I absolutely love the look of shelves in a kitchen - they help to create a really light and simple feel to the space, and create a stage for all your favourite things. However, they do provide less storage. So if you dont have the luxury of plenty of storage, I would suggest going for wall cabinets instead, or having a mixture of the two. There is something to be said for keeping the walls open too - it can be tempting to fill every possible space, but don't be afraid of leaving space for your cabinets to breath. This might mean having a clear out, but it will make your room feel much more open. Charlie

I agree crisp white and a change of handles would look great. Also a industrial grey would look amazing, especically with the exposed hardware. Obviously this all depends on the rest of your kitchen but you could be more extreme and apply something cheap like chipboard to the back and apply some fun wallpaper to make more of a feature of all the items that you will have on display.

Dear Azfar, I think your units are lovely, very sophisticated and much nicer than white. Your units and work tops are very similar to those I have in my kitchen, which also have black granite tops. I also have a wooden floor of a similar shade, please don't change this, it is lovely. I was aware when I had my kitchen fitted that the units appeared darker than in the showroom but this was due entirely to the colour of the walls they were installed on. To lift the units, and celebrate their beautiful colour, you should paint your walls a darker and contrasting colour, I have chosen a really shocking pink, Rock Candy, but there lots of options. The showroom I saw my units in used a burgundy colour, too dark for my Victorian kitchen. There are so many colour options which don't have to be expensive, play around with a few tester pots and see which you prefer. This is by far the cheapest option, and I'm sure you'll fall in love with your kitchen units again once your units are allowed to stand out. Incidentally your unit colour helps to visually integrate your stainless steel 'fridge, another reason to stick with it. If you want to add units in the future you could pick up on your new wall colour for a very stylish look.

If you home in on the pictures you'll see that the fourth and fifth shelves down are less deep than the shelves above; the perspective is also slightly different. It's painted to look like shelves with books on but the books and shelves are painted on a cover which, in the left hand picture, is fully up to hide the television. In the right hand picture, the cover has been opened and hangs down - revealing the television. It looks as if the television is also on a wall mounted stand that allows it to be moved in and out so it can be brought forward for better viewing and pushed back so the cover an be lifted. I think it's great!