Should You Remove Upper Cabinets?
The kitchen with no upper cabinets is one of the most striking looks in design right now — a clean wall, a run of windows, a statement hood, nothing crowding the eye above the counter. It feels calm, open, almost European. And it raises an obvious, slightly nervous question for anyone planning a kitchen: could I actually live without my uppers, or is this a beautiful idea that falls apart the first time I need somewhere to put the glasses?
The honest answer is that it’s a real, livable choice for the right kitchen — but it’s a storage decision first and an aesthetic decision second. Remove the uppers and you gain light and serenity; you also erase a large share of your everyday storage, and that has to go somewhere. Here’s how we think it through with clients: what you actually gain, what you lose, where the storage goes instead, and the kitchens where it’s a yes versus a no.
Why People Want to Remove Them
The appeal is genuine and it’s not just a trend. Taking the uppers off a wall instantly makes a kitchen feel bigger, brighter, and calmer — the eye travels up an open, uninterrupted wall instead of stopping at a band of doors. It lets light in: without uppers you can run windows the full length of the counter, or carry a beautiful tile or plaster wall all the way up, and the kitchen stops feeling like a kitchen and starts feeling like a room. It also turns the few remaining elements — the hood, the backsplash, a single shelf, the window — into deliberate focal points. For many people, the no-upper kitchen simply feels less like storage and more like home.
What You’re Really Giving Up
Here’s the part the inspiration photos quietly omit: upper cabinets hold an enormous amount, and most of it is the stuff you reach for every single day — glasses, mugs, plates, bowls, the everyday pantry items. Remove the uppers and that capacity doesn’t disappear from your life; it just has to be rehoused somewhere else in the kitchen. The beautiful empty wall in the photo almost always belongs to a kitchen with a large pantry, a scullery, or a wall of tall cabinetry just out of frame. The look is real, but it is never free — it is storage moved, not storage eliminated. Plan it that way and you’ll be happy; ignore it and you’ll be stacking plates on the counter within a month.
Where the Storage Goes Instead
This is the actual work of a no-upper kitchen, and it’s very doable when it’s designed from the start. The storage you remove from the walls gets recovered in a few places. Deeper and smarter base cabinets — full-extension drawers instead of door-and-shelf bases — hold far more than people expect, and drawers put everything within easy reach. A run of tall cabinetry or a floor-to-ceiling pantry wall on another part of the kitchen can absorb everything the uppers held and more. A generous island with storage on both sides adds capacity right where you work. And a butler’s pantry or scullery — increasingly popular in larger Arizona builds — moves the small appliances, the bulk goods, and the visual clutter entirely out of the main room. Get these right and a no-upper kitchen can hold as much as a conventional one; it just holds it lower, deeper, and behind fewer visible doors. (Planning the heights and clearances that make this work is exactly what our kitchen measurements guide is for.)
When Removing Uppers Works
When you have somewhere else to put things. This is the whole game. If your layout includes a pantry, a scullery, or a wall of tall cabinets, you can take the uppers off the main wall and never feel the loss. The no-upper look is really a “storage lives elsewhere” look.
When the wall wants to be a feature. If there’s a run of windows to open up, a view to capture, or a beautiful material you want to carry floor to ceiling, removing the uppers lets that moment breathe. A stunning tile or plaster wall with a single shelf often beats a band of cabinets.
In a small kitchen that feels closed-in. Counterintuitively, a tight kitchen can feel dramatically larger without uppers — the open wall reads as air. Paired with smart base storage and a tall cabinet or two, a small kitchen can lose its uppers and gain a sense of space.
When you cook simply and own less. Households that keep a curated, smaller set of everyday items adapt to no uppers far more easily than households with a lot of everything. Be honest about which one you are.
When to Keep Them
When you genuinely need the storage and have nowhere else for it. If your kitchen is on the smaller side and there’s no room for a pantry or tall cabinetry, the uppers are doing essential work. Removing them just to chase a look will make daily life harder. Storage you need beats a wall you admire.
When you own a lot and love having it close. Big cooks, big families, big entertainers — if you reach for a wide range of things constantly and want them at arm’s length, uppers earn their keep. There’s no shame in a kitchen that’s built to hold a full life.
When resale matters and your market expects them. In some homes and price points, buyers read missing uppers as missing storage rather than as a design choice. It’s worth weighing if you may sell before long.
The Middle Path Most Kitchens Land On
For a great many kitchens, the right answer isn’t all-or-nothing — it’s removing the uppers on one wall and keeping smart storage everywhere else. Open up the sink wall or the window wall for light and calm, and put your real storage into tall cabinets, a pantry, and deep drawers on the rest of the kitchen. You can also bridge the two worlds with a single thoughtful shelf or two where the uppers used to be — the warmth and display of open shelving without the full bank of cabinets. (We get into exactly when that works in open shelving: when to use them.) This hybrid gives you the serene, light-filled wall everyone wants and the generous storage everyone actually needs — which is almost always the goal.
How to Do It Right
A few decisions make the difference between a no-upper kitchen that sings and one that frustrates. Map your storage before you commit — count what your uppers hold today and make sure every item has a designated new home in a drawer, tall cabinet, or pantry. Lean hard on full-extension drawer bases; they’re the workhorses of a no-upper kitchen. Give the open wall a reason to be open — a window, a material, a hood worth looking at — so it reads as intentional, not unfinished. Mind the practical heights and lighting, since you lose the under-cabinet task lighting uppers usually provide and will want it replaced. And let the cabinetry you do keep carry the room’s style — the door profile, the finish, the hardware all matter more when there’s less of them. (Those choices are their own decision; we cover them in white oak versus painted cabinets and cabinet faces and frames.)
The Arizona Note
Two local realities make the no-upper kitchen especially appealing here, and one worth planning around. Our light is the gift: removing uppers to run a wall of windows or a glowing plaster backsplash takes full advantage of Arizona’s abundant sun and the indoor-outdoor feeling so many homes are built for. And the larger East Valley new-builds and renovations in Gilbert, Queen Creek, and Scottsdale increasingly include a scullery or walk-in pantry, which is exactly the storage backstop a no-upper main kitchen depends on. The one thing to plan for is dust — an open shelf or two in place of uppers will show our fine desert dust faster than closed doors would, so keep what you leave out to the things you actually use. Designed with the pantry doing the heavy lifting, the no-upper kitchen is a beautiful fit for how Arizona homes live.
Where This Fits in a Kitchen Design
Removing uppers is never a standalone choice — it reshapes your storage, your lighting, your sightlines, and the balance of the whole room, and it only works when those move together. Getting them to agree is the work of design, and it’s part of every full-service interior design kitchen we take on. For clients weighing the broader investment, design at Sentenac House begins at a $25,000 minimum project investment, and on the furnishings and finishes we source, Arizona full-service markups typically run around 15% to 25% over trade cost, never above retail. (For the full picture, see our Arizona interior design cost guide, and if you’re budgeting carefully, our tips on renovating on a budget.)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it a good idea to have a kitchen with no upper cabinets? It can be, when the storage is replaced elsewhere — a pantry, a scullery, tall cabinets, or deep drawer bases. Removing uppers gains light and openness but erases a lot of everyday storage, so it works best when there’s somewhere else for everything to go. In a storage-tight kitchen with no pantry, it usually isn’t the right call.
Where do you put everything if you remove upper cabinets? Into full-extension drawer bases, a wall of tall cabinetry or a floor-to-ceiling pantry, a storage-packed island, and ideally a butler’s pantry or scullery. A well-designed no-upper kitchen can hold as much as a conventional one — it just stores it lower and deeper.
Do kitchens without upper cabinets have less storage? Only if you don’t plan for it. The wall capacity you remove has to be recovered elsewhere; when it is, total storage can match or exceed a conventional kitchen. When it isn’t, you’ll feel the loss immediately.
Does removing upper cabinets hurt resale value? It can in markets or price points where buyers equate uppers with storage. If you may sell soon, weigh it; if the kitchen still offers ample storage through a pantry and tall cabinets, the risk is much lower.
Should I remove all my upper cabinets or just some? For most kitchens, removing uppers on one wall — usually the sink or window wall — while keeping smart storage everywhere else is the most livable approach. It gives you the open, light-filled look and the storage you need.
Let’s Design Your Kitchen the Right Way
If you’re renovating or building a kitchen in Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler, Queen Creek, Scottsdale, or anywhere across the East Valley and you’re drawn to the open, no-upper look but want the storage handled properly, we’d love to help. Every project begins with a pre-consultation application — a slow, generous conversation about your home and your story.
This guide is general information to help you plan. The right amount of upper-cabinet storage depends on your kitchen, your layout, and how much you need to store.
Keep reading:Open Shelving: When to Use Them · White Oak vs. Painted Cabinets · Kitchen Measurements Guide: Standard Dimensions for Arizona Kitchens