Rustic/solid shelves in alcove. Mounting suggestions?

[James Dudley]

So I have a 3-sided alcove in my dining room. It's like a little cutout in the wall, but floor to ceiling.

Measurements are about 23 inches deep x 41 inches wide.

Walls are plaster/lath (side walls), with the back of the area (exterior front wall of house) seems like plaster directly over cinderblock walls.

Anyway, I'm doing some kitchen work, including knocking out a wall and installing an island I build a while back.

So I need to put shelves in this area for storage of kitchen pots/pans, a kitchenaid mixer, etc. Some fairly heavy stuff, but we're not talking hundreds of pounds per shelf or anything like that.

I'm wanting to use either 6/4 or 8/4 solid wood, likely two planks per shelf (each plank either 10 or 11 inches deep, giving a 20-22 inch total depth). I'm not sure if I'll get someone to join them/glue them up, as I can't do that (no jointer to make the cuts). I'm trying to avoid unnecessary costs as well, but I do want these to be durable, heavy, and nice looking. There will be four shelves total (so 8 planks). Likely using Walnut, Cherry, or Sapele wood.

Anyway, I've been thinking about how to mount the shelves. Ideally I'd like to avoid large triangle brackets, as they take up a lot of usable space on the shelf below. So I'm thinking about an alternative to the plain 1x3 wood cleats people use in closet shelving. I've considered angle iron running along each of the 23-inch sides of the alcove, w/nothign on the back (i would think a 41 inch span using 6/4 or 8/4 lumber is OK...or am I nuts??).

What alternatives would you guys suggest?

I considered making a structure out of black iron pipe and floor flanges, which I've done in the past. I just wanted to avoid that this time.

Ideally, they almost feel like floating shelves, with the mounting hardware not being prominent. But good, solid shelves are the most important thing.

Thoughts??

[Jamie Buxton]

You could just fasten cleats to the sides walls, and rest the planks on them. The cleats could be as simple as 1x2, screwed through the plaster into the studs. Or you could run horizontal dados in the ends of the planks, and slide them in from the front. The cleats would be entirely concealed inside the planks. There's no real need for steel; wood can be strong enough.

A little bit of an issue might be where to find the studs. In a 23" wall, there will likely be studs at the front and at the rear. There may be a stud in the middle someplace. You do want to anchor the cleats to studs, because of the heavy loads you anticipate. My experience is that stud finders don't work well in plaster walls, so I'd expect to have to resort to drilling a row of small holes through the plaster to locate the studs. In the worst case, you get only studs at the front and the rear. You'd have to run the cleats all the way to the front, and perhaps leave the front coupla inches visible.

[James Dudley]

Thanks for the reply, Jamie,

Yeah, I was hoping to avoid the 1x3 wood cleats on the walls, as they just look....blah. I'd rather do steel angle iron with the vertical face between the wood shelf and the wall (shelves just resting on the lower part that sticks out). That, at least, would be less noticeable....assuming that i don't have the angle iron extending out beyond the shelf itself (that's a non-starter).

I have/had the same concern regarding the location of the studs. I've had pretty good success with finding studs in this house, with my studfinder. It takes a few passes to positively identify them, but it's worked fairly well.

I know I could build a frame and all of that, but I was hoping to avoid that.

[Jerry Miner]

With 8/4 material, you could use a 3/4 x 3/4 cleat, and a 3/4 x 3/4 rabbet at the bottom of the shelf, so the cleat gets almost hidden by the shelf.

A 41" span does not need a cleat in the back, IMHO.

One issue you may run into is the alcove being out-of-square to the point where you can't slide a shelf in from the front without having big gaps at the back corners (a template is advisable, so you can check the fit on scrap before committing your good material). Dropping the shelf down onto cleats (wood or iron) may give you a chance at a better fit than sliding in from the front.

[James Dudley]

yeah, I already anticipated that the alcove may be out-of-square. Many things in this house (mid-40s) are.

Hmm...a 3/4 x 3/4 cleat hidden in a rabbet might be a good answer. I guess I was thinking the rabbet might have to be larger/deeper.

[Jerry Miner]

a 3/4 x 3/4 cleat hidden in a rabbet might be a good answer.

I have done this myself, with success, if that means anything. You might try a mock-up first, and load-test it to make sure you are comfortable.

[Kent A Bathurst]

If you are going with 6/4 (surfaced to 1.25") or bigger, you are a long way from any worries about sagging.

Use this:

http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm