Open shelving has become a more popular concept in kitchen design in recent years. Rather than keeping items cooped up in a pantry or cabinet, open shelving allows a homeowner to keep them on display in an easily accessible location.

Installing open shelving in your kitchen may be as simple as putting up a set of shelves on an available wall. You may also be able to replace a cabinet with shelves, which can help make the kitchen seem more spacious.

Before you decide to use open shelving in your home, you should get an idea of how they will look and function. Elizabeth Lilly, writing for This Old House, says you can start by taking off a cabinet door or two. Spend some time with this setup to see if you enjoy it.

It isn't necessary to pry off every single cabinet door in your kitchen. Becky Harris, writing for the home design site Houzz, says mixing open shelves with cabinets will still be visually pleasing and functional.

Store frequently used items on open shelves so they can be easily retrieved. Dishes, cups, and mugs are good candidates for open shelving, since you're likely to need them at each meal.

If your shelves will extend closer to the ceiling, you'll have the opportunity to diversify what they hold. Lilly says the items you'll use on many occasions should be kept within easy reach, while higher shelves can hold decorative or infrequently used items.

Experiment with mixing different items on the shelves. You might enjoy the look of a few milk bottles on the shelves alongside a few functional items. Shelves that run for a longer distance along a wall are particularly useful for combining different materials.

Harris says open shelving works best when you are arranging white dishes or clear glasses, since they will make the kitchen appear uncluttered. Jessica Ireland, writing for the home improvement site Porch.com, suggests that you can get a clean, uniform appearance by matching the shelves' color to the backdrop. You can also highlight the stored items by making sure the shelf is a different color or offsetting the dishes with items of another color scheme.

However, it is also possible to create an interesting tableau using other colors. One option is to create a simple contrast, such as a mixture of dark and white dishes and items. Setting the darker items at irregular intervals around the shelves creates a more interesting arrangement and keeps the shelving from appearing too uniform and boring.

If your kitchen is white or otherwise toned done, open shelving gives you a good opportunity to bring in some color. Add brightly colored items to help draw the eye.

There are numerous options for the type of shelving you decide to use. Open cabinets provide deep shelves, allowing you to store more items. Floating shelves use hidden supports to reveal more wall space. Wade Shaddy, writing for SFGate, says the corners of the room are a good place to install small shelves which can hold a few keepsakes or other interesting items.

One interesting option involves putting the shelves across a window. Harris says this arrangement gives you more storage space, retains natural light in the kitchen, and provides an interesting backdrop for the shelves.

While cabinet doors provide protection from grease and dust buildup in the kitchen, open shelving is more vulnerable to this problem. You'll need to keep an eye on the shelves' condition, particularly if they are located near the stove. Keeping only a day's worth of place settings on the shelves allows you to wipe them down after a meal.

If you don't want to worry about this cleanup but want to get the look of open shelving, you can consider using glass cabinet doors. Ireland says you can replace the doors or add a glass pane to reveal the shelving without having to do extensive modifications to your kitchen.