Metal Shelving for Every Need and Purpose

Metal shelving units are sturdy and practical storage and display solutions. They are available in any size, weight capacity, and price range, and in any style from ornate wrought iron to huge industrial units. Metal shelving components are less prone to warping and sagging than wood and composite shelves, and are ideal for storing heavy items in the garage and workshop. Shelving units for home use include ornamental bric-a-brac shelves, wrought iron baker's racks and sturdy steel units. All of these metal shelving devices are excellent for holding heavy tools, paint cans, and sports equipment. Metalworking artists can create one of a kind brackets and shelves for decorative use in your home. Some can incorporate motifs found in the home's architecture or repeat a collector's theme. Traditional wrought iron designs are light and airy and often combined with glass shelves. The popular baker's racks are made this way, and are used as sideboards, display pieces, and even functional kitchen pieces. Many have wine racks built in as part of the design as well. Powdercoated steel is a popular material for modern-style shelving with sleek lines and space-saving features. It is very sturdy and yet lightweight enough to move around easily. Wire shelving, often coated with vinyl, is a common component of closet storage units, and in linen closets and laundry rooms, where air circulation is important.

Kitchens are good places for metal shelves because of their resistance to warping and their ability to withstand frequent scrubbing and sanitizing. Stainless steel is the metal of choice, as in wrapped floating shelves above work spaces and stoves, and in commercial-style wire shelving units with adjustable shelves. Metal provides enough stability for wheeled shelving units, such as used in movable kitchen islands and carts. When these units are made all of wood, they are very large and bulky, suitable only for very large kitchens. Metal units of the same strength and durability can be made much smaller in scale, thanks to the superior tensile strength of metal as opposed to wood. Every home can use utility storage, and here metal shelves really come into their own. Most large home centers carry a wide selection of metal utility shelves that you can assemble yourself. This metal shelving ranges in size and weight from cheap and lightweight units that hold up to twenty five pounds per shelf, to units that can hold five hundred pounds per shelf. Made of galvanized or powdercoated steel, the frames are styled like girders, designed to be bolted together at the corners with heavy reinforcement braces. The shelves themselves can be metal or plywood of varying thickness.

Shelving for commercial use requires both durability and security, which makes metal a natural choice of material. Think of libraries, offices, schools, police stations, hospitals, grocery stores, legal offices and government buildings--almost any place you can think of, there is a need for shelving, usually made of powdercoated, enameled, or stainless steel. Shelving for books and binders has adjustable and even tilting shelves for ease of selecting volumes. Many such shelves are on wheels to be moved from room to room or office to office, making them practical for shared services and special displays. Metal units are sturdier than plastic and lighter than wood, and are thus ideal for mobile shelving. When security is a particular concern, as with medical and legal records, fireproof and theft-proof shelving is required for true peace of mind. These kinds of shelves can be enclosed and and are lockable, and metal is less destructible than other materials. There are many designs available for different office needs, and it is easy to customize these shelving units for size, color, and flexibility. Automotive and similar garages have steel shelving comprised of stacked shallow drawers, which are ideal for storing tools and the countless accessories for air compressors, socket wrenches, and specialized items for auto repair. Likewise, fabricators of all kinds have specialized shelves for their needs. Shallow drawers enable parts to be seen in one layer and found immediately, often in specially-designated slots or spaces. Grocery and other stores use standardized shelving to put the greatest amount of merchandise within the reach of the greatest number of customers. They must be sturdy, not too deep, and easy to clean and maintain. Warehouse stores have amazing industrial-type shelving which soars to the ceiling and are designed to store huge pallets of merchandise accessible only with forklifts. These shelves can hold tons of building supplies and shipping crates of goods straight from boxcars and semis, including stacks of the metal shelving units you would use at home.