Where can I find unusual sized melamine shelves?

March 10, 2013 3:47 PM

When we bought our house, the garage came with some very nice cabinets already installed. This weekend I found myself wanting a few extra shelves for them, and I have so far been unsuccessful in finding any that will work. They are fairly standard looking white melamine shelves, but apparently the size is unusual. Is there somewhere I can go to get truly custom shelves made (or find a wider variety of sizes)?

The biggest issue seems to be that the shelves are 18" deep. The deepest I found at Home Depot and Lowe's were around 12-14". They're also almost 36" wide, so a deep narrow shelf (as in our linen closet) won't work. They're 1" thick, and all of the shelves at the big box stores were thinner (that may not be a huge issue, but since it's fairly wide, I'd appreciate the extra thickness). I'll of course also need the little pegs to hold them up (not sure if those are standard or not, but I don't have any spares).

I looked all over the cabinets for a sticker or some other identifying mark for who made/installed them, but no luck there.

What's the best course of action here?

posted by primethyme to home & garden (6 answers total)

You want to hire a cabinet maker. If you bring them a shelf, they should be able to do this for you very easily. Alternatively, if you have a friend with a good table saw, perhaps they would do this for beer.
posted by ssg at 4:16 PM on March 10

Lowe's / HD both sell 4x8 sheets of 3/4" white melamine-coated particle board that can be cut to size and edge banded. 3/4" is probably strong enough for a 36" span. The supports are fairly standard -- take one with you to the store, and find some that have the same diameter pin.
posted by jon1270 at 4:19 PM on March 10 [4 favorites]

Re: Jon1270's recommendation - If they are for the garage, you may not care about the edge-banding (don't know if home depot will do that or not). They have a panel saw and will make two cuts for free, you could get them to rip down a 48"x96" standard sheet to 36"x 96", then cut the other direction for a series of 18" pieces giving you 6 shelves. You could just paint the outer edge white or glue/nail a piece of 1" white pvc molding on to disguise the fact that you used 3/4".
posted by 445supermag at 6:21 PM on March 10

Agreed on picking and ripcutting. Did that with my cabinets, putting in two boards for a wide shelf.

Pins are for sale at hardware stores, too - couple standard sizes. Take one with you to match. Some styles are flat, others grip the shelf.
posted by tilde at 9:58 PM on March 10

Came to suggest what everyone else said - buy your own sheet and cut it. Though I would put the iron-on (or glue on) strips on the exposed edges (not just for appearance, but also splintery badness prevention).

Lowes appears to carry 1" thick melamine boards (was a surprise to me) -- Item #: 353240 | Model #: 593340
posted by k5.user at 8:47 AM on March 11

Thanks all. I guess I was looking in the wrong part of the store or something. I'll go back and look again.
posted by primethyme at 10:26 AM on March 11