Showerthought: That hotel lobby in Denver changed my mind about open shelving

I stayed at the Maven Hotel downtown last week and their lobby has open shelves everywhere with books and vases. Looked great for photos but I watched the front desk guy dusting each shelf for 20 minutes and he told me they do it twice a day. Makes me wonder why anyone would want that in their home unless they never cook greasy food or have cats. Has anyone else seen a real-life setup that made you rethink a design trend?

3 comments

3 Comments

gavinw451mo ago

sandrat24 makes a fair point about curating things. But the ventilation hood thing is key. Most homes don't have industrial grade hoods like hotels do, so that grease settles everywhere. Open shelves look great for about a week until your nice ceramic mugs start getting that tacky film on them. The real test is if you'd be okay with a stranger seeing your spice collection covered in dust motes from the last time you made toast.

lindab492mo ago

Oh man, I totally get that. My kitchen has open shelves and let me tell you, my inability to keep plants alive is only matched by my ability to make every surface look like a greasy crime scene within 24 hours.

sandrat242mo ago

Devils advocate here - open shelving forces you to actually curate what you own instead of hiding junk behind cabinet doors. Grease and dust are real problems but a quick wipe-down every few days beats digging through crammed cabinets looking for a pot lid. Maybe the real issue is that people just need better ventilation hoods instead of blaming the shelves.