One of the essential accessories in a garage, in a garden, outside or even inside the house is an aluminum shelf. You can store many things in it, place plants in it, and give them many other uses.
But are we buying the cheapest? And if we want it to last for many years, what should we pay attention to? If, like us, you want to make a smart purchase, here are some keys to keep in mind.
Contents
Top 1. The best aluminum shelves
advantages
- It is modular.
- It can be mounted in several ways.
- Each bucket contains 10 kilos.
The inconvenients
- It may arrive in bad condition
- It rusts easily.
- Missing pieces.
Selection of aluminum shelves
Whether it’s because it’s small, big, because it doesn’t fit what you’re looking for… here are some other pretty interesting options.
Amazon Basics 3-Shelf Bookcase with Casters
This aluminum shelf is ideal for a kitchen, garage, office… It has only three shelves and its maximum load is 68.03 kilos. No tools required for assembly.
SONGMICS aluminum shelf
This bookcase is square type, with shelves of 30 x 30 cm and a height of 123.5 cm. It is made of quality powder coated steel and each shelf is customizable in terms of height.
Amazon Basics 5-Shelf Bookcase with Casters
With a size of 76 x 36 x 152 cm and 156 cm in height, with wheels included, each shelf will support approximately 20 kilos. The racks are adjustable in 1 inch increments and you won’t need any tools to mount them.
SONGMICS Wire Shelf with Basket
Measuring 60 x 30 x 150 cm and with a total load of 100 kilos, this aluminum shelf has five fully customizable levels.
Best of all, the shelves are basket-style, so they have a bit of depth, which is great when you don’t want things knocked over.
Hans Shourup Blueracking – Shelves
It is a shelf composed of 5 shelves and a capacity of up to 90 kilos. Its dimensions are: 180 x 80 x 40 cm.
It installs without the need for screws and the shelves are height adjustable. In addition, it has plastic feet.
Aluminum Shelving Buying Guide
Purchasing aluminum shelving may seem easy; but in reality it is not so much. If you want it to last a long time, you can’t go for the first one you see which is the cheapest because, most likely, if you haven’t considered some factors, it won’t work for you in the end.
For example, imagine you want it to place documents. But it does not support too much weight, suddenly you can see that it has broken, fallen… On the contrary, if you had paid attention to the design, to the weight that each shelf supports, etc. it wouldn’t have happened.
For all that, how about we help you know what to look for when buying an aluminum shelving unit?
Cut
Let’s start with the size. As you know, there are many shelves of different sizes on the market: higher, wider, deeper… Our recommendation is that when choosing one, the first thing to do is to measure the hole where you want to place it. This way, you will know the ideal size you are looking for. Anything that falls outside of these metrics is automatically rejected, as it won’t work for you.
Of course, you need to control not only the height and width, but also the depth (i.e. how much will protrude from the shelf).
Charge
A fundamental aspect when buying a shelf is knowing what you are going to put on it. Is it going to be something light or, on the contrary, is it going to be heavy? The reason for this is that depending on what you want to put on, you will need to know each shelf’s ability to hold the weight, as not all shelves are the same.
If you place a lot of weight on a shelf that doesn’t support it, it’s normal for it to bend or even worse, break and compromise the condition of whatever’s under that shelf. Or even worse, break the whole shelf at once.
Color
Think that because it’s an aluminum shelf you’ll only find it in grey? Although they are the majority, there are actually many other colors where you can choose from, black, white, or even with shades of brown like wood.
This helps it blend in better with your decor and gives you more options. Of course, not all shelving models have all colors; sometimes you will only find a few.
Price
Finally, how about the price? Of course, it will differ in terms of materials, size, color and even the design of the shelf, being more or less economical for your pocket.
In general, the price range among those who “play” with aluminum shelves is between 15 and more than 1,000 euros in some cases.
Or buy?
You already know more things to watch from an aluminum shelf. Now you must know some stores where you could find the one that meets all your requirements. So we took a look at a few stores and here’s what we think of the products they carry.
Amazon
Although this is where you find more installations, many of these shelves are similar or equal to each other. So there are not really many different products (in this case, in other stores they have more options). Even so, yes, some are cheaper than others and can serve you for your purposes.
Now watch out for the prices as some are inflated and these models are cheaper in other stores.
Ikea
Ikea has a special section of metal shelves of different brands and models where you will find a wide variety. That’s the good thing, I’m sure you’ll find the perfect one for you here.
Regarding the prices, they are not too expensive, especially if we take into account that there are shelves at 15 euros or less.
Leroy Merlin
With more than a thousand items to choose from, we can say that at Leroy Merlin, it is difficult not to find what you are looking for when it comes to metal shelves. In addition, you can choose taking into account the use you are going to give it, the color, the materials, the assembly, the height, the width or the depth and even the type of load you are going to put. above.
If we look at the prices, yes, they are a little more expensive than in the previous store, but even so, the variety it offers you and the quality can be worth it.
Now it’s up to you, do you already know which aluminum shelf you are going to buy?