We love floating shelves in kitchens — they’re practical, add style, and give your cabinets room to breathe. We’ve included variations of them in nearly every kitchen we’ve remodeled, and our favorites are the DIY floating shelves we built for the duplex kitchens. This guide walks you through how to build similar shelves for your own kitchen.
Building your own floating shelves lets you size them precisely and choose the exact finish you want. Store-bought options like chunky Ikea shelves or rustic Pottery Barn pieces can work, but custom DIY shelves generally look more tailored to the space.
Tools & Materials for Floating Kitchen Shelves
This kitchen shelf project is an adaptation of the white floating shelves we built for a bonus room, but with slightly chunkier proportions and a stained wood finish. Refer to that tutorial for additional tips, but here’s what you’ll typically need for this project:
- 1×2″ pine boards (support bracket)
- 1×3″ pine boards (facing/trim)
- 1/2″ plywood (shelf top)
- 1/4″ plywood (shelf bottom)
- Miter saw
- Table saw or circular saw
- Power drill/driver
- Nail gun
- Long level
- Measuring tape
- Stud finder
- Clamps
- 2 1/2″ structural screws
- Wood glue
- Pocket hole jig (optional)
- Tile hole drill bit (if you have a backsplash)
Quantities depend on how many shelves you plan to install and their dimensions.
Step 1: Build Your Support Bracket
These floating shelves are supported by a wooden bracket that fastens into studs, then gets concealed with plywood and trim. The bracket is straightforward: a long back piece against the wall with multiple shorter spokes extending out to carry the shelf.
Use 1×2″ pine for the bracket. Position a spoke at each end and roughly every 8″ across — avoid placing a spoke where you’ll need to drive a screw into a stud. Cut each spoke to the shelf depth minus 1.5″ to make room for the back board and the front facing piece.
We attached spokes with pocket holes using a Kreg jig, though you can also screw them in from the back. If you want thicker, chunkier shelves, use 1×3″ boards instead — our 1×2″ setup resulted in a finished shelf about 2.75″ thick once plywood was added; 1×3″ would yield around 3.75″.
Step 2: Find Your Studs
Locate your wall studs before fastening the bracket — anchoring into studs gives you the strongest hold. While some anchors can work, they limit load capacity; kitchen items like plates and glassware add weight quickly.
A reliable stud finder helps, though tile can reduce accuracy. If you marked stud locations before tiling, that’s ideal. Otherwise check clues like outlet positions, cabinet screw placements, or photos taken during renovation to find studs.
If necessary, you can drill pilot holes until you hit a stud, but this is trickier through tile — plan accordingly.
Step 3: Mark Your Drilling Locations
Take time to mark exactly where holes will go. Confirm your shelf height — we used 18″ above the counter, which is common — and make sure the bracket will be level. Accurate layout up front saves effort when drilling through tile.
We marked stud locations with painter’s tape, then held the bracket in place and slowly drilled through the wood until we just touched the tile. That left clear marks on the tape to guide the tile drilling step.
If you don’t have tile, you can move straight to securing the bracket once locations are confirmed.
Step 4: Drill Through Your Tile
Drilling tile takes patience. Use diamond tile bits and keep the drill slow and steady, using water to cool the bit if needed. We have a separate guide that covers drilling through backsplashes in more detail.
Go slow and avoid making extra holes — careful marking and layout will help you hit studs on the first try.
Step 5: Secure Your Support Bracket
With pilot holes ready, fasten the bracket to the wall using heavy-duty structural screws for a strong connection. Pre-drilling screw locations through the bracket makes alignment with the pilot holes easier. Use a level to ensure the bracket — and your finished shelf — sit perfectly horizontal.
Step 6: Nail In Your Shelf Top & Bottom
Install the shelf surfaces: a 1/2″ plywood top and a 1/4″ plywood bottom. Cut the pieces to match the bracket’s width and depth. Use wood glue and finish nails to secure the top, and clamp then nail the bottom piece in place. The combination keeps the shelf thickness similar to a 1×3″ board while providing a solid surface.
Step 7: Nail On Face Pieces
Finish the exposed edges with 1×3″ pine trim, glued and nailed along the front and sides. We mitered the corners for a clean look, but you can butt-join them if preferred. If you have a table saw you can rip the trim to fit exactly; otherwise a slight lip may remain on the underside — it’s a small detail that doesn’t affect function.
Step 8: Add Paint, Stain, or Sealer
Choose a finish that suits your kitchen. We stained shelves in one kitchen to match the floors and used a clear, water-based sealer on the other to protect against moisture and spills. If you plan to paint, consider pre-primed 1×3″ boards and using MDF for the shelf surfaces to achieve a smoother painted finish.
More DIY Shelf Ideas
If you want more shelving inspiration, check out posts with multiple DIY shelf concepts and creative storage solutions. These projects cover a range of styles and materials so you can adapt ideas to your space and skill level.
P.S. To see how we pulled these kitchens together, read the full kitchen reveal and our post about adding horizontal planking on the stove wall — it was an affordable upgrade. There’s also a budget breakdown for these kitchens.
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