shelves (floating or near floating)

[321purple]

I have been given some lovely offcuts of wood, about 4cm thick, 9cm wide, various lengths. I'm planning on using them as shelves for jars (of pasta, cereals, flour, spices etc) in my "new" kitchen.

Ideally I'd like to construct floating shelves, but I'm not too confident about how well I can manage that. So I was thinking, I would get small L-shaped brackets and attach them to the wall first, then chisel a bit out of the wood, so the shelf hangs flush to the wall and screw the bottom of the bracket under the shelf. (I hope that makes sense!) Would that be strong enough? What size brackets would I need and at what interval?

If not, have you got any other suggestions that would be easy but also look good?

 

[big-all]

dependant on load the wall concerned and the bracket type
but as a rough guide the long leg off the bracket has to be around the shelve width
the long leg then attaches to the wall

 

[321purple]

thanks - it's a good job I asked as I was imagining smaller brackets than that!

Might not be worth the compromise. might need to get someone in to properly fit floating shelves! I love cooking, so my kitchen has to look good as well as be very practical.

 

[pinenot]

I hung an entire mantlepiece on a stone wall using the following method.
First create mortices (how many depends on the invisaged stress the final weight will be) into the rear edge of the shelf, next make tenons that will slip into these pockets quite tight (acuracy is required here) and say 5mm shorter than the depth of the pockets. Now you fix these to the chosen location(s) so as they line up etc. with a fixing of your choice (I fitted wall anchors and threaded rod, bolted them to the wall and pocketed the nuts to maintain the 5mm clearance) Once all edges of the tenons were aligned (tricky job that) the shelf was pushed/hammered into position, the result a perfectly coating fixed mantelpiece...pinenot

 

[pinenot]

I hung an entire mantlepiece on a stone wall using the following method.
First create mortices (how many depends on the invisaged stress the final weight will be) into the rear edge of the shelf, next make tenons that will slip into these pockets quite tight (acuracy is required here) and say 5mm shorter than the depth of the pockets. Now you fix these to the chosen location(s) so as they line up etc. with a fixing of your choice (I fitted wall anchors and threaded rod, bolted them to the wall and pocketed the nuts to maintain the 5mm clearance) Once all edges of the tenons were aligned (tricky job that) the shelf was pushed/hammered into position, the result a perfectly floating fixed mantelpiece...pinenot

 

[cajar]

you can buy floating shelve kits from the DIY shops, just be careful how much weight you're planning to put on them though, as they don't support as much as normal bracket shelves.