I don't think the floating shelves flanking a hood are best used as décor. I would place small plates, bowls, some oils, some spices if out of sunlight, teapot, some mugs, a bit of pottery. Things that have turnover in your household: USED a lot so they are washed or wiped off before dust/grease collect. Don't put grandma's depression glass to sit. Some grease mixed with dust is a bad combo. I don't think grease is the issue as much as dust. Get the CFM for your space that is appropriate....don't boost the CFM due to floating shelves..it's more about the size of your room overall. Make the shelves really useable with the right depth and length..positioned properly...not an excessive amount of shelving, choose a good material and this will be a great addition to your space. I personally believe when one sees pics of kitchen walls voided of cabinets that a lot of dishes are stored in drawers below counter, or a hutch or the like. Every household is different..some people also do not accumulate more than what they use for their number of people, no more, and in that case perhaps it all goes on floating shelves...and the "turnaround" is quick so no dust. I think households have ample dishes/crockery/serving ware/etc, and so other wall cupboards and/or drawers are part of the overall.

Yes, a strong exhaust fan will help. If the exhaust fan is wider than the stove it will help more. It's not just the grease from the stove but also just generally if you live in an area where dust accumulates. Where I am now the dishes would all be too dusty to use within three days. Everything would have to be washed before it's used. I have one shelf where all of my cookbooks are but I would never do open shelving for other things used during the cooking process. It would just be too much washing.

It didn't occur to me to use those shelves with items that rotate often. That may just make the floating shelves a good option. We don't have a lot of dust where we are at. I just can't stand the idea of a cupboard on only one side of the exhaust fan. I fell like it will look lopsided. Although even with the floating shelves one side will be longer than the other. I should have planned to center the stove. I don't know why it is not in the middle of that wall.

We had open shelves in our first kitchen and I liked them a lot. I agree that using them to store items that are frequently used is the trick to not needing to dust, etc.. Another possibility is a utensil bar. We had two--one on each side of a window--in our second kitchen. I like having frequently used tools,like spatulas, out for ease of use.

If you get the right shelves, the fact that they are not even lengths will not look bad. Especially compared to having a cabinet on one side. I have open shelves on either side of my cooktop and I do not have a hood. Believe it or not, the mess isn't that bad. I do tend to keep things that get used there and most of my decoration pieces are nice cookware that I also use but it hasn't bothered me. I did end up putting a sheet of copper I had lying around on the underside of the lower shelf to protect the wood. I am glad that I did that. However, you wouldn't need to use copper and could use a thin piece of stainless steel or aluminum.