Clutter Above Kitchen Cupboards —Renovation Redecoration Project

 Do your upper kitchen cabinets go all the way to the ceiling, or is there space above them?

My mom’s upper kitchen cabinets have lots of room above them—for dust. I am debating whether or not to put lights up there. It may seem like a good idea, but I know they’d never be turned on (we were raised to basically live in the dark). Another option is to add height to the tops of the cabinets—something decorative, perhaps with crown moulding at the ceiling.

 As you can see—all the souvenir mugs, etc. sat above the refrigerator. If these things actually held any significance, why would they be placed so high up, where no one could see and appreciate them?  Not only were these objects too high up to see, but they were collecting a lot of dust (yuck!). I removed everything from above the fridge—threw away that dusty fake plant, donated many of the mugs no one wanted, washed some and put them in the mug cupboard.

What about this area above the upper cabinets? There were more plants, cups and miscellaneous kitchen items well above the limit of anyone’s reach. The mugs were old Girl Scouts ones from the 60s and 70s that my mom had held on to. She was big in to the Girl Scouts in her youth, when she lived in Kenya, and it was a big part of her life for a long time. Why would these precious mugs be so high up? I washed them and hung them up where they could be seen and appreciated.

What do you think should be done with this area? Do you have nick-nacks above your cabinets?