I updated this post to add photos of my weirdo soffits, enjoy.
One of the most common posts requests I get is for information on how to decorate over the kitchen cabinets. I’ve tried and tried to avoid the question. Because 9 times of of 10 I don’t like decor over the kitchen cabinets. I think people tend to put too much pressure on themselves to decorate every surface–I’d rather see pretty molding above a cabinet than have attention drawn to the top of {my} builder grade cabs.
However, I do think there are ways to really utilize the space above your cabinets really well. Like in that photo up there, the tops of the cabinets are an extention of the cabs and the bowls relate to everything else going on. I like that.
This is my personal pet peeve with over the cabinet decor. Please forgive me if this is your kitchen. If you love it, then by all means leave the pretend, long, lanky greenery on top of your cabinets. But I dare say, it adds nothing to the room. I think it would be better off empty. If they must have something up there, maybe white dishes–some plates hung on the wall above the cabs, some urns or something?
I’m at a loss. Teach me oh wise decoratory friends, show me the folly of my naked top of cabinet ways. How do you decorate above your cabinets?
for the record, here is my kitchen with the worlds largest soffits–why did this seem like a good idea to someone?
and in the other corner? no soffits.
***
Did you catch the announcement about our ebay adventure?
I am the frustrated owner of TONS of crystal and cut glassware. I like it when there is opportunity to use it. But not every occasion calls for the formality of the crystal cheese dish. So it is all on the top of my cabinets. I like the uniform look of it, and it gives it a place to live without crowding the cabinets up or cluttering my china hutch.
Thanks for posing this question! This is something I’ve wondered about for a long time. I have blank space above my cabinets and have been playing around with it since we moved in to find something to put up there.
For my own home, I didn’t want a “themed” kitchen so I put some general decorating items, which are not kitchen-specific, above the cabinets. It’s sort of a mish-mosh but it’s the best I could come up with. I have some black wooden candle holders, a couple of vases, a mosaic fish my father made, an owl sculpture, and a glass chicken. I never realized how random all of the items were until I just listed them!
I would appreciate any suggestions as to what to put on top of my cabinets. We are currently in the process of updating the kitchen. Here’s what the kitchen looked like mid-update after we put new counter-tops in: http://www.diynewlyweds.com/2010/01/installing-granite-countertops-kitchen.html
I agree on the greenery.. Yuck. I don’t have space to do any top of cabinet decorating so I am happy about not having to make that decision. A friend collect pitchers and she has a collection of the on top of one side of her kitchen cabinets and it looks lovely. SO I would say a collection of something kitcheny would be good.
I was scared to death when I first saw my kitchen with the lighted shadow box frames at the top. The builder was so pleased with himself that he had included these, but they made me panicky until I finally figured out something both pretty and affordable to put in them. Since I know you’re dying to see what I did with them, I’ll give you this link: http://impartinggrace-richella.blogspot.com/2009/10/diy-decorating.html
If I had open space, I might have some plates or serving trays on display. But I think just plain soffits are nice. If you’ve chosen a wall color that makes your cupboards pop, then the soffit is a good thing–kind of a frame for your cabinets.
I was very interested in what you were going to say about decorating over the cabinets. I do have crocks and a few antiques on mine. However, I did find it ironic that you would make fun of folks for putting up greenery when your bulkhead is actually worse. At least these people could change it up…you are stuck.
Please, be kind to the folks that are just trying…..
diannatha, was I unkind? I certainly didn’t mean to be, I clearly stated that it was my pet peeve and if they loved it they should by all means keep it.
If I had no opinions I’d have a blog full of nothing, no words at all~you wouldn’t want that would you? If you have greenery and love it–keep it!
I lauged when I read this post- I definitely have the greenery on top of my cabinets, because someone told me to put it there years ago (and I didn’t know any better – I’m an accountant with no creative skills, after all)! That’s why I love your site – I need the help!! Now that I look at my kitchen, it looks pretty terrible. I’m loving all of these ideas – please keep them coming. p.s. I didn’t think you were unkind at all!
I can finally decorate above my cabinets and I’m going all out, and I love it, since I have no other surface in my home to decorate! But yes, fake greenery like that other photo slays me.
Hate the green! Kind of makes you wonder if there isn’t some mystical land of gnomes living above those cabinets! yikes!
I’m SO glad I don’t have this worry! My super tall cabinets go up to the ceiling…maybe you should consider mounting plates along the soffit and some matching pottery over the other side???
Oh nester, I have wanted to ask you that question myself! I always wondered why you had not posted on that subject. My cabs are bare above and I’m okay with that. I actually think it gives a more clean look. I have a girlfriend that has TONS of stuff above hers and it drives me crazy. She is always asking what I’m going to put above mine and when. I kept telling her as soon as I knew what you had I would probably copy. She laughed, since I always love what you do and find that I’m always copying. Let me tell you, the mistreatments alone has changed my life in ways I would have never imagined! Thanks for all that you do.
We built our house when we were very young (20), and I had no idea that you could get cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling! We put in soffits, that to me, are just wasted space. Now that I am older, I look at that space and imagine it with my holiday dishes ~ ones that you don’t mind getting a step stool out to take out and put away. When we finished our basement, we put in up-to-the-ceiling cabinets and I LOVE THEM.
I have really tall ceilings in my kitchen so I HAVE to decorate the tops of my cabinets and have played around with different things. I like some of my polish pottery up there and baskets, not too much just a few. I did take down the fake ivy because of you though–thanks for that!!! :) That was a bad idea but everyone else was doing it–but would anyone have real ivy growing around your ceiling?? so why have fake?
Actually, I thought of growing real ivy up my bed posts before- ha. That was a few years ago, though. Now I’d be scared bugs and spiders would reside in it! haha
Our cabinets go all the way to the ceiling. But I do have a bookcase in our kitchen (for extra pantry storage) and an armoire (also for storage), that have various baskets on top. To think of it, I also have baskets on top of our fridge and on top of my little china cabinet. I have a lot of baskets :)
Mary Ellen
I prefer the “no junk above the cabinets” look (esp. greenery!!), but I have serving pieces above mine simply because I have nowhere else to keep them! :s
My kitchen walls are pale yellow above the white chair rail, with white cabinets. On one side of the kitchen, I have all white stuff–soup tureen, tea tray platter thingie, two pitchers, and a creamer/sugar set. I think they stand out okay against the yellow walls On the other side of the kitchen, it’s all my glass stuff: cake dome, trifle bowl, compote, etc.
It’s not too crazy cluttered looking b/c everything is spaced out, and I wish to heaven that I didn’t have to “store” stuff up there, but I do. No more cabinet/closet space in this old house, and I like to have my trifle bowl for when I entertain. Otherwise it would just would just be a bunch of brownies and pudding in a mixing bowl or something. Ew.
This is a dilemma….
Standard for me is nothing on top of the cabinets. I have a deep-seeded fear of clutter!
Nester, I must be hardcore, I change out ALL of my over the cabs decor SEASONALLY! I think this can be explained by two things, 1) I have way too much stuff and 2) with 2 toddler boys it’s one of the few flat places they can’t reach! I try to tell all of my family that I change everything around so much to give the boys new things to look at but who am I kidding? I am going to take down my winter decor this weekend. I have been collecting vintage blue ball jars for a while and want to try them up there next along with some spring/Easter stuff. I probably need an intervention.
I don’t want to intervine you–I want an invitation to come see it!
I don’t have anything on my soffits because I resent their existence. :) I’m hoping if I ignore them, they’ll just go away.
I linked to photos of my kitchen cabinet decor. It might be hard to see in the first photo, but I have antique covered glass cake plates on top of the main cabinets (I’ve added a couple more since I wrote that post). And on another set of cabinets I have three large vintage picnic baskets. These were great for hiding my crappy painting job! And they blend in well with the cabinets.
I like the idea of something simple on top of cabinets. And it has to be something that fills the space from top to bottom. Large ironstone platters, bowls or pitchers are my personal favorite, but they can be hard to come by. If you put something too small up there, then it looks like clutter.
We don’t have soffits in our apartment however we did in the house I grew up in. My mom had a collection of plates that lined the soffit and it looked great. I have also seen people put a vinyl verse on a soffit and I like that too! Now we have our nativity above our cabinets because it’s the only place it fits in our tiny apartment but I love it.
i use mine for storage in my tiny kitchen – not pretty, but necessary. My mom has two baskety urns on either side of the cathedral ceiling and nothing else. Simple and perfect.
Nester, I agree with the cabinet top decor! I have a serious love hate relationship with it. Our molding is tall so I have to lift things up to see them, but not tall enough to stand on it’s own. It either looks empty or crazy. I think it does look better {if you just have to put something up there} to do little clusters like focal points instead of dragging it all out, unless it’s a uniform collection like your top picture.
Also, I am laughing because I have several of the items you listed on ebay. Is that good or bad?
My cabinets go all the way to the ceiling – darn it!
I prefer no junk too, but felt that my kitchen with it’s all white cabinets and yellow walls needed a little something over the cabinets, so I found a set of three iron pigs! They are black with cute curly tails and the largest is about 2 1/2 x 3 feet and they descend in size.
I really love their simple, whimsical design!
I say hand paint something really pretty up there…or have a professional do it…either way.
I have “stuff” up there but it’s generall antique-ish stuff like my grandmother’s old stand up mixer and pieces of pottery that I cherish but would never want to use for fear of breaking them!
I struggle with what to put ON the counters!!! I am a HORRIBLE accessorizes. I hate having things out just to have a decoration — I want them to be practical….but still beautiful… AND serve a purpose! UGH!
Don’t even get me STARTED on my mantles (I have two in serious need of help!)
nester, your soffits are NICE and BIG…
i haven’t read all the comments above (cause, seriously? you are toooo popular for me to keep up with all the chit chat!) so I don’t know if anyone has linked to this yet, but have you seen:
http://olderandwisor.blogspot.com/2010/01/kitchen-soffits-and-other-crimes.html
she made her soffits so pretty with bead board paneling and some trim!
but… you are renting, so hey, maybe somebody else will feel like giving their soffits a kick.
Stop. The. World.
I never saw that post and it it life changing!
Attention world, PLEASE click on the above post and tell your family, friends, neighbors, mail man, and everyone you come in contact with to read it.
UH-MAZING! Why don’t all kitchen soffits come like this. Our galley kitchen has MAYBE 3 feet of normal height ceiling and huge soffits protruding from the cabinets of our already narrow kitchen. The silver lining: your kitchen seems pretty roomy, even with the soffits!
I have to giggle! I JUST asked you this, and within 24 hours you are talking about it. What power I wield! :-) And, you wrote me two emails within 10 minutes of me asking you! THANKS!!! You are awesome!
We are in the process of redoing our kitchen right now. I just put a few things back up. Many old kitchen items-mixer, scale, enamelware coffee pot, aluminum bread box, etc. Took a ton of stuff down. Wanted a “cleaner” look. Funny that you posted about this problem (if you can call it that)…I was searching all over blogland to get ideas of simple decor for above the kitchen cabinets! Will be interested in your discoveries!
Thanks for sharing,
Jody
Oh, thank you. We moved last year and have the cabinets with just a small space above them…maybe about a foot. What FITS there? I have it bare, but sometimes I look and think I’m not trying hard enough. Funny thing is, every time my *dad* visits, he mentions how good the kitchen would look with some “stuff” up there.
You’ve made me breathe a sigh of relief. I trust you. :)
At my beach house I had open space and I put LARGE items like wooden dough bowls…iron pieces…fish basket…square baskets. I don’t like a lot of items…looks sooooo cluttered! Come by and check out my CASH GIVEAWAY…I think you will like it:)
Blessings,
Linda
You have GREAT THOUGHTS Nester girl-keep up the great work and ideas. I love hearing your opinions on decorating and you always give me lots of ideas to think about.
My home is a much nicer, warm, colorful place since I found your blog. You are a true blessing in the blog world.
with 92 (and counting!) comments I hope some of you take the time to read this because you are gonna just LOVE my tip for helping with the dust problem “up there”! But here is the best tip ever – - – Ladies, ladies, ladies! – - – line the tops of your cabs with a long length of paper towels before you put your stuff up there! When it gets disgusting you just roll it up, throw it away and lay down a fresh batch! Then you might just have to clean around ther edges here and there. And when you move it will looking wonderful up there for the new homeowner who will then tell your old neighbors how clean your house was! As far as decorating – you are on your own – I have a huge silk ivy centered over my oven/mirco and smaller vignettes one on each side of the ivy- 2 or 3 decorative pitchers, urns, etc.) Not too much- just a little something. Less is more!
Joanne B.
Oh my gosh, you mean we are supposed to dust up there?!
I have a small kitchen and was lacking in storage space, so I just recently had my sofits taken out. I now use that space to store/display all of my white serving bowls and dishes that I have collected over the years. Only problem is every time I want to use one of the dishes (which is often) I have to jump up on my countertop while no one is looking!
I’m not a big fan of lots of junk on top of the cabinets, either. REALLY don’t like the fake ivy up there. If I had a nice collection of simple white serving bowls or pitchers, I would put them up there. But not too many, just a few. Last year, I saw a photo in Better Homes and Gardens where someone had put a couple large barn stars in the corners above there cabinets. I thought it was a good idea, so that’s what I have above my cabinets. 4 barn stars. I really like the look. It adds some decoration above the cabs, without looking too cluttered. But if I do get myself that nice collection of white bowls or pitchers someday, those stars are coming down, and the bowls are going up! :)
I have a soffit above my cabinets too (although my doesn’t protrude as far out as yours :)) and I absolutely hate it!! I have been trying to persuade my husband that we need to just gut our kitchen and hopefully, that will happen…with no soffits!!!
I hate stuff above a cabinet, and would never buy something to stick up there for no reason– but when we moved in our house I was unpacking my multiple tea and coffee pots (it is a problem) and stuck them up above my cabinets just to have a place for them for the moment. I forget about them until a friend was over and she loved it! I get TONS of complements any time we have people over- they are a mix of patterns colors and ages – and now they aren’t stashed under my bed. I can easily pull them down and use them and can wash most of them in the dishwasher so they really don’t get excessively dusty. I think anything pretty that you use once every so often can be stashed up there and “accidentally” turn out to be really amazing without decorating just because it is a surface!
I can’t imagine why someone put those soffits there either! (Maybe ductwork???) But I say make them work for you. They are the perfect location for halogen spotlights shining down on your countertop! Since it’s lower (not ceiling height), you can have the lights closer to the wall without casting a shadow of the cabinets. Lemonade out of lemons!
Since I am in the middle of a kitchen remodel, the top of the cabinets have been a hot topic with the hubs and me. To compromise, we are taking the cabinets up to the ceiling so there will be no over the cabinets. Problem solved. As far as soffits, no idea what you can do. I did see a cool soffit makeover with beadboard over at Kimba’s about a month ago. :)
I have several teapots atop mine. I collect them. I know…I’m an even bigger nerd than you already suspected! LOL!
I like to put old books up there. Books always seem cozy to me.
I normally paint my cabinets , actually I only like painted cabinets , so I treat the bulkhead or soffits the same as my cabinets so it all appears to be one , but that is one deep soffit , I actually would try and take that back to the depth of the cabinets and I would add a big crown at the top and paint the cabinets a color or white , that is what I would do . I don’t suppose you are allowed to paint???
I would do nothing with the top of the cabinets in the corner , nothing is sometimes better , I would put big pretty brackets on the bottom of those cabinets .
I’m sorry you have weird soffits. Do they maybe hid ventilation shafts for the a/c or pipes? Could be why they’re so big and weird and not on the other side (though really, they could have made them cohesive). If it were me, I’d get some cheap moulding and tack it up there to make it look pretty. Or you could use moulding to make little frames (like wainscoting) on the soffit and hang pics or plates inside them.
I happened to be perusing a blog a while ago and came across this post. http://musingsfromafrenchcottage.blogspot.com/2010/02/grain-sack-table-runner-and-chair.html
If you scroll to the bottom of the post you’ll see an excellent example of above cabinet decorating.
Want me to email you what my girlfriend did on top of my cabs? I think it is marvelous!!!!!!!! Ferns, pictures, urns, platters….
Maybe it’s ugly and I just don’t know. Ha! I think you’d approve!
I cheat…mine has some great molding, so I hide my silver serving ware that is in the velvet lined boxes up there, along with some large rolls of butcher paper for the girls to draw on. You can’t see it, I can reach it when needed and it’s extra space for things that don’t have a home
We have a great room combined kitchen, dining and living..I do like having decor on top of my cabinets, but right now I have too much..we are still unpacking boxes and so we just STUCK stuff up there…its real ugly…what I am thinking is we need to paint so I might paint the wall up there and that might make a good soft background for the roosters I collect..I think I will put my roosters and a few tins up there and that will be it.
Glad to see you covered this topic . . . I’m still not satisfied with above mine, actually kinda wish I had soffits, lol, are we ever really satisfied, lol?
Thank you for helping me to understand what a soffit is.
The house we used to live in had vaulted cielings in the kitchen and over the cabinets was a skinny, long shelf. I loved it but never got it right. I changed it a thousand times.
In this house I have something similar to you. I got two decorative curtain rods and hung linens from them. I think it looks really cute.
Hi! I’m thrilled that you are advocating clean space above cabinets!! You must have duct work above your cabinets, so the thing above is functional and not much you can do about that. But no big deal. It is better than fake greenery. So many new homes have “designer” stuff above their kitchen cabinets and it often includes greenery, upside down crates and ceramics. It’s not so pretty. I think clean country, sleek modern, understated European, are all better options. Then cook something!! That’s what really makes a kitchen.
I”m sorry to post twice, but I was googling …..
http://images.google.com/images?q=how+to+decorate+above+kitchen+cabinets&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=cUSHS7noGNGXtgfssrSyDw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CB4QsAQwAw
Ok, since you rent I’m assuming you don’t want to sink a bunch of time or $ into doing something major. Oh wait…that’s me since I rent that is how I feel about big projects;) Anyways, what if you covered foam core board with fabric or paper and covered the front of the soffits? Or distress some beadboard and cover the front of the soffits with them? Or frame out some vintage looking chicken wire (the circluar kind…KWIM?) and make “panels” and hang them on the soffits? I dunno…it’s kinda hard since I don’t know what the rest of your kitchen looks like but those are suggestions I can come up with off the top of my ‘lil old head.
I’m thinking that the chicken wire things may hold some possiblities in my crazy kitchen….