DIY Open Kitchen Shelving

I love a good D I Y project, and these days it seems that open kitchen shelving is all the rage. I planned exactly that, in my new kitchen.
I realize that to some of you, the fact that I have a new kitchen is news. But if you follow along on Instagram or Facebook you would know that we have a big riding barn that contains our new home and two bunkhouses.  The barn is the brainchild of my other half and was built primarily for our use by our non-profit, Project H3LP!

The bunkhouses will house our interns (if you’ve not learned about that project, now is as good a time as any), and ranch vacationers, because well, who wouldn’t want to come vacation in this paradise?

But enough about the stuff that has nothing to do with why you’re here reading, right? Let’s get into this cool project. 

I wanted this super cool, Fasade backsplash (BTW – they have no idea who I am) to show up behind the shelves. Yet, I wanted them to float. So, I had to figure out how to make both work. 

My solution — 125+ year old barn wood (2x8s) from an old building here on the place, threaded rod, washers, and nuts placed between our hickory cabinets and walnut butcher block counter top.

Once the boards were trimmed and domino-ed together (if you need details on those steps, please leave a comment), my super smart, very talented other half, put both shelves, together with the top shelf, so he could drill his pilot holes all the way through. The holes had to be dead on, since we were putting threaded rod through all the holes. 

Clamps are good for a lot of things. 

Once he got the holes drilled this is what you’re left with:

He totally did this project on Super Bowl Sunday, in between my cooking projects. Which is why there’s stuff everywhere in all the photos. But hey, if someone who is helping you wants to work, when it’s convenient for them, you just go with it.

Here, you can also clearly see the joint in the boards. The boards are 8″ wide, and standard upper kitchen cabinets are 12″ deep. I needed these to be just shy of 11.5″ so that they’d sit behind the “lip” of the wall cabinets, and not pressure my backsplash too much. So Burt, our cousin/hired man/carpenter/smart ass extraordinaire, ripped the boards, for me, and then my BIL Bud, used his fancy wood shop tools to join them together with dominos. If I’d have been thinking, I’d have taken photos of that part too (that part may have actually been a snapchat — @thesdcowgirl). These boards are rough, and I left them as such. The smooth side is up, so the dishes will rest nicely on them.

Now it’s time to run the threaded rod through the holes.

We put a washer and nut on each side of each shelf to help hold it.

This is 5/8″ threaded rod, in case anyone is wondering. I bought 72″ lengths just to make sure I had enough. It’s easily cut with an angle grinder.

Now, let’s get these buggers installed.

And there you have it, folks — rustic, beautiful shelves that are floating and open.

Happy Trails and Happy DIYing!