Quick Answer: Yes, decorating above kitchen cabinets still works, as long as you treat the top like one long shelf instead of a storage dump. Pick a few larger pieces in the same color family, like woven baskets or big ceramic vases, leave gaps between them and keep anything you use daily down at counter height.
Do people still decorate above kitchen cabinets, or is that strip of space between the cabinets and the ceiling a time capsule of fake grapes and dusty wicker? I get this question a lot, and my answer is yes, people still do it, they just do it with fewer, bigger things and a lot more restraint than the old Tuscan-kitchen look.
These 15 above kitchen cabinet decor ideas start with the useful ones (baskets, canisters and old cookbooks you don’t cook from anymore) and end with the purely pretty stuff like pitchers and a fall garland, and each one comes with how to make it work up high where you can’t touch it every day. If your kitchen has no room above the cabinets at all, my above-fridge storage and decor ideas use the same tricks on the other awkward gap in the room.
Pieces I’d reach for first
None of these need to be fancy. Big shapes and a short color story matter more than any single piece, because from the floor you mostly see silhouettes.
What can you put on top of kitchen cabinets that’s actually useful?
Start with things that earn their spot, because the space above cabinets is the best hiding place in a small kitchen for stuff you need four times a year.
1. Woven Baskets in Three Colors
The photo shows three round woven baskets in rust, natural tan and a deep green sitting on a wooden shelf between sage cabinets, and that mix is exactly why they work: same material, different colors, so they look collected instead of matchy. Up above the cabinets, baskets like these hide the stuff nobody wants to look at, like spare dish towels, cookie cutters and the holiday napkins you forget you own until December.
Go big. Small baskets read as clutter from across the room, while two or three chunky ones look intentional, and lids or a folded towel on top keep the grease off whatever’s inside.
2. A Couple of Easy Plants
A fern, a speckled houseplant and a little trailing vine hanging over the cabinet door: that’s the whole photo, and it’s proof that two or three plants do more than ten. Trailing plants are the best choice for the top of the cabinets because the vines soften that hard edge where the cabinet stops.
Be honest with yourself about watering though (I’m not climbing a step stool every Tuesday, and neither are you). Up high, a good faux trailing plant or a pothos you’re fine ignoring is the realistic move, and real plants only make sense if the top of your cabinets gets some daylight.
3. Blue and White Ceramic Pitchers
White pitchers and navy striped vases grouped in a dark blue hutch, all different heights. This is the most classic look for the space above kitchen cabinets, and it’s classic because it’s hard to mess up: pick one or two colors and repeat them.
Group them in odd numbers with the tallest at the back, and leave a gap before the next group so the eye has somewhere to rest. If your cabinets are white, blue and white pieces pop; if they’re dark like this hutch, all-white ceramics stand out better.
4. Cookbooks Topped With a Vintage Tin
Cookbooks are a perfect above-cabinet decor idea because most of us cook from our phones now and the books live on as decor. The photo stacks a pile of them flat with an old tin on top, which turns them into a little display instead of a leaning row.
As someone who spent about 15 years in professional kitchens, I’ll say it: keep the one cookbook you actually cook from at counter height and send the pretty ones up top. Stack them flat with the spines facing out so the colors show, and a tin or a small bowl on top keeps the pile from looking like a library return cart.
5. Glass Canisters With Pasta and Beans
Spaghetti, beans and twisty pasta in tall glass jars, lined up by height. Pantry food is free decor, and the warm colors of pasta and dried beans look surprisingly good from a distance.
Use them for backup stock, not the pasta you cook every week. And if the top of your cabinets is close to the stove, pick jars with sealed lids, because that spot gets warm and greasy.
How do you make the space above cabinets look styled instead of dusty?
Fewer, bigger pieces with breathing room between them, every time. Five well-chosen things will always beat twenty little ones fighting for the same strip of space.
6. Wooden Cutting Boards Leaned Against the Wall
Got a skinny gap above your cabinets? Cutting boards are your friend. The photo layers three wooden ones from tallest at the back to smallest at the front, with a little teal bowl tucked in, and because boards are flat, they suit even the skinniest gap above cabinets, and the wood grain adds warmth to a cool kitchen.
Use the boards with handles as the tall ones in the back, since the handles break up the straight line of the cabinets. For more ways to layer wood and ceramics in a tiny kitchen, these small apartment kitchen decor ideas use the same idea at eye level.
7. Framed Art Leaning in a Row
Three framed prints leaning on top of dark cabinets, overlapping a little. Leaning art is the renter’s version of a gallery wall, no nails needed, and it fills the height of a tall gap better than objects do.
Keep the frames the same color so the row looks calm, and overlap them by a few inches, which looks more relaxed than spacing them out like a museum. Simple prints with lots of white space read better from below than busy ones.
8. White Pumpkins and an Autumn Garland
White pumpkins, a garland of rusty autumn leaves on a soft green runner and a candle glowing in the middle. The top of the cabinets is the easiest place to switch decor with the seasons, because it’s out of the way and nobody bumps into it.
Run the garland the full length so it reads as one line, then dot three to five pumpkins along it. And please use battery candles, because a real flame near the ceiling and above a warm kitchen is a bad idea (the NFPA candle safety tips agree with me on this one). If you love this, my fall shelf decor ideas carry the same look onto open shelves.
9. One Big Terracotta Vase and a Bowl
A big terracotta vase with two handles next to a cobalt blue bowl, and nothing else, which is plenty, because one large piece has more presence up high than a crowd of small ones.
If you only buy one thing for the top of your cabinets, make it one big vase in a warm color, then add a single smaller piece in a contrasting color next to it.
10. Black Lanterns With Flameless Candles
Two black lanterns with candles glowing inside and a loose sprig of eucalyptus. Lanterns give the space above cabinets some light in the evening, which makes the whole kitchen feel warmer.
Go with LED pillar candles on a timer, so they switch on at night without you climbing a step stool. Black metal looks sharp against light cabinets, while brass or wood suits a darker kitchen.
What are the easiest above cabinet ideas to switch out?
These are the low-effort ones, the pieces you can swap or move in five minutes when you get bored.
11. Stacked Wooden and Woven Trays
The most common mistake I see above cabinets is a row of small things spaced out evenly, like they’re waiting for a bus. In the photo, a woven tray holds a few small plates and a wooden tray holds a jar, with a board leaning behind, and trays corral small things like that, so a group of little pieces suddenly looks like one unit.
This is the fix if you’ve already got a bunch of small stuff on top of the cabinets: put it on a tray and it instantly looks less random. Mix one woven and one wood tray, and keep what’s on them to a few pieces each.
12. Colorful Vintage Tins
Teal, mustard and red tins lined up on a green shelf, a little chipped, with a cloth hanging over the edge. Tins add color without adding fragile stuff you’re scared to dust.
They also hide things, which is a bonus, so the tea bags and birthday candles finally have a home. Thrift stores and flea markets are full of them, and mismatched ones look better than a perfect set.
13. A Bowl of Lemons and a Pear
Short and sweet, this one. A shallow bowl of lemons with one pear in the middle, and yellow is happy, and a fruit bowl is the quickest way to add color to a kitchen.
Use faux lemons this high up, unless you enjoy finding a fuzzy one three weeks later (ask me how I know that’s a risk). Real fruit belongs on the counter where you’ll eat it.
14. Big Wooden “Home” Letters
Okay, I know, word signs. Hear me out though, because the chunky letters in this photo spell HOME in wood and metal, with a little blue bowl in front, and word decor gets a bad rap when really big freestanding letters work up high because they’re readable from across the room.
Keep it to one word and mix two materials like in the photo, which stops it looking like a store-bought sign. And make it a word you actually like (if you have to think about it, skip it).
15. Stacked Ceramic Plates and Bowls
A stack of sage and cream plates with bowls on top and one little coral dish in front. Pretty dishes you only use for guests are perfect above cabinets: they’re stored and on display at the same time.
Stack plates flat and bowls on top, and only put the special-occasion set up top, not the everyday ones. If you’d rather show off dishes at eye level, these open cabinet kitchen decor ideas do it with shelves.
Should you put stuff on top of kitchen cabinets at all?
Yes, if you’re going to style it. A bare top looks clean and modern, and that’s a perfectly good choice, but the in-between version, where random things slowly pile up, is what makes the space look messy.
Grease and dust are the real problem. Lay a sheet of wax paper or a cut piece of shelf liner on top of the cabinets before you put anything down, and you can simply swap it out when it gets gross, which is way easier than scrubbing.
Height matters too. A small gap of a hand’s width or so suits flat things like boards, trays and leaning art, while a big gap needs tall pieces like vases and baskets, otherwise everything looks lost. And whatever you pick, keep a few gaps so it doesn’t turn into storage.
Above Kitchen Cabinet Decor FAQ
Is it outdated to decorate above kitchen cabinets?
No, but the cluttered version is. Today it looks fresh when you use a few big pieces in one or two colors, like baskets or ceramics, with space between them.
What can I put on top of my upper kitchen cabinets?
Woven baskets, large vases, ceramic pitchers, cookbooks, glass canisters, trays, leaning art and faux trailing plants all work. Pick things that are big enough to read from the floor and fine to touch only a few times a year.
How do I keep the top of my kitchen cabinets clean?
Line the top with wax paper or shelf liner and replace it every few months. Lidded baskets and jars also keep grease and dust off whatever is stored inside.
What do you do with a small space above kitchen cabinets?
Use flat or low pieces like cutting boards, trays, small framed art or a garland. Tall items crammed into a tiny gap look squeezed.
Are real candles safe on top of kitchen cabinets?
Use flameless LED candles instead. The top of the cabinets is close to the ceiling and gets warm from cooking, so a real flame up there isn’t worth the risk.
Key Takeaways
- Treat the top of your cabinets like one long shelf: a few big pieces, a short color story and gaps between groups.
- Useful pieces like baskets, canisters and cookbooks look like decor when they’re grouped and lidded.
- Line the top with wax paper or shelf liner so grease and dust come off with one swap.
- Flat things suit a small gap, tall vases and baskets suit a big one.
- Use faux plants, faux fruit and LED candles up high, since you won’t be reaching them every day.
My Take on Decorating Above Kitchen Cabinets
If you take one thing from these above kitchen cabinet decor ideas, make it this: buy fewer, bigger things. One large vase or three chunky baskets will always look better up there than a dozen little pieces, and it’s way less to dust (my favorite part).
Start with whatever already lives in your kitchen, like the pretty platter or the cookbooks you don’t cook from, and only buy something once you know what’s missing. And if your kitchen is tiny, steal more ideas from these small apartment kitchen storage ideas before you add anything new.
Last update on 2026-10-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
