Okay, let’s get some open shelves up in this space.
With the hood cover now built, we could finally install shelves around it. We originally planned to build true floating shelves, but after revisiting our inspiration photos we decided to use brackets instead. For those wondering about dust and grease on open shelves: research and experience suggest that with a powerful range hood and regularly used dishes, open shelving works fine. Rarely used items in cabinets can get dusty too, so the key is good ventilation and rotating items so they’re used often.
Besides liking the look, brackets eased our concern about anchoring into a tiled wall. We also heard Home Depot had good, affordable bracket options. I narrowed down a few choices and texted the photo to Sherry to see which she preferred while she was at home with Clara and the photoshoot crew.
We both agreed on the last style, so I grabbed a dozen, along with 12″ framing lumber for the shelves. Several readers had mentioned this 12″ lumber plus bracket approach worked well in their kitchens, and we’d used similar boards successfully for our office desk, so it seemed like a practical choice.
One downside became obvious: our dinner plates are 12″, but typical 12″ framing lumber measures closer to 11.25″, so the plates would overhang. That didn’t look great, so instead of buying new dishes we added 1×2″ trim to the exposed ends of the shelves to increase depth and cover the rough edges of the boards.
Adding trim solved the depth issue and gave each shelf a finished edge, much like the detail we used to finish the top of our homemade console table.
With materials purchased, the shelving cost came to about $141 total: roughly $116 for brackets, $15 for the shelf boards, and $10 for the trim. Not cheap, but the four shelves provide storage equivalent to about three upper cabinets, which would typically cost much more. Because we saved on other kitchen elements—reusing original cabinets, building a fridge cabinet, installing tile ourselves, and sourcing a used range hood—we were comfortable splurging a bit on the shelving. We also had paint and primer on hand, which helped the budget.
Next we measured and marked everything. We used a weighted thread hanging from ceiling marks to locate studs, the same trick we used when hanging our range hood. The studs lined up nicely to create evenly spaced brackets, except for two at the long end where one stud was already occupied by the hood. For those spots we planned to use heavy-duty anchors into the tile.
We measured and cut the shelves, leaving one end intentionally shorter because it would be covered with 1×2″ trim. You might notice thin strings hanging in some photos—those are the thread markers for the studs, not pencil marks on the tile.
We chose to trim only the exposed sides of each shelf, so the top long shelf only needed front trim while the shorter shelf required trim on three sides. Although they’re trimmed differently, we cut the framing lumber to account for the trim so every shelf would end up the same finished length and depth. From past projects we knew the variation would disappear once everything was painted and installed.
We attached the trim with wood glue and finish nails, and added pre-drilled pocket holes on the top of the shelves so we could screw them to the wall in addition to fastening them to the brackets.
That evening I filled the seams between the trim and the shelf boards so the joints would disappear after priming and painting. Even before paint the trimmed shelves already looked more finished than the raw boards did, so we were glad we solved the plate overhang problem this way.
To prepare for bracket installation, we taped level 1×2″ scraps to the wall as temporary shelves so we could position the top of each bracket accurately.
Each bracket had two metal hooks on the back, so I used a paper template method to transfer hole locations to the tile. I taped a paper strip to the bracket, pressed it to the wall, and punctured holes where the notches aligned. That made marking the drill spots quick and accurate.
I pressed the taped template to the tile, removed the bracket, and used the punctured holes as guides to mark where to drill.
It was a bit tedious to repeat for all twelve brackets, but straightforward once the process was set up.
I won’t show the actual drilling into tile again, but here’s the result: a dozen pairs of screws ready to receive the brackets. That neat row of hardware felt like real progress.
We hung a test bracket to ensure screw depth and security were correct. Everything felt solid, so we were ready to move forward. Sherry couldn’t wait to load the shelves with dishes once they were painted.
Before final installation we decided to prime and paint the shelves and the hood to avoid painting near grout and tile. We’re waiting for primer to dry so we can apply two coats of the same cabinet color, then hang everything once the paint has fully cured. We should have the finished photos soon—barring the usual chaos of in-home shoots and home projects—but once painted and installed the shelves will look crisp and complete.
Once the paint cures the final installation will be quick, and we expect to share the finished results soon. What projects did you tackle this weekend—any painting, drilling, or secret builds in progress?