Red Oak Pantry Shelves

My parents just finished getting a major addition and complete remodel of their beach cottage. Toward the end they had a falling out with their contractor and weren’t pleased with the cheap shelves he was using in the closets so they had me build them some nice shelves for their pantry.

They had red oak flooring put into their entire house so they naturally wanted this to match (especially since you’ll be able to see straight into the pantry from most of the main living area). We debated whether to join solid boards or go with plywood & edge banding. They ended up choosing plywood which allowed me to bump out the center (they didn’t it curved for some reason).

They were adamant about no metal for the support system so I started a discussion on HomeReburbers to find options for adjustable shelving and ended up with permanent using 3/4×1 pine as supports.

Construction of the shelves was the main focus of my recent blog entry, 72 hours of woodworking

I had to be really picky on what tools I took with me since this was also a beach vacation and I was going to pickup a large dust collector on the way home. I ended up heavily relying on my new Bosch PS40-2 impact drill which worked like a champ for drilling started holes, countersinks, and easily driving the screws into the studs. It was very loud using it in the confines of a pantry!

Installation went rather easy using my father-in-laws Craftsman Wall Scanner which finds the center of the stud, can check for piping and wiring, and has a built in pencil marker.

I used some 3” cabinet screws from Lowes which thankfully have a Torx head and resorted to some drywall studs rated at 140 lbs for the side supports which were less than 16” long.

Another picture of the supports

-- Scott