Not enough information to make a guess from that one photo.

Depends on your needs. I love shelves because I have books, pictures, vases and collectables I love to look at.

I had a house with similar pony walls but no shelves above. I really liked that look but it might be difficult for you to take off the shelves without damaging the bases. On one wall I put a large copper vase with tall spray that I changed out seasonally. The other wall had a clear large glass vase filled with seasonal items.

I think it takes a lot of discipline to style shelves in a way that doesn't look cluttered.

What are your opinions? That’s what matters here.

Shelves invite clutter, unless a person is a spectacular stager. Most of us aren’t.

Keep them.

There may not be wood flooring underneath them, so proceed with caution.

You can always remove some of the shelves and put artwork at eye level. They do create a good separation of spaces if you need two different rooms.

Always be careful of just “taking it down”.

Are the shelves serving as a room divider? How do they fit into the floor plan? Straight ahead is a door with windows. Is that the front door, or is that an enclosed porch? I see another door at the end of the hall to the outside. Is that an outside door?

What are the two rooms on each side and what kinds of activities will you be doing in each? Do you want some kind of separation or are you looking for a huge open space? Do the bottoms of these units have storage in them? Are they actually cabinets? If so, that seems great to me.

We had a house that had similar shelves with cabinet below that only faced the dining room. It depends on how open you want it. If you only want shelves on one side you could wall over the other side and build a new casing for the opening between the rooms. Our cabinets were flush with the shelves, I don't know if that makes a difference.

I like them. They create interest and act as room dividers that still make the space feel open. I'd paint them the same color as your trim.

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You could, if you like, add wainscot paneling to the bottom to make them less plain looking.

I would leave as is. Just play around it with décor.

I like them! Do you have any collections that you could display on some of those shelves that would personalize the space.

I already commented that I would leave them. But I am honestly surprised at how many people say keep them. I expected a chorus of ”dated” or ”clutter”. happy to see people still like room dividers.

Not worth the cost of removing these unless there was a real compelling reason design wise.

Once you knock it off, the frame above that touches the ceiling will also need to be addressed in addition to the floor.