Floating Shelf Depth Guide

The most common questions we get from people interested in purchasing our wood floating shelves is 'What depth do you recommend"? Unfortunately, there isn't a cut and dry answer to this, but just like wood selection, finish choice, or stain selection, it all comes down to personal preference. We'll end up responding to the original question with a whole host of questions of our own. We know, answering questions with more questions is a no-no, but we can't read minds, ya'll.

"The most common questions we get from people interested in purchasing our wood floating shelves is 'What depth do you recommend"?"

 

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So, what kind of questions should you anticipate us asking in return? Well, seeing as how you're reading this article, hopefully you'll already have your answers, but, in case you forget, here's a sample of what we may ask:

• Where are you putting the floating shelves? Is this going in the laundry room? Are you looking for floating kitchen shelves? How about the living room? Ahh! We're getting anxious and we haven't even got to the second question yet...
• Do they need to be heavy duty? Do you plan on using these floating shelves as bookshelves? Do you plan on using the shelves to store dinnerware and pots and pans on? Or just general trinkets and decorations?
• In general, what weight capacity are you looking for your shelves? Keep in mind our solid hardwood floating shelves use the Hovr bracket and can hold 300 pounds. (As an aside, we can't sing the praises of the Hovr bracket enough. They blow the socks off the standard 2 or 3 pronged floating shelf bracket.)
• What shelf measurements are you looking for? What does your wall space look like?
• What is your wall stud situation like? Do you know what space between shelvers you'd like? Are you looking for hidden brackets, or visible supports?

Whew! That's a lot of questions to consider before buying shelves.

'Please stop talking!' you may say. 'We already know that we're going to have 58" floating shelves in our kitchen. They'll hit 3 studs, and we want them unfinished. All we need to know is the depth you recommend for dinnerware.

We're sorry, we just get really excited talking about floating shelves! To help answer your depth question, take a look at the handy guide at the top of the page for what we recommend. For a little more context, we want to break down our different shelf options, below, and what we recommend they be used for.

Pine Floating Shelves

Our pine floating shelves are perfect for lighter use applications. This would include things like decorations, cards, trinkets, and pictures. The weight limit is reduced a little bit due to the strength of the wood dowel rods we use in their construction. We recommend a weight capacity of 20 pounds for each stud you're able to install in.

 

"Our pine floating shelves are perfect for lighter use applications. This would include things like decorations, cards, trinkets, and pictures."

 

These shelves are a great value for customers looking at add some decor options to their home. In addition to the weight capacity, they're also limited to between 4" and 8" in depth.

Image credit: Shelf Expression

 

Pipe Bracket Shelves

Our pipe bracket shelves come in two different options. Our 'straight pipe bracket' shelves and our 'L' pipe bracket shelves. These shelves are also limited to 20 pounds per stud they're installed on, and their depth is set at 8". These two options are perfect for those who are looking to add some steampunk vibes to their home. Oh, so chic!

Heavy Duty Hovr Bracket Shelves

Lastly, our solid hardwood custom floating shelves are supported by the Hovr bracket. These engineering marvels are able to cap out at 300 pounds of weight and can hold 150 pounds for each stud they're installed on. The best things about these brackets is that they do not sag over time, unlike the traditional 2 or 3 pronged bracket.

You can rest easy knowing that the shelf is secured to the male bracket on the wall, which oftentimes isn't the case with the traditional bracket. These are also insanely customizable with the ability to go between 4" and 12" in depth.

 

"Lastly, our solid hardwood custom floating shelves are supported by the Hovr bracket. These engineering marvels are able to cap out at 300 pounds of weight and can hold 150 pounds for each stud they're installed on."

 

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Depth Recommendations

Okay, now we're in the thick of what you came here to see; our recommended depths.

Before we break it down, we need to underline, asterisk, bold, caveat, whatever other ways we need to draw attention to the following statement:

**WHEN IN DOUBT, MEASURE THE ITEMS YOU PLAN ON PUTTING ON YOUR WOOD SHELVES**

For example, we recommend 8"-9" depth shelves for coffee mugs. But, that's based on standard coffee mugs. You may have 64 oz. 'Trucker' mugs so our recommendation would be off a tad. So, that's why measuring is important. As woodworkers, we know the importance of measuring once and cutting twice. Err, uh, we mean the other way around...

Decorative Items: 6" to 8" in depth

Toiletry Items: 8" (if placing above toilet, make sure it's up high enough over the toilet so you don't bump your head on it!

Coffee Mugs: 8" - 9" for standard mugs; 14" - 18" for Trucker mugs (and maybe reevaluate your daily caffeine intake)

Book Shelves: 10"-11" - The hardwood shelves are perfect to be used as floating book shelves!

Dinnerware: 11" - Most dinnerware will fit an 11" deep shelf. But when in doubt, measure!

Large dinnerware & Pots & Pans: 12". Heavy duty items need heavy duty depth. The 12" deep shelves are a perfect way to add beauty and extreme functionality to your open shelving space!

No matter your need, we have a shelf option to help you achieve your decor goals. The only limitation is your imagination!