We’re into Week 4 of our 6 week kitchen makeover for the One Room Challenge. This week we’re adding some open shelving. Whenever anyone walks into our kitchen, the first comment we get is usually get is “Wow, that’s a lot of cabinets” and to be fair, they’re not wrong. We do have a lot of cabinets.

In fact, when our kitchen was originally delivered from IKEA, it came in 376 boxes. That isn’t an exaggeration.

So while the space is clearly not lacking for storage, what it does lack is any place for us to display anything – pretty dishes, wine glasses, etc.  To rectify that, we built some open shelving boxes to mount below our cabinets.

The plan:

Kitchen Elevation showing open storage boxes

Similar to our media wall console, we built the boxes out of 3/4″ plywood that is laminated to give it an 1 1/2″ thickness and then finished the raw edges. The finished plywood edge will help give the boxes a bit of the industrial look we’re going for.

Laminated plywood

The finished plywood edge on our DIY media wall console

Close up of the finished plywood edge on our DIY open shelving boxes

Kes also routed channels into the boxes which will be used to recess some LED strip lighting. This will allow us to backlight the inside of the boxes as well as provide some under-cabinet lighting for the space.

Routed channel in the open shelving box for recessed LED lighting

The boxes are assembled and ready to go. Now we just have to stain them & get them installed.

Sanding our DIY open shelving boxes

Before we go, lets check in with our overall to-do list for the kitchen.

The to-do list:

• Source backsplash tile options
• Research countertop options
• Research sink options
• Source electrical work
• Choose countertop
• Finalize lighting choices
• Paint window wall frames
• Update electrical for island pendants
• Wire island for outlets & bar fridge
• Purchase bar stools
• Build & mount open shelving
• Install under cabinet lighting
• Replace window/door trim
• Purchase bar fridge
• Purchase backsplash tile
• Install sink
• Have countertops cut & installed
• Install backsplash
• Install new faucet
• Install pendant lights
• Install wall sconces
• Style & accessorize

That’s it for this week! What do you think?  Are you digging our open storage boxes or do they seem like overkill?

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