Tips for Styling a Glass Display Cabinet in Your Kitchen

I am officially in my "grandma" era... I recently bought a glass display cabinet off Facebook Marketplace (original photos from FB below) for $30.00 and I'm so excited to style it in my kitchen. I remember when I was in high school and I used to judge the display cabinets in my mom and nana's homes that proudly held knick knacks acquired over the years on glass shelves. I thought to myself, 'Ew, I'm never going to have one of these bulky cabinets in my house when I grow up.'

Low and behold, here I am, ten years later and I have one of those bulky cabinets in my house. In my kitchen, specifically, it's being used to display my decorative plates and dishes that I use for hosting. I could not be more excited to share my display cabinet with the world, because not only is she cute and perfectly styled (in my humble opinion), but she is also practical! I refuse to keep knick-knacks in my display cabinet (I usually opt to keep those on various shelves throughout the house or stored in a box) and instead keep dishes and kitchen items I frequently reach for on display instead.

I used advice from Heather Bullard's blog on how to style a display cabinet to achieve a minimal but curated look. I tried to be intentional about adding in different textures and heights to the shelves.

In Heather's blog, she writes about how contrast, the importance of scale and height on display, and layering tend to be favorable to the eye. I tried to emulate that in the top half of my display shelf by placing different sized plates and glasses next to each other and layering with a cutting board and serving plate to create a contrast. This display cabinet is more compact, which is great for our smaller home, but I had to lean the yellow circular plate against the glass because it was too large to fit in the case laid flat.

Additionally, I tried to keep in line with a color scheme and add different textures inside the display to add visual interest. Most of my dishes are yellow/orange, blue, and neutral beige toned colors, so I tried to compose groupings of items by mixing up those color distributions. I also added different textures such as the woven wicker basket, my stone molcajete, and a speckled strawberry vase.

Overall, I am obsessed with how these items came together in my new display cabinet. I can't wait to show her off to my friends and family at the next event I host. Long-term, I'd love to get one of the rounded top display cabinets that has double glass doors, but for now this is what works in our space while we are living overseas. It's also a great storage option as it's helped to free up space in kitchen cabinets and our storage closet.