Some ideas to make something less ugly

The Sweeper

Hey all - I have a bunch of kitchen appliances that have been underused because they're cluttering up the back of the pantry in a heap. I've switched some things around and now I'm using a raw pine shelving unit to store the kit. It's a freestanding shelf unit with fixed shelves. It's about 6ft high and 4ft wide, with a central divider; on the left there are four shelves, on the right there are three.

It's proven to be completely perfect for me to stack this cooking kit on - however, now I have a raw pine shelf unit full of things - blender, juicer, slow cooker, deep fryer, stand mixer - beside my dining room table.

This solution is extremely practical, but it's not really the most gorgeous thing to look at. Any suggestions on what I could do to make this look a little better? The unit doesn't really lend itself to having a couple of doors fitted - let's put it this way, I'd rather go out and buy a freestanding 'pantry' unit with double doors than add doors to this shelf unit - but I don't want to spend that money!

Any ideas?

mymo

I know you said no doors but, How about making a two doors with a timber frame and fabric in the middle, then painting unit or leaving it plain?
I have done it for a wardrobe in the past, just make up frame for doors and get a nice fabric, stretch over frame and use a staple gun to hold in position, add handles and hinges and it looks fab.
The fabric can completely cover frame or sit behind the frame(hope this makes sense.)

The Sweeper

Sort of like the door frames that would usually hold glass, but using fabric instead?

mymo

Yeah, kinda.
Just a rectangular frame, and you can stretch the fabric across the back so it's a frame with the fabric behind it, or over the outside so the frame isn't visible at all.
Sorry, was looking for pic of what I made but can't find any.
If you chose the fabric right it can look great, and is very cheap to do.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://chicago.apartmenttherapy.com/images/uploads/11-20-07bookcases.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/organizing/hidden-storage-bookcases-with-doors-036918&usg=__JmONAfX5rndbYoHPQYQVKVmxKsA=&h=300&w=432&sz=30&hl=en&start=182&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=Enyf-iW1tbYchM:&tbnh=88&tbnw=126&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfabric%2Bdoors%26start%3D180%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1

above pic is something like what I did.

HardyEustace

I'd buy a billy book case with a height extension and matching doors. Even through they don't have full length wooden doors, either buy tinted glass ones or I retro-fitted two of the half wooden doors to it.

It looks good and to be honest, I think that no matter what you do with the existing shelves it won't look as good.

Fabulous space saver. I have them all over my house, I've a double and a single in my hall and keep appliances in that. It's very handy. If you have odds and ends then these cardboard boxes fit perfectly.