Built In Book Cases

Step 5: Shelves

The movable shelves are simply made from plywood with a 1"x2" front edge glued and screwed on.  The shelves need to be 3/4" narrower than the sides to allow for the front piece + 1/4" narrower so the shelves are not pressing right against the trim molding on the sides.  So, make the plywood 1" less than the width of the sides.

Comments

[okinawajoe]

For your half inch front edge here, was this something you picked up as a molding or cabinet edge? Just wondering where I go to look for this ... same areas as the molding, and just ask for 1/2" trim?

[CarlS]

That was just some standard molding from Home Depot.

[elicat]

Carsl, I can't wait to start this project. I just have a question:
How do you secure the frames with the back wall? or only with the sides wall will be enough? let me know.

[CarlS]

It's pretty stable, but I did add a couple 2.5" L brackets at the top to make sure. Good luck!

[Utahtabby]

this is not clear to me here, are you talking about width (cross-ways) or depth (front-to-back) of the shelf?

 

[CarlS]

Yeah, the dimensions do get confusing since the width of the flat material becomes the depth in the bookcase.  So, the melamine and top shelves should be the same size in the width/depth dimension.