is what I am saying. There is no perfect kitchen that will never need updating.

Been seeing a lot about chalkboard backsplashes lately. The more I see them, the more I think I may do that. It's cheap, and I love the function. Plus, it'll be easy to clean. Seriously contemplating it. Especially since after picking everything for this remodel I'm truly OVER picking out options.

We went to The Tile Shop to see our options for our back splash. We took home samples Snow glass subway tile and the Tile Shop guy thought it would look nice to have the white tile with a accent of 3 or 4 rows of something like this tile below. It is blacks, grays and stainless... thoughts?

We have BM Gray Owl for the walls, White Dove for the trim and door and Rumba Orange for the accent wall.

Gray Owl 2137-60 Paint · More Info

Rumba Orange, Benjamin Moore · More Info

Benjamin Moore White Dove OC-17 · More Info

l like the tile and the colors!

I like that colour scheme.

Wow! I would have to be in total love with it for that price. How many sq ft do you need? I did white subway tile because I liked it and it was cheap. If I were doing my "dream" kitchen I would have done the crackle tile in a blue or green. So pretty!

What about white ceramic tiles with some orange accent tiles?

Yes I am paying $18/sf amount for my glass tile! But we looove it and we are only doing 18 square feet - plus we are paying for an installer and $cha ching$ there too, makes it more like $50/sf after install and taxes. We decided to only do our main feature wall behind the stove and just paint the rest as a compromise.

Ceramic subway is lovely too!

I am in Canada - a local tile store. The glass subway was only half that, I ordered a fancy tile. Have you checked out tilebar? Free samples, and a lot of glass for $15/sf.

Has anyone had good experiences with ordering tile online? I just looked at Tilebar and wow! they have some beautiful tile!

Sushi 1/2� X 2� Polished Glass Tiles In Brick Pattern · More Info

I would love a few rows of this for an accent!

Now that is some colorful tile! Maybe you can splurge on a few of those and fill in with less expensive tile. Pretty!

Do you know what you are going to store there? Glass storage containers? Do you have them yet? You could measure them and adjust the size of the shelves to fit.

I would not tile that wall. I would be inclined to put a spectacular painted glass backsplash...with a series of staggered shelves, if I had a reason for putting something on thos shelves...

Ooops, cross-posting.

My shelves are 5.5" deep and 8.5" between the shelves. Plenty of room for my quart size mason jars with room to spare.

I think if you are storing pantry items, you don't want it to be too deep anyway, think larger jars in the back and maybe a second row of jars in the from, max. Could get away with 8" or less. I was worried my DR uppers were going to be too "loomy" and they ended up not being obstrusive at all.

Is it just me or...I feel like the general size is out of scale - like they should have a bit more "height presence", in order to balance with the lower cabs. Would you consider making them a bit taller?

Re: tilebar - try ordering some samples and see if you like the process. They sent me a mad ton of samples. I ended up not going with them b/c I am in Canada and the %&$* border people opened the samples up and then didn't wrap them back tightly so a few broke jangling around on the rest of the trip. Thanks, dumwads! I knew I would never trust them with an expensive order. That wouldn't happen domestically in the US. But the quality of what arrived was good and true to what was depicted.

So I am driving my husband mad with this and I need a game plan fast. So tell me what your thoughts are on this....

What If I do a few boxes, up higher and a little deeper so I can store serving and mixing bowls on them. They could be all the same size or different sizes. I'm not sure how high up they should be, but you can see where the wall ends and opens up to the living room to the right of the wall. The top of the box could line up with that or even higher and have the bottom of the boxes line up with it. Then have narrow shelves on the wall, under the boxes, for storing my pastas, grains, baking items, and coffee stuff. Maybe I could stagger them and have stuff organized by shelf. The boxes and shelves could all be staggered and have a more "modular" look as well. I was up very late looking for photos that combined the two and represented what is in my head, but no luck. I do like the thought of having bars and hooks to hang coffee mugs, cutting boards, measuring stuff, etc. I was trying to keep in very clean and simple, but I think what I was ending up with was more symmetrical lines that I am afraid will feel cold and boring, and not as functional as I need it to be. I guess that is why gravitate toward Ikea, because I need lots of function in little space. My stumbling block has been where the studs are located and not wanting my glass jars and dutch oven to rely on anchors. If I don't have the boxes or shelves run the exact length of the counter, then I can just use the studs and fill in with decorative fun stuff. Not sure if I am making any sense. I don't see what's in my head on Houzz or Pinterest, so I doubt myself!

I am hoping to put in an order for samples this weekend from tilebar.com. I really like the Sushi, but worry it will be too much, even just an accent of it. But with one wall in the room being that bright and everything else black, white and gray, maybe it will be too flashy. Their website has so many I like, I'll have to narrow it down to just a few!

I think I only want our final shelves to be 4" deep. The biggest items on them are the quart mason jars and 4" would be plenty deep enough. Just thought I would add that if depth is a concern. Of course, I don't know what all else you might want to store on them so that may not be helpful.

Have the shelves been built yet? If so, how about propping them up on the wall with some 4x4's, 3 or 4 of them with smooth, level cuts, should be able to prop the shelf up to give you a visual on how they look prior to putting holes in your walls to hang them. You could even paint the 4x4's the same color as the wall so they blend in and don't draw the eye while deciding. If you do this, I suggest cutting them longer so the shelf sits higher and then shaving off an inch or two for each test. Take a photo of the shelves set at different heights. Make sure you record the height to go along with the photo. If the shelves are visible from other angles besides head-on, take photos from these angles as well.

I thought about doing something like this, but not this many. Just an example of varying the size of the boxes and mixing it with regular shelves. But I am not seeing any examples of what I envision. My husband doesn't like it one bit. He is very much into symmetrical and long clean lines. I am about ready to go to Home Depot to buy brackets and just center some shelves over the the center of the cabinet and be done.

This was his interpretation of what I was talking about. He said we could attach a bar across to hang mugs and such from.

I think that's a great idea. And I wouldn't worry about them being shallow, they'll be perfect for your glass storage containers and will be easier to keep tidy.

That seems a little more to scale (although I know what you mean about long clean lines too). The mug bar makes sense in this context too. If you could float a little space between the upper boxes and lower boxes to let them "breathe" what would you think?

This photo is not really useful at all, but I liked it lol.

Contemporary Eco Kitchen in the Cotswolds · More Info

PS I agree it's hard to find pictures, I feel like I know what you are going for but I can't find examples!

PPS - do you need Valje?

My husband did what he does best. When I am out of ideas or completely frustrated, he rallies and pulls it off. He finally understood what I was going for, which is a blend of open box style shelves and functional wall storage shelves. Like these photos

small bright kitchen · More Info

and this...

Viola Park Kitchen System · More Info

and eventually he came up with this...

only the stacked shelves go up one cube higher. They will attach to each other for extra support, all be on studs and the two long shelves will be open ended. Phew, I still don't know if I am explaining it right!

I like your new set of photo examples. And this latest painters tape design too. Maybe someone could make exactly what you are looking for? I am still trying to decide too. Since it's just shelving, If it goes up and you really hate it, you could do something else. Maybe that will make the process less stressful? Sometimes I stress out less if I know something doesn't have to be permanent :)

Cool! I like the asymmetry - it's way more architectural.

So I just got samples from Tilebar.com. Super fast and really nice looking tile. It's going to be hard to decide!

We are still deciding between white ceramic subway tile with an accent of glass or mixed or some of these are such a good price that we could do the whole backsplash in the sheet mosaics. I can't decide. I really love the yellow/orange/red glass tiles, but the 1x2 frosted, glass and slate looking tiles are really nice. The 2x2 textured looking glass tiles are gorgeous too!

It's coming along so well! Love your backsplash tile and that accent wall color!

Before you had mentioned maybe painting the back of the shelves to match the accent wall, but what about painting the shelf itself orange? I think it would look great - warm things up and draw the eye without introducing another finish. If you stain it, are there any other wood elements in the room you can match?

I like what atomscat said. Orange would be nice and easy to change. Funny that you just posted this. I ordered a couple of shelves for a space similar to yours. Got one set in today. Not sure they work. I also bought a few very colorful plates to go the shelves if I ever find any. I am considering asking the carpenter who did the kitchen to make me shelves out of reclaimed wood.

I couldn't find shelves that were the right size and I wanted to have them secured to the studs, not anchors. My husband ended up building them for me and they turned out really good. The back is open, but I could figure out a way to paint the wall orange or put a thin painted board at the back. The stain color I was looking at is called Oriental Ginger, which has an orange tone to it. The hardwood floors in the adjoining rooms are golden oak and some of the accents in the room are bamboo. I was planing to have some warm wood tones to break up the black and white. I would probably be happy with white, wood and/or some orange. I love the orange and it's a fun color!

What if you found a cool modern wallpaper with some of that orage in it and wallpapered the back of the shelving?

maybe even using wallpaper below the shelves too as a BS?

From your reply, I think maybe my comment wasn't clear. I was suggesting painting the wood itself orange (could also do a back, but I'd leave the back the wall color and paint the shelf). If the ginger stain is close to the wall color, that could work too. My concern with a wood stain that's not close is that it's introducing another finish that doesn't relate to other things in the room. Using the orange on that wall will really tie things together. We can't see the stain color, so can't say if it will work or not.

Yes, I realized last night that since the long shelf is open ended, the back will have to be left open. So that makes it one less decision, which works for me! I'll have to decide if I want the shelves to stand out and be the focal point, which they would be if painted orange, or if I want them to blend in by painting them white and having the accessories and fun pieces to stand out more. I love the orange color, but don't want to overdo it and have it lose the desired effect.

Choosing a backsplash can be overwhelming! Here
is a great article: A
Backsplash Guide

We already completed the backsplash.

We are currently in backsplash hell... lol. Love how the kitchen has turned out thus far, but have a specific idea for the backsplash and none of the tile shops around me have what I'm trying to do. Guess it's time to hit online shops. I'm thinking a matte, extremely light beige, most likely manufactured for uniformity... subway tile. any suggestions?

Eric, you'll probably get more input if you start a new discussion. I like how your kitchen turned out. Especially the peekaboo window into the adjacent room. I don't have the skills to help you with your tile choice, sorry. Your idea sounds good to me.

Been there. I never knew picking tile could take up so much of my time. I finally decided not to decide and went with the one sample that my husband and sons liked the best. Must be good if all three liked it more than the others! It was a different look that I had envisioned, but I am very happy with the results.

We ordered samples from tilebar.com and had a great experience with them. They have lots of subway tile options - stone, glass, ceramic, etc. and lots of different sizes. 5 samples for $5, free shipping and they showed up fast. We ordered our tile and my husband installed it. We ended up with a glass tile backsplash for under $300. I never would have believed it. We lucked out and got the sheets for a really good price that we would never had found in the stores around here, even big box stores, and we got tile that was like nothing we had seen in the stores. No tax, free shipping and we bought enough sheets to give us plenty for repairs, if we should ever need them.

Stefanie, everything turned out so nice!

I love your orange feature wall and the grey owl paint is the perfect compliment.

I am going to check out tilebar. I love the glass backsplash color and cannot believe you did that for $300!

My cabinets and countertop are a very similar color to yours but not as modern.

I am unsure about the painted orange for your shelves. But I am also not sold on the white. Maybe a stain that has an 'orange' tint but is not real bright, if that makes sense.

Tell hubby he did a very very good job!

Thanks for the website suggestion, Stephanie. I'll be heading there soon.

Wow, that turned out great!

I think I looked at every tile under the sun and ended up with 4 x 16 in Alabaster. Yeah, off-white rectangles. I had to laugh at myself...