Increase storage and decorative space with soffit shelving.
In the kitchen, the soffit is the wall area below the ceiling and several inches above the kitchen cabinets. Some remodelers leave this area open or fill it in with drywall-covered boxes, but you can add shelving to the walls. Shelves within the soffit can greatly increase your storage space, or you can fill the area with decorative items. Soffit shelves can be constructed of hardy, solid wood boards and supported by cast iron or wooden brackets. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Measure down from the ceiling or up from the tops of the cabinets where you want to place the soffit shelves. In most rooms 8 feet high, the area above the cabinets measures approximately 12 to 18 inches tall. Consider installing the shelves 4 to 5 inches above the tops of the kitchen cabinets. This will create a distinctive horizontal line that will complement the room and afford you plenty of shelf space.
2. Draw a pencil line around the room's perimeter where the bottom of the shelf boards will sit. Use the level as you and your assistant measure and draw a level line around the perimeter.
3. Use the stud finder to locate the studs in the wall cavities along the perimeter line you just drew. Mark every stud location with a long line, perpendicular to your perimeter line.
4. Measure and cut strips of 1-inch-wide, quarter-round molding. Squeeze the bottle of wood glue and apply a thin bead of glue on one of the flat sides of the quarter-round molding. Position the molding so the rounded side faces downward toward the cabinets and the unglued flat side of the molding faces up toward the ceiling. Press the glued edge of the molding onto the wall along your level perimeter line. This molding serves as a miniature support shelf for your shelving boards and also hides any uneven gaps between the walls and the shelving boards.
5. Pre-drill holes in the molding strips at the stud locations. Hammer in 1-inch finish nails. Use the nail punch to inset the finish nail slightly below the wood's surface.
6. Measure the length of the soffit space for your 1-by-8 shelving boards. Cut the boards to length. Sand the edges and surfaces of the boards with 100-grit sandpaper to remove burrs, splinters and rough areas.
7. Stain or prime and paint the boards. If you stain the boards, apply a semi-gloss polyurethane sealer after the stain has dried. Allow the boards to dry completely.
8. Place each shelf board on top of the quarter-round molding strip. Have your assistant hold up the board while you work. Place a cast iron or wooden bracket upside-down onto the top side of the board (the board's surface that faces up toward the ceiling). The other flat side of the bracket should press against the wall at a stud location mark.
9. Drive two 1-inch wood screws through the bracket and into the shelf board. Drive 1 1/2-inch wood screws through the bracket and into the wall stud.
10. Continue securing brackets to the boards every 3 feet or so along the wall. Always screw the bracket into a wall stud.
11. Install any additional shelf boards in the same manner.
Tags: bracket into, perimeter line, quarter-round molding, shelving boards, wall stud
