Cut your kitchen costs with shelving.

Regardless of the size of your new build or renovation, the kitchen is always going to be the most expensive room (with the exception of particularly high end bathrooms). Plumbing, tapware, whiteware, extractor fans, joinery, and benchtops, all mean you’ll need to allocate a significant amount of your budget to even the smallest of kitchens, however there are a number of ways in which we can reduce the overall cost without sacrificing aesthetic appeal.

Shelves vs Cupboards

Hear us out! There’s a lot to be said for everything being within easy reach when you’re busy whipping up school lunches of a morning. No more rummaging around in the depths of your cupboards searching for drink bottle lids. Everything is right there when you need it.

Modern-day floating shelves are as far from Nana’s old built-in painted wooden monstrosities as you can get, and with some thoughtful item placement, shelving can add a real sense of drama to your kitchen. They’re also perfect for displaying your favourite vase or the $1800 KitchenAid cake mixer in Pastel Blue that you’ll get around to using any day now. Anything goes, as long as it’s kept clean, tidy and uncluttered.

Shelving also allows you to display more of your wall décor, so if you’ve gone to the effort of hanging exposed brick wallpaper, or you’ve found that perfect shade of olive green in the Resene range, why cover it up with cupboards?

Shelves are significantly cheaper to make and install than cupboards, so it’s a no brainer to use them in place of overhead cabinetry if you’re looking to cut costs. In saying that, shelving is not for everyone! With their contents on display 24/7, your shelves will need to be kept clean and tidy at all times, and your aesthetic needs to err on the side of minimalism.

Nobody wants to walk into a kitchen overflowing with kids’ lunchboxes, mismatched coffee cups and the 14 ugly platters you were given as wedding presents in 1995 (true story). A classic 20-piece dinner set, matching drinking glasses, and perhaps a stylish wicker basket for aforementioned lids and sundry items, is more than sufficient.

Want to know more? Contact us to discuss your what your next kitchen is going to look like. We have a number of different options, with something to suit every taste and budget.