When I moved into my current home, the kitchen had tall cabinets that stopped about thirty centimeters short of the ceiling. That empty gap stayed untouched for nearly two years.
I tried decorating it once with a few baskets, a faux plant, and some decorative plates from a discount store. Instead of looking styled, it looked like I had simply stored random items where nobody would notice them. I eventually took everything down and left the space empty again.
Then I visited an open house in my neighborhood. The kitchen had beautifully styled cabinets, and the space above them immediately caught my attention. It felt warm, balanced, and intentional without looking cluttered.
As I looked closer, I realized why it worked. The decor varied in height, mixed different textures, and left enough open space between each grouping. It drew your eye upward and made the whole kitchen feel taller.
I went home, tried the same approach, and the difference was incredible. Now the space above my cabinets is one of my favorite features in the room.
If you have been struggling with that same space in your kitchen, this post is going to change everything for you. And since above cabinet decor works best when the whole kitchen feels cohesive, these 15 small kitchen decor ideas that make any kitchen look expensive will help you make sure every part of your kitchen is working together beautifully.
Now let us get into it.
Understand Why Above Cabinet Decor Goes Wrong
Before we talk about what to do, it helps to understand why above cabinet decorating goes wrong so often because once you understand the mistakes it becomes so much easier to avoid them.
The most common mistake is treating the space like a storage area. Boxes, rarely used appliances, random items that have no other home.
These things make the space look like overflow storage rather than intentional decor and that is the opposite of what you want.
The Other Mistakes That Make Above Cabinet Space Look Bad
Putting too many items up there with no breathing room between them. Everything at the same height with no variation.
Using items that are too small and get completely lost in the space, mixing too many colors and styles so nothing feels cohesive and neglecting to dust the area regularly so everything up there looks grimy and forgotten.
When you know these pitfalls in advance you can avoid every single one of them from the very start and what you create instead will look intentional, beautiful and like something from a design magazine.
Start With the Right Scale of Objects
This is the single most important rule of above cabinet decorating. And it is the one that most people get wrong first.
The space above your cabinets is high up and viewed from a distance. So everything you put up there needs to be large enough to actually be seen and appreciated from across the room.
What Scale Actually Means in Practice
Small decorative objects that look lovely on a shelf at eye level will completely disappear up above your cabinets.
A small vase that is beautiful on your countertop will look like nothing more than a tiny dot from across the kitchen when placed above the cabinets.
So think big…..large vases and urns, tall woven baskets, oversized decorative bowls and big wooden or ceramic sculptures.
Large framed artwork leaning against the wall. These are the kinds of pieces that have the presence and scale to actually work in this space.
A good rule of thumb is to only use items that are at least thirty centimeters tall. Anything smaller than that risks getting lost entirely in the space.
When in doubt go bigger rather than smaller because you can always pull something back but you cannot make something look more substantial than it actually is.
Use the Rule of Three for Your Groupings
The rule of three is one of the most reliable principles in interior styling and it works especially beautifully above kitchen cabinets.
The idea is simple. Group your decorative items in sets of three rather than pairs or larger groups.
Three items arranged together almost always look more naturally balanced and visually interesting than two or four.
How to Apply the Rule of Three Above Your Cabinets
Choose three items of different heights for each grouping. One tall, one medium and one low.
This variation in height creates visual interest and stops the arrangement from looking flat and uniform.
Choose three items with different textures or materials.
A smooth ceramic vase, a rough woven basket and a natural wood piece together create a richness and depth that three identical materials cannot.
Leave generous space between each grouping of three so each one has room to breathe and be appreciated as its own little moment.
You do not have to use exactly three items in every grouping but odd numbers almost always work better than even numbers in decorative arrangements.
So threes, fives and sevens are your friends above the cabinets.
Vary the Heights to Create Visual Interest
This is the second most important rule of above cabinet decorating and it works hand in hand with everything else we have talked about so far.
When everything above your cabinets sits at the same height the arrangement looks flat, rigid and boring. But when you vary the heights dramatically the whole display comes alive and feels dynamic and considered.
Simple Ways to Vary Your Heights Above the Cabinets
Use tall vases or urns as your anchor pieces. These are your tallest elements and they should be placed at intervals across the run of cabinets to create a rhythm.
Lean large framed artwork or decorative plates against the wall at varying heights between the tall pieces.
Stack a few large books or wooden boards horizontally to create a platform for a medium height object to sit on top of.
Lay a large basket on its side for a completely different shape and height to everything around it.
Tuck lower flatter items like a large decorative bowl or a wooden tray in between the taller pieces to fill the gaps without adding more height.
When you stand back and look at the whole run of cabinets from across the kitchen the varying heights should create a gentle wave like rhythm that feels natural and pleasing to the eye.
Bring in Natural Materials and Textures
The above cabinet space is actually one of the best places in the entire kitchen to layer natural materials and textures because it is viewed from a distance and texture reads really well at a distance in a way that fine detail does not.
So lean into natural materials up there and do not hold back.
The Best Natural Materials for Above Cabinet Decorating
Woven baskets in various sizes and shapes add incredible texture and warmth.
They are also lightweight which makes them practical for a space that can be tricky to access regularly.
Large wooden pieces like carved bowls, dough boards or decorative wooden objects add a warm organic quality that feels timeless and beautiful.
Ceramic and terracotta vessels in muted natural tones feel grounded and earthy and photograph beautifully.
Dried botanicals like pampas grass, dried eucalyptus or dried lavender in tall vases add movement and softness to the space.
Linen or cotton textiles like a folded throw or a rolled piece of fabric add softness and a lived in quality that harder materials cannot provide.
Mixing several of these natural materials together in one above cabinet display creates a richness and layering that feels genuinely luxurious without costing very much at all.
Natural materials also tend to be timeless which means your display will continue to look beautiful for years without needing to be completely overhauled.
For a full guide on bringing natural materials into your whole kitchen in a cohesive way, these farmhouse kitchen decor ideas that feel warm and inviting are absolutely full of inspiration.
Use Plants and Greenery Strategically
A trailing plant above your kitchen cabinets is one of the most beautiful and most impactful things you can add to that space. It is also one of the most forgiving decorating choices you can make up there.
Because plants are inherently natural and organic they always look intentional rather than cluttered.
Even a large sprawling plant above a cabinet looks like a design decision rather than a mistake.
The Best Plants for Above Kitchen Cabinets
Trailing pothos are the most popular choice for above cabinets and for very good reason.
They trail beautifully downward over the edge of the cabinet and they are incredibly hardy and easy to care for even in a spot that might not get the most natural light.
Fake trailing plants have also come so far in recent years.
If the above cabinet spot in your kitchen does not get enough light for a real plant, a high quality artificial trailing plant looks genuinely beautiful and requires zero maintenance.
Snake plants and other tall upright plants work beautifully as anchor pieces at either end of the cabinet run.
They add height and a strong sculptural quality that grounds the whole display.
Small succulents tucked between larger pieces add a delicate living detail that softens the overall look beautifully.
Keep Your Color Palette Simple and Cohesive
One of the fastest ways to make above cabinet decor look cluttered is to use too many colors because when you are looking at a display from across a room too much color variety reads as chaos rather than personality.
So keep your above cabinet color palette tight and cohesive and make sure it connects to the colors already in your kitchen rather than fighting against them.
Color Palettes That Work Beautifully Above Cabinets
Neutrals and naturals are always the safest and most timeless choice.
Creams, whites, warm beiges, natural wood tones and terracotta all work together beautifully and feel cohesive even when you mix many different objects together.
A monochromatic approach where you use varying shades of one color looks incredibly sophisticated and considered from across the room and a two color approach where you pick one neutral base and one accent color and use both consistently throughout the display creates a beautiful controlled look that feels designed rather than accumulated.
Whatever palette you choose, look at your existing kitchen colors first.
Your above cabinet display should feel like a natural extension of what is already happening in the kitchen below it rather than a completely separate decorating moment and these best cabinet colors that are timeless and never go out of style will help you think about how your above cabinet palette connects to your cabinet color in a way that feels cohesive and intentional throughout the whole kitchen.
Leave Breathing Room Between Everything
This is the rule that ties absolutely everything else together and it is the one that separates above cabinet decor that looks beautiful from above cabinet decor that looks cluttered.
Breathing room is the empty space between your decorative items and it is just as important as the items themselves because without breathing room even beautiful objects start to look like a jumbled collection rather than an intentional display.
How Much Space to Leave Between Items and Groupings
Between individual items within a grouping, leave at least five to ten centimeters of clear space.
Between separate groupings along the cabinet run, leave significantly more.
A gap of twenty to thirty centimeters between groupings gives each one room to be seen and appreciated as its own moment rather than blending into everything around it.
And do not feel pressure to fill every single inch of the above cabinet space. Some empty wall above the cabinets is completely fine.
In fact it often looks better than filling every gap because the empty space gives the eye somewhere to rest between the decorated areas and that contrast makes the decorated areas look even more beautiful and intentional by comparison.
Dust and Maintain the Space Regularly
This is the practical advice that nobody wants to talk about but that makes an enormous difference to how your above cabinet display looks over time.
Above cabinet spaces collect dust and grease at an alarming rate. They are near your cooking area and because they are up high where air circulates differently.
A beautifully styled above cabinet display that is covered in a layer of dust and grease looks sad and neglected rather than beautiful and considered.
How to Keep Your Above Cabinet Display Looking Fresh
Dust the entire display at least once a month. Use a long handled duster that can reach easily without you having to climb up every time.
Wipe down any ceramic or glass pieces with a damp cloth every couple of months to remove any grease buildup from cooking.
Check your plants regularly and remove any dead leaves or stems immediately.
Do a full refresh of the display every six months or so where you take everything down, clean the top of the cabinets properly and put everything back with fresh eyes.
That biannual refresh also gives you the chance to reassess what is working and what is not.
Bookmark this post: how you style your kitchen for every season without spending much
That Space Above Your Cabinets Deserves Better
Here is what I want you to take away from everything we have covered today.
That gap between your cabinets and your ceiling is not a problem to be solved with whatever you happen to have lying around. It is an opportunity.
An opportunity to add height and drama to your kitchen. To bring in natural textures and materials that warm the whole space up.
To create a display that draws the eye upward and makes your kitchen feel taller, richer and more considered than it did before.
So start with one grouping. Just one corner above one cabinet. Find three objects of varying heights in natural materials and place them up there with generous breathing room between them. Step back and see how it looks.
Then build from there one grouping at a time until the whole run of cabinets feels finished and beautiful and like something you are genuinely proud of every time you walk into your kitchen.
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