Styling the Space Above Your Kitchen Cabinets

Feeling unsure about how to incorporate top of kitchen cabinet decor? You’re not alone. Even if you’re on top of all the DIY home trends and feel confident in your decorative skills, above kitchen cabinet decor can be quite the challenge! This tricky space can be a bit of a conundrum, but with a few tips and tricks, you can use the space well and make it look beautiful.

The kitchen is the hub of your household, so every square foot matters, but a lot of valuable kitchen space often goes unused. That space above your kitchen cabinets is actually valuable real estate, and the extra room between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling could be used in all kinds of ways! Whether you opt to use the space for something functional or you take the opportunity to let that space enhance your kitchen décor, it’s space well used. Anything is better than allowing storage above kitchen cabinets to just collect dust. Here’s how to decide how to use that space for yourself.

How to Decorate the Top of Kitchen Cabinets

If you have the space, incorporating top of kitchen cabinet decor can help bring the room all together. You’ve probably planned out every other part of your kitchen, ensuring it looks, feels, and functions the way you want. But then, when you look up towards the ceiling and notice that your above cabinet décor is nonexistent, it detracts from the rest of the kitchen. Take advantage of this space to add more storage and more personality, preventing the room from feeling drab.

Decorating this space is also a great way to keep the room from feeling cramped if it has a small footprint or limited storage. You don’t have to do much to take advantage of this often-overlooked kitchen area. Here’s now to decorate the top of your kitchen cabinets in a way that works with your decor and helps give you extra storage where you need it.

Decorating Ideas for Above Kitchen Cabinets

At first glance, the small gap between the cabinets and ceiling doesn’t offer much to work with, even if you have high ceiling kitchen cabinets. Fortunately, clever designers and decorators have already come up with inventive decorating ideas for above kitchen cabinets.

Whether you’re most excited about integrating stylish above kitchen cabinet décor, or you’re looking for more clever ways to make the space more functional, we’ve got you covered. Here’s what to put on top of kitchen cabinets to make the most of that space.

1. Use Baskets, Decorative Boxes, or Pretty Bins

Need more storage above your kitchen cabinets? Take anything you want to store in the kitchen, but don’t need to keep close at hand, and put it in a few baskets or decorative boxes that fit above your cabinets. You’ll gain storage space as well as hiding unsightly clutter in a beautiful way. This is a great way to store oddly shaped kitchen tools you use infrequently, or to store seasonal items like popsicle molds or holiday cookie cutters. Even better, you can find baskets, boxes, and bins in countless colors, patterns, and styles to complement and elevate your existing kitchen décor. Think realistically about how frequently you’ll dust up there when deciding whether you want storage with or without lids (we recommend lids).

2. Store Cookbooks or Recipes

If space allows, store your cookbooks (or any books really) upright along the top of the cabinets. Similar to baskets, this keeps them on hand but tucked away. Meanwhile, the spines of the books add an interesting design element to the kitchen, particularly if they wrap around most or all of the cabinets. Make sure you dust and clean them frequently, however, to ensure the books stay in good, usable shape. If you have any family cookbooks, this is a great way to display them. If you’ll be storing loose recipes or recipe cards, find a lovely recipe box to hold and organize your recipes. It’ll look beautiful next to cookbooks, plants, or anything else, and it’ll keep those recipes safe and accessible.

3. Add Art or Collectables

The space above the cabinets offers the perfect place to display art, antiques, collections, and more. Items used as top of kitchen cabinet decor are well protected sitting away from the hustle and bustle of the kitchen, which is ideal for a pottery collection or certain antiques. Still, make sure you keep things dusted and clean so they’re not damaged by kitchen residue. If you have a smaller kitchen, placing your art or collectables above the cabinets also helps to draw the eye upward, which makes the entire kitchen feel bigger. If you don’t currently have any extra art, vases, pottery, or other items that will fit, explore local art fairs or thrift stores. You can even get creative and make something of your own especially for the space!

4. Expand the Pantry

Free up some much-needed space in your existing pantry by taking interesting-looking items out and lining the tops of the cabinets. You might want to avoid cans of beans or boxes of cereal, but things like jars of olives or glass containers full of pasta fit naturally into your kitchen décor. You can also use the space above the cabinets and close to the wall, where it’s harder to see, to keep extra canned goods or provisions hidden away. Hard alcohol and certain cocktail mixers also work nicely up and out of reach, as do other pantry staples like seltzer, soda, or jams and jellies. Just be careful about storing too much weight up there or letting food sit too long and go bad.

5. Go Green

If you have a green thumb, plants are an excellent way to fill the space and incorporate kitchen cabinet decor in these small spaces. Look for plants that don’t need direct sunlight and that do okay with warmer temperatures and varying humidity. You could even try growing some herbs to use in your cooking if your kitchen has enough sunlight and space. If you don’t have a green thumb, or if you have high ceiling kitchen cabinets that make watering a little more precarious, faux plants can be just as pretty. They’re certainly a lot easier to take care of with a little dusting from time to time! Either way, choose pots that coordinate with your kitchen decor and bring some color or pattern into the space.

6. Store Large Serving Pieces

Trying to figure out where to store serving ware can be quite the challenge… unless you have space above your cabinets! In that case, all those awkwardly giant pieces like cake stands and platters and even a picnic basket suddenly have a place to live. Not only that, but they look gorgeous, too. If you have a bunch of serving pieces you only use a couple times a year, but love to look at, using them to decorate the space over your cabinets is really a win-win.

7. Let the Space Speak

Still looking for inspiration for what to put on top of kitchen cabinets? Let that area speak for you by adding decorative signs, chalkboard paint and family drawings, kid art, decorative letters, or even a family crest. It’ll make you smile every time you look up, and it’ll speak to your guests and tell them about the things that matter to you. You can change things out seasonally, or let them be the talking points of the room all year round.

8. Add Wallpaper or Paint

Not quite sure what to do with that space? Add a patterned wallpaper or a bright coat of paint above your cabinets to bring the area to life. Whether you opt for a bold floral, a faux brick, or a pop of colorful paint, you’ll be shocked by what a difference that small space can make. After that, even one or two vases or bottles above your cabinets will feel fresh and inviting, instead of spare.

9. Light It Up

If your kitchen is on the dark side, why not add more light? From small lamps to twinkle lights to uplighting, sometimes all you need to add is a bit of brightening up. Additional lighting can also help highlight beloved pieces you want to showcase in that space, or can help keep potted plants going strong. If the lighting you use is decorative too, then it’s an extra bonus!

10. Close the Space

You may even decide that above kitchen cabinet decor just isn’t working for you and that you’d rather close up that space. Closing the space above kitchen cabinets can be done in several ways. If you want some color, but need to hide some things, consider adding a small curtain. Just put some fabric you love on a tension rod to create an attractive curtain that will hide anything from large kitchen appliances to less attractive heirlooms you can’t bear to get rid of. Another option is to add more cabinets to the space, giving you more storage. This requires a professional eye, however, to ensure you install them correctly and safely. Talk to an interior decorator or cabinet maker to find out how to add additional cabinets above your existing cabinetry.

How to Prepare for Above Cabinet Decor

Now that you have plenty of ideas for how to decorate the top of kitchen cabinets, it’s time to make sure your cabinets are ready. Regardless of how you decide to utilize the space, take a few steps to get the area above the cabinets ready first. Since you probably haven’t looked above the cabinets in a while, inspect the space for any damage. While you’re up there, plan to give the tops of your cabinets and the wall a thorough cleaning. You should also measure the height and depth you have to work with, especially if you plan to buy baskets or art to fit the space. Last but not least, take some time to inspect your cabinets and cabinet doors.

If you’re unhappy with how your kitchen looks or feels, your top of kitchen cabinet décor might not be the only problem. In many cases, the bigger problem is old, outdated, or worn out cabinet doors, which are the single biggest visual design element in any kitchen. In addition to sprucing up the area above the cabinets, consider doing the same for the cabinets themselves with custom-built replacement cabinet doors. Swapping out the look you have, but don’t love, for the look you want is excitingly easy and affordable with replacement cabinet doors. Much like decorating above the cabinets, it’s the kind of savvy kitchen improvement that has a big impact without requiring a big remodel.

Cabinetdoors.com Makes Your Cabinets Better

Regardless of your above cabinet decor and styling, if your cabinets seem past their prime, Cabinetdoors.com can help. As long as the underlying frame is in good shape, you can put almost any style of cabinet door imaginable on top, from rustic to modern, minimal to ornamental, mismatched to uniform, and many more. Once you upgrade your cabinet doors, your space will look brand new, but at a fraction of the cost of a full renovation. So how do we do it?

Cabinetdoors.com custom builds each door you order to the exact dimensions you need so that it perfectly fits your current cabinets. You’ll get a custom-sized product, but you’ll save thousands on whole-cabinet replacement costs. You’ll even pay 30% to 50% less than you would buying your cabinet doors at a big box retailer, because when you buy from us, you’re buying directly from the manufacturer. That means you get to skip the middleman, and the middleman markup, and get the high quality product you want at a fantastic price. We’ll even ship them right to your door.

Ready to get started? You can create the kitchen cabinet decor of your dreams, beginning with our beautiful cabinet doors built to your exact specifications. Explore the extensive and impressive inventory available at Cabinetdoors.com and choose the right style for you. If you have any qustions feel free to contact us online or by phone at 800-342-1010 for assistance. We look forward to helping you style your kitchen. When it comes to quality cabinet doors, Cabinetdoors.com always delivers.