I had this dilemma......I chose timber cabinets for our kitchen 14 years ago as our children were very young and I knew I would have a terrible time keeping white clean. White shelves would also be very hard to keep clean in our dusty climate. Timber has suited us for the last 14 years but now needs updating as it's veneer has aged and weathered. Just my thoughts! Hope it helps.

Good point, Liz.

Is the shelving going to be chunky floating type shelves or thinner? I'm thinking timber might have more of a presence either way.

I think thinnish timber fiona_ab! Yes, am leaning towards timber, too. But where to get it? And how to make sure it matches the benchtop?

I would have your bench top supplier cut a thin batten of timber in the same 40mm thickness, and fix this as a front to a white melamine shelf. For a couple of reasons.
Melamine is easiest to keep clean, whereas a varnish or oiled timber will require constant maintenance and resealing if it is used often, it will discolour and even with the sealant it does not like moisture, being natural, all timbers expand and contract in temp changes. Melamine is stable, and won't be seen from the viewpoint, and the timber front will make it look more substantial.
Secondly, this thickness will be necessary to avoid shelf deflection, where lengths over 900mm will commonly sag under weight.
Reinforcing your shelf with timber battens will avoid this, and the timber edge strip again hides it.
If all this seems a little too hard, just invest in solid timber shelves of around 40mm, but have the tops laminated.

Joanna, I'm guessing if your asking what timber to use it's not as simple as getting it the same as the bechtops. What are the benchtops?

Fiona, I'm putting in an Ikea kitchen and the benchtops will be oiled birch ( http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/40057853/#/70086415). So, no, not easy to match...

These are Ikea birch veneer shelves, which may look ok with your becnhes
http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/00181492/

Otherwise you could go with pine and a stain like Feast Watson Old Baltic mixed with colour reducer to give a paler colour. Maybe get a small piece of pine and small tins and do a sample.

Hmmm, thanks Fiona, food for thought. The other option is using these shelves: http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/90176815/

Those are quite nice, there are quite a few options under Living Room Shelves which could as well. Maybe white is the way to go, that way you won't have to mess around trying to match stains, just have to brave IKEA!

I think you may be right Fiona. Hopefully I can knock all final purchases over in one final Ikea visit!

My brother used to live near Rhodes shopping centre, we used to walk over to the supermarket and have had many hours of amusement watching IKEA car park antics. My advice is if you can manage it go of an evening, as they are open pretty late and avoid the weekend bedlam (which only leads to the guzzling of copious quantities of gin when you get home!).

Hey Joanna, how did you go with your shelves?

There is a thread asking about people's experiences with IKEA kitchens: http://houzz.com/discussions/1283890, so I thought of you