Just saw this kitchen on cotedetexas blog. If you scroll about half way down the page it's the yellowy coloured kitchen. Big windows no uppers.

Here is a link that might be useful: kitchen

I love the look of no upper cabinets. The only uppers I have are in my dish hutch.

One of my inspiration pics, Crown Point kitchen:

From Cote de Texas blog:

Part of your decision should be based on whether or not resale of your house will be an issue. If not, base your decision on what you want. If you know you'll have to sell in a few years, take that into consideration. I've seen several home shows that rate lack of upper cabinets as a negative. Do you have a pantry? That would take away some of the need for upper cabinets. Unless there are lots of drawers, pull-outs, etc., lower cabinets are usually more of a PITA than uppers. But it comes down to what works for you.

I agree with the resale issue, but depending upon the overall style of the kitchen, uppers could be added at the time you are ready to go on the market. The first kitchen pictured could easily have cabinets added to each side of the stove were someone so inclined, for example.

If you have enough storage elsewhere, and the design looks finished without them, give it a shot.

You're not crazy at all! If you have a fairly large kitchen (i.e., enough room to put everything away conveniently), and you don't want 'em, don't do 'em. If you have a tract house, or some other kind of "standard" space, where people coming to buy will expect uppers, you can always add some nice, fresh, contrasting ones for the sale. But if your kitchen is old by that time, it won't matter, because your buyer will be an "I want my own kitchen" type rather than a "turn-key" type.

I absolutely hated the fact that my kitchen came with almost no uppers, and it took a lot of time to get into the position of being able to properly redo it, but that doesn't mean that the previous owners didn't love it the way it was.

The best argument for uppers is a certain amount of mis-en-place. The easiest things to reach are the ones your hands can get to while standing still and not stretching or bending. Since you can't reach the uppers anyway (and assuming you're the main cook), this is meaningless to you.

Enjoy your open walls and clear vistas!

Having no uppers is a beautiful look, but you have to work extra hard to make up for the lack of functionality that it creates. The most ergonomically functional storage space is at the height that can be easily reached. That means from just above your knee level to around eye level. You're forgoing that easily reached space by eliminating uppers. That means that any other space will have to work extra hard to be easily accessesed. Lots of drawers with inserts to hold items that would customarily be located in uppers. (Think glasses and plates.) Lots and lots of pantry space with pull outs to help get to the stuff in the back. Maybe a hutch in a dining space, etc.. Think about the storage alternatives you'll have to create and where they'll go, and if you actually have enough space for that.

I love a kitchen no upper cabinets. If I had enough storage space, I'd take mine down. To me, it makes a kitchen so much more inviting. I gutted the kitchen in my last house and didn't put in any upper cabinets. Instead I put two beautiful antique leaded glass windows. Wish I had a picture here, but I only have the old fashioned photo and no scanner. I would go that way as long as there was plenty of other storage space.

This look is very popular in the IKEA showroom. I love the look, but I think keeping the shelves and the items on them clean could be an issue for me.

If you have enough lower cabinet storage, why not. Like the PP said, it's your house.

We have no uppers in the kitchen we created in the old DR space:

... because we had a wall of windows that we shortened up to accommodate lower cabs. We couldn't bear to seal up the window space. But, we have pantries for food & dishes:

The pictures prove this can be a great look, but you have to remember that these are not kitchens with nothing on the wall. Yes, there are no upper cabinets, but there are huge windows, rows of shelves, vent hoods, etc.

I think it will look odd to have no uppers and blank expanses of wall. A small shelf to hold mugs may not be enough.

Good luck.

Open shelving in place of upper cabinets is definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but I love the function as well as the look. I have open shelving on both sides of my cooktop which hold mixing bowls, ramekins, small canisters of flour and kosher salt and stacks of dishes ready for plating. It's so convenient to have those items within easy reach instead of behind doors. There's no problem with them getting dusty because they're used so frequently. The shelves do need to be wiped down periodically, but so do cabinet doors.

Lululemon is so right!! My house just had a blank wall. I put some shelves on the little wall, just for the storage (baking supplies and tea, mostly).

But the big wall? That got leftover paint!

Erikanh - I LOVE that Crown Point Kitchen. But in my kitchen, I need upper cabinets. Do you have any other inspirational pictures like that, that you could share with me?

canicci, have you looked at Crown Point's website? They have a huge gallery of kitchen photos that I spent many hours poring over. I'm linking you to the photo album that contains lots of my inspiration pics.

Here is a link that might be useful: Inspiration photos

Erikanh - thank you for this. I've fallen in love with some of their kitchens. Our house is 1940s CA bungalow and has some charming elements that we want to follow into the kitchen. DH also loves Arts Crafts Style. I like how the mix the white and the wood, and I would like to try to do this somehow.

Can I ask how expensive are the Crown Point cabinets? Just a price point will be fine, we've just started to talk about doing the kitchen, so I've got time to work out what we'll do. We don't have a big kitchen. We might extend it, but even then, it's not going to be a huge space. Was it difficult to work with them from a distance...we're on the other side of the country.

i'm not planning any either. I have about a 4' inset shelving area where i plan to put dishes/glasses, etc. 96" wall of pantry cabs behind the island.

Our KD really pushed us to minimize the uppers -- said that many kitchens are going without these days given the great storage in drawers. That said, we nixed the open shelf options because we live in earthquake land...

We are planning a traditional kitchen with no uppers. The DH was really worried about this decision, for resale, but we looked at comparable homes that are currently listed, and realized our no upper kitchen would have MORE storage then competing upper kitchens. We also have 3 yrs( yes, it took us that long to find our dream house) worth of Real Estate Statements to reference for kitchen pictures etc. We are off-setting the no uppers with a huge walk in pantry and a butler's pantry. The walk in pantry is a real luxury in our particular market, even is SUPER high end homes, I walked through a $4mill+++ house this morning without a pantry, so I feel validated!

I would highly recommend checking out houses in your particular market to see what you could be competing against. Do whatever works for you!

No uppers here as well. Our GC originally suggested two uppers flanking the pantries on either side of the kitchen (next to the windows), but as I worked through what would go where, I didn't think we'd need them. In that way too we were able to go for bigger windows.

LWO, I agree that functionality is key. I still have everything I need within the easy reach that you describe (especially glasses, dishes, cutlery, spices etc), and not having uppers has never been anything I've regretted.

pps7, here's our kitchen.

and a couple of shots of the walls where the uppers would have gone:

Eliz

My kitchen currently has eight upper cabinets. Our remodeling plan is for only three. However, after seeing these pictures I'm thinking maybe none would be the right number.

My concern is where to keep the glasses?

Gwen, we keep ours in the top drawer in the island, along with our cups - just across from the fridge and DW.

Eliz

If I had a huge pantry, I'd consider it. It lightens the look of the kitchen tremendously. I'd opt for more windows if possible instead of upper cabinets.

Thanks Eliz! I am so inspired by your kitchen. Thank you for sharing the photos of "where the cabinets would have gone" they really clarify for me the beauty captured by excluding upper cabinets.

No uppers planned in our soon to be renovated small kitchen. We have a window seat flanked by floor to ceiling (12') cabinets in the kitchen and then an 8 ft. wall of 12ft. high storage in the mudroom. That should make up for the lack of uppers.

This will be my second "uppers free" kitchen. I did a $5K renovation with IKEA in 2005ish with no uppers and so much storage half the cabinets were empty! I used the stuff on the shelves daily, so it never had time to get grungy.