Style Glass Front Cabinets Without White Dishes

Do you find yourself living in a home with glass front cabinets? I’m in my second house with glass cabinets, neither of which I installed. Truth be told, I would be just as happy without the glass, but I have only a few so I don’t have to have all of my dishes on display.

I’ve seen MANY amazing photos of beautiful glass front cabinets with incredible white dishes. What happens if you don’t have all matching dishes and you are stuck with glass front cabinets?

It IS possible to style glass front cabinets in your kitchen without having all white dishes. Here are some tips and tricks for using your glass cabinets if you don’t have everything that matches. They can still look amazing.

Group like items together

You may not have all white dishes, but maybe you have a lot of one color. The bottom line is glass cabinets look best when your stuff is organized. This sounds like it’s obvious, but it’s like putting your closet on display. It looks better when it is neat and orderly.

It also looks better when you group like things on one shelf. For example, all the glasses on one shelf or all of the mugs on one shelf. People can’t see whats on the second row, so put your favorites up front.

Pro tip – if you have family members that like to collect odd dishes with words on them you can often cleverly hide those behind the seam of the door. That way you aren’t throwing away their treasure (yet) it’s right up front, but you can’t see it when the cabinet is closed.

Choose a cohesive color palette

Think of your cabinets as another form of art in the room. The reason that most glass cabinets you see are filled with white dishes is because the cabinets look more designed if everything is the same color.

They don’t have to be filled with only white. Use a color that you like, which could be blue or pink. Or use the glass cabinets as a place to store wood items together or copper. You can also store patterned dishes in glass cabinet, like these funky bowls.

Store Stuff Besides Dishes in your cabinet

I’ve put wood salad bowls and wood candlesticks in my glass cabinets. You don’t have to use your glass cabinets just for dishes. You can store food canisters, baskets (filled with anything), bottles, spices or pottery. The one thing I don’t like to put in glass cabinets are pots and pans.

The one thing I don’t like to put in glass cabinets are pots and pans. I don’t like to fill the cabinets so minimally that they are basically just a display for a few things. This doesn’t make sense unless you have a giant amount of additional storage.

Add faux plants to your cabinets

You cabinets probably don’t get enough light to sustain a real plant, but there are some great looking faux plants that will survive just fine inside a cabinet. If you’ve got a spare corner, pop a small faux plant in to add some texture and color.

Store cookbooks in your glass cabinets

Books are a great thing to fill up your glass cabinets. You can fill them with cook books. I like to take the jackets off the books because the binding is often nicer looking than the paper jacket.

Another fun thing you can do with books is to wrap the covers in pretty wrapping paper. If you are trying to add a seasonal touch to your kitchen, you can change the paper for the holidays (or when the paper gets dirty).

Cover the glass in your cabinets

What if you don’t like having all of your dishes on display or you aren’t that neat? You don’t have to have all of your dishes on display just because you live in a house with glass cabinets. Cabinet doors can look amazing with fabric, decorative wallpaper or wrapping paper inside to cover the glass.

You can make a pretty easy to remove cover using staples or tacks and fabric. I didn’t even sew the fabric in my cabinet, I just cut to size and tacked it in place.

If you use fabric, try to use a fabric that you use one other place in your kitchen. For example, a curtain, a pillow or a chair cover.

Wrap up of styling glass cabinets

The bottom line is that your cabinet insides, just like everything else in your home, are a reflection of you. If you want to enjoy how they look, put some thought and intention into what you put inside. If one color isn’t what you like, make them look like you. As long as you are happy when you look through the glass, that’s all that counts.

Before you go, you might like how to fill the gap above your cabinets, how to style a hutch and coffee bar ideas .