3 WAYS YOU CAN ELEVATE YOUR
KITCHEN BY ADDING GLASS

Open kitchen shelves are popular these days, and some homeowners even replace all the upper cabinets with rows of shelves! Kitchen shelving lets you store frequently used items in plain sight where they’re easy to grab when you want them. It also makes it much easier to update the room’s style by creating on-trend vignettes and “shelfies.” However, you can enjoy the benefits of glass shelves without doing anything as drastic as tearing out lots of expensive cabinets. Let’s check out a few possibilities:

• Have glass shelves installed on unused wall space. Looking around your kitchen, you may see some bare wall space in a corner, around a doorway, above an appliance, etc. Having glass shelves installed here gives you added storage space and the ability to create stylish displays.
• If you don’t have available wall space, you can create a similar effect by turning one or more upper cupboards into (mostly) open shelves. Remove the doors and fill holes as needed. Clean the cabinet’s interior and consider replacing the (possibly damaged) wooden shelves with glass alternatives for a fresh, crisp vibe.
• Finally, there may be a cabinet that you’re OK with taking out. Maybe it doesn’t match the others or maybe it’s damaged. Removing this cabinet and replacing it with shelves is a relatively easy way to refresh your kitchen.

While open shelving offers several appealing benefits, it’s not for everyone. If you want to stay away from dusting shelves or keeping their contents tidy, consider cabinet glass. This term refers to glass that can replace the original wooden door panels on cabinet doors. Clear cabinet glass allows you to create vignettes, show off vintage dishware, and so forth, while still keeping it behind closed doors. If this idea appeals to you, consider the possible approaches:

• Have clear cabinet glass installed on a few select cupboard doors in your kitchen. Choose cupboards with attractive contents like wine glasses, collectibles, china, etc. (You can also spruce up the interiors of these chosen cupboards with paint or peel-and-stick paper, glass shelves, and stick-on LED lights.)
• Use clear cabinet glass on some cabinets and outfit others with vision obscuring glass – acid-etched, patterned, or tinted – so that you can update all the doors, display beautiful items, AND not have to style the contents of every cupboard.
• What if styling the contents of a cupboard is not your thing? Revamp all the doors with glass but choose acid-etched, frosted, or tinted glass that blurs the view of what’s behind it.

Another problem area in some kitchens is the backsplash. An old tiled backsplash with stained grout is not only dated, but it’s a pain to try to keep it clean. All those grout lines love to accumulate dust and grease in a kitchen setting. With a back painted glass backsplash, you can say goodbye to scrubbing grout with a toothbrush! Since you may not be familiar with this product, we’ll take a look at its features:

• Back painted glass is created by applying paint and a protective coating to the back of ultra-clear glass.
• It is installed with the bare glass facing outward and the paint color visible beneath the surface.
• This product is offered in stock colors, but you can also order any custom color matched shade you prefer.
• A smooth backsplash is created with as few sheets of glass as possible so that you have a few caulk joints instead of a web of grout lines.
• This flat surface is easy to clean and sanitize and keeps its freshness and sheen as the years pass.

To have glass shelving, cabinet glass, back painted glass or another type of custom glass or mirror installed in your home, we invite you to contact ABC Glass & Mirror. Our team brings decades of experience to your project, and we’d love to help you update your kitchen or another part of your living space. Set up a free in-home consultation with one of our glaziers – (703)257-7150.