DIY Plate Racks: An Open Shelving Option for Traditional Homes

TV cabinet was refinished and topped with a vintage-style plate rack | The Chelsea Project | www.thechelseaproject.com

It seems that open shelving in the kitchen is the hottest thing going. And, honestly, I just love it. But sometimes, the latest trends are hard to fit into existing decor. This was the exact problem I had in my kitchen.

This, and the fact that the kitchen was also small and had very few cabinets. So opening up this precious and much-needed private space didn’t seem like an option.

Then, last spring, when the kitchen refresh got underway, one little spot surfaced that allowed me some kind of creative potential. You see, a few years earlier, we had removed a builder’s grade desk and overhead cabinet unit from a small corner and installed a piece of furniture in its place. During this refresh, I knew that this space….and this piece of furniture…. could be more than what it was now. In fact, it was a total dark, dreary, and out-of-date hot mess. One look makes it clear. There was no place to go, but up.I also knew this space could be and actually needed to be opened up to make it lighter and brighter.So, I buried myself in planning and pinning and drawing and shopping. Only, after a few weeks, I was faced with a sobering reality. The options I found, which were mainly plate racks, were too expensive and were never the right size. By the end of April, the entire kitchen was finished….well….except for the big empty space over this blue chest. It was so disheartening and, at this point, I didn’t know what to do.Then one summer day ran into another. Before I knew it, fall was here. And, I still had a finished kitchen with a big empty space over the blue chest.That’s when I realized it was time to either fish or cut bait. The way I saw it, there were two options. I either had to (A) find an economical way to get a plate rack up there or (B) stop whining about it.

I chose option A.

And, here’s how it all came together.

Step 1: Determine the size

I bought a roll of brown paper from the home improvement store. Then, using the estimated dimensions, a template was cut and hung to create a visual. As you can see, it wasn’t anything high-tech, just a simple template to help find the right scale for the piece. And, yes, the blue tape is recycled from painting. 🙂 It was perfect for this section of the project and another way to cut costs.

Step 2: Build the frame and hanging cleat

Once the template size was confirmed, glasses and plates were laid out on the template to determine the space between shelves. The frame on the left is the back skeleton frame. The shelves will attach through the horizontal pieces and the sides will attach to the verticals. But, first, please remember to counter-sink all of the wood screws (center picture). Then, place this frame against the wall and attach strips of wood to the wall for the unit to hang on. The strips were attached into the studs using extra-long wood screws.

Step 3: Build the front part of the rack

Then, remove the back frame from the wall and, using wood screws, cover with a piece of bead board. After this, the shelves will be attached from the back using wood screws that are drilled through the back horizontals.

Step 4: Add the sides, caulk the seams, and wood putty over the screw heads

Then the sides are attached to the shelves using wood screws. If you look just below the caulk gun, there are wood putty spots where the counter-sunk screws (two screws for each shelf on both sides). Seams that did not require sanding were simply caulked.

Step 5: Glue trim onto the shelf ledges and across the top

I just ran a bead of wood glue on some quarter molding and taped it to the shelf. The tape easily peels away when the glue is completely dry. The same process is used for the top. A piece of scalloped molding is cut to size and glued into place. A bit of caulk should fill in any gaps left by any of the moldings.

Step 6: Paint the unit and hang on the wall

The unit was given a couple of coats of paint, allowed to completely dry, and then hung on the wall via the cleats. Wood screws inserted left, center, and right under each of the shelves secured the rack to the three wall cleats and the top and bottom of the frame into the studs. Yea, that’s a lot of big wood screws. Wood putty, a light sanding, and a touch of paint made the screw heads disappear.