Hi there,

I vote for nothing. I don't think the space between the cabinets and the ceiling needs anything at all. Can I see a pic ...I wonder if it really looks 'bare'?

Here are some creative ideas from Houzz if you decide you want to display something. I think the trick is to not put too many little things that get even more dwarfed up there. I especially like the blue plate display because it looks like they may have added a wood piece that stands out a bit from the wall so there isn't as much depth to fill. Almost all of these have something interesting going on with the wall - texture or lighting or shelving which keeps it from looking like a black hole up there.

Here is a link that might be useful: [top of cabinet display[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/12-creative-ideas-for-decorating-above-the-cabinets-stsetivw-vs~134818)

When we bought our house I hated the kitchen... They had a border up so it looked funny to put anything on top of the cabinets....

After about a year, we did a mini face lift, took down the border, painted, put in new floors, stained the cabinets and put on new pulls....

We lived with nothing up there for a long time, and it always looked bare or unfinished to me too.

I tried all kinds of things up there, but nothing looked right. They one day I realized I had this huge basket collection that was scattered all over the house...This is an old picture and not the neatest for some reason....

But you get the idea. Now I had a place to store my baskets which I do use periodically, I had extra storage space in the baskets to hide things that are not used very often, and it didnt look bare anymore.

My dad has various colored glass pitchers in green, blue and red on top of his - that looks nice too, they are in the colors of his kitchen.

It would be helpful to see a picture to see how much room you really have and what your style is. :)

Here's the photo...it's early!

Wow, you have a ton of space between the cabs and the ceiling. I would definitely use it for something. Have you thought about adding shelves or another row of cabinets so you could store things you don't use very often? Looks like a small kitchen so I imagine you could use more storage rather than just something decorative. Hope that helps!

Maybe a set of three colorful prints in simple black frames? Large enough to fill up a good portion of the space. With your dark gold walls and wood cabs, you almost have a monochromatic look, so I'd use the prints as a way to bring in some colors and then repeat the colors in a few accessories. For instance, if you have some blues in the artwork, you could repeat the blue in some new dish towels and/or a nice ceramic bowl on the island.

Could also do some metal/ironwork pieces, but I'd prefer to do something more colorful.

I like sueb's suggestion of framed prints or metal pieces (that might bring a little depth or dimension) or something easy to clean. Things up there get dusty and dirty. I currently have a teapot collection;however I can pull them down, pop them in the dishwasher and put them back up. I used to have some fake greenery scattered in there (hence some empty spots) but I recently got rid of all of it. I'm thinking of removing everything entirely and going for a clean look. What I'd really like to do is paint the cabinets off-white with Rustoleum transformations, but that's a whole other discussion.
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Wow. You do have a ton of space. I see why it feels odd. I have glass and pottery on the top of mine but it is nowhere near as tall as yours. Even so I have a few tall pieces to balance the space. I'd go with one large wall mounted plate (metal or glass) or maybe a metal sculpture wall piece of some type. With re. to a print, I wouldn't think you would want anything with much detail because it is so far from the viewer the details will get lost. Thus the reason I think of a metal sculpture or a beautiful plate or plates of some type. Or one of those huge wall clocks like I've seen at the Home Store and on overstock.

Not over my cabs, but another place in my house which is taller - hard to tell in the pic...
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Over my cabs...
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That is a lot of space! I think shelves would look great, or something like those huge glass bottles

Here is a link that might be useful: Large glass bottles

Or maybe you could collect umbrella stands and put them up there. I bet there are tons on ebay and some might be not too expenzive. I think you could do a lot of things, you just have to go big :)

This one from zgallerie is cute

One from ebay (20") listed at 9.99

Or garden seats!

having lots of room gives you a lot more options. :)

Last one I swear. :) These are on sale (21") at zgallerie too. So annoyed I was introduced to that place this week!

You could hang some and put some on top of the cabinets.

I think I need to find something to decorate around my house sol I dont spend so much time on other people;'s posts! :)

If you don't have a collection and really don't want to start one, how about a large wraught iron scroll type design? It hang on the wall, centered.
Since the space is out of proportion, I am not sure that putting objecs up there will really help. All the other examples do not have the amount of space that you do.
Do a google search, also Pier One sometimes has metal art work.

Since your appliances are white -- perhaps a simple trio of large white milk jugs or creamers? Place them over the left-hand cabinet ... it would look VERY nice if you placed a larger one in the back -- and a couple of smaller ones in the front. Just keep everything VERY simple in plain white with clean lines.

Then add a large plain white platter (place in a stand) over the fridge .....

Another thought -- maybe add a row of matching baskets with white liners (like the one you already have on the counter) -- you could stash stuff in them. Add a cute label to each basket.

I lived with nothing on my own cabs for a while after we had the kitchen gutted and redone. Some people like the clean, uncluttered look. That's ok. I like to have mine decorated, but only with things that work with my kitchen decor . . . and that don't look helter skelter to me.
Since my own kitchen and the family room that it opens into are done with Southwestern, I used those kinds of things on top of my kitchen cabinets. IMO, you need to go big with decs on up there. Many small things look cluttered to me. I also looked for things that wouldn't show dust easily and that were easy to clean. I put large pottery , some very realistic greenery, a couple santo statues (big out here in New Mexico, 3 large chunky candle holders, a large folk art chicken statue and a big antique window that I painted, also very folk art New Mexico. As Sue mentioned, a few framed prints up there would look great. You actually have enough space above your cabs that you can hang them. Keep the frames thick, dark and the subject matter simple to stand out, though.
Lynn
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Thanks everyone for your ideas! They were all great. I now have things to think about and try out.
Once this issue is solved, I will have to post about other "problem" areas in my house.

I have to use a third bedroom as my dining room / office. The closet will become home to the dining buffet once I get it out of storage (coming home soon). Meanwhile, tonight I started decorating the closet shelf with my many items. It's fun to mix items.

My mother has a collection of antique French olive pots on her cabinets. They're a bit pricey, but you can get nice reproductions more reasonably.

Def agree with sueb that large similar prints on the wall or large framed photos would look better than any stuff you might put up there that would get lost in that vast expanse. I would also rather paint the wall a vivid color than try to "fill up" the space by putting objects on top of the cabinets.

Hi there. I don't like the contrast of thr baskets and the cabinets. I collect hall china and have many teapots. One day I just decided to clean them all up and display them all along top my cabinets. I took it one step farther and added a rope light behind the teapots and it looks amazing at night. Although I do have to clean them every few months but they always look so timeless.

Whatever you do, scale will be important. You don't want to put anything too small there, it will look out of place. I vote for large rectangular piece of art, or 2 or 3 pieces of art to fill the space. If this was a cottage, you could hang a few paddles there or ????, maybe someone else will come up with some creative ideas.

found this link, might provide more ideas

Here is a link that might be useful: Top of cupboards

Another link with directions.

Here is a link that might be useful: above cabinets

I think the fundamental problem there is that your cabinets are very small for the height of that wall. If you were designing your kitchen from scratch you might put in taller cabinets.

So adding an additional row of cabinets was my first thought too, but it would probably look patched in. If you invest anything that you might put into a collection of decor to put toward new top cabinets, or additional cases and then new doors that cover both, you might be ahead on all counts.

I agree some artwork might be your best bet if you want to fill the space. It is the only thing that could fill the space without looking a bit odd... something taller than the cabinets would look odd at best, and be dangerous at worst.

If you are happy with your cabinet size, then I would just put something up there that is about 1/3 to maybe 1/2 the height of the cabinets.

Putting up a wallpaper border or picture rail might also help to visually cut the space.

Karin L

a have a couple of large, old, decorative painted serving trays that were my mother's... they're about 2'x3'... something like that might look nice placed on top of the cabinets if you can find any you like...

I have to agree with teacats on this one. White or cream jugs, crocks, etc., would be gorgeous.

I have an area in my LR that needed decorating and not one color I used stood out to my liking. Since the room has white beadboard, I decided to go with all white/cream, and boy was I pleased!

White looks good with your appliances and will also brighten up the space on top of the cabs.

Am not a fan of cabinet top stuff. The art work is one idea I do like though. Picking up colors and keeping within boudaries, not a bunch filling up the entire wall. Anything else would be a small collection (like the white idea) staged in a grouping off center and not across the entire space.

The other thing that just struck me was that a more elaborate light fixture would change that space dramatically, at least from the angle you've taken the photo. Not sure if your ceilings are high enough (they look high...) but if they are, a pair of fairly simple but bigger chandelier-type fixtures would take away that blank wall feeling too. Of course you have to consider what your lighting needs are in the space and whether different lights would work for you.

Karin L