Thoughts on what to use for Pantry Shelving Material

[Dan Rude]

Melamine will hold up just fine. I have used it for linen closet. For my pantry I simply used Pine boards with a shellac finish. They have stained over time, I sometimes wipe them down and put a new coat on them. I have also used a plastic sheet material and glued it on plywood. It is the material they use in Milk houses to protect the walls. Here is the description. "Fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) meets the high sanitary standards for healthcare facilities, commercial kitchens and wet areas. FRP wallboard offers easy cleanup with a finish that's made to last and a textured surface to help hide any scratches or imperfections. It is also an excellent product for garage walls, mud and laundry rooms or a basement." It holds up very well. I little more expensive now then when I bought it last. Dan

[Charles Coolidge]

I have 3/4 inch Maple ply shelving in my Kitchen cabinets. 12 years in they are holding up great. Everything is 3/4 inch, cabinet boxes, drawer boxes I upgraded when my house was built. Raised panel doors, drawer fronts, face frames all indestructible 3/4 inch Hickory.

[Thomas McCurnin]

I used 3/4 Oak Plywood with a solid edge band and varnished the heck out of it.

[Michael Schuch]

I despise melamine but it is used for shelving quite a bit with a lot of happy customers.

I would always choose plywood over melamine. I used plywood for all of my shop cabinets. I jointed and planed 2x4 fir to a common "real" dimension then used it to make a frame to hold the plywood for each shelf. (think 1 1/4" x 3" frame for the shelf with a rabbit around the inside to accept the plywood). To fill in any minor blemishes in the plywood and the cracks between the frame and the inset piece of plywood I use good old Bondo! I built a platform and shelves like this for my washer and dryer 18 years ago and the platform outlasted the stupid washer and dryer. This is with the washer and dryer 18" off the ground and 18 years of uneven loads... not a single crack in the Bondo fill. Semi-gloss Oil based paint held up to the washer and dryer without any major blemishes in the white paint in the same 18 years. I had to rip the platform and shelves out when I purchased a new larger laundry set that came with pedestals and were also too deep to fit on the platform.

[Lee Schierer]

I converted a closet into a pantry for my wife. I used full extension soft close slides rated for 100 pounds.
IMG_8729_small.jpgIMG_0405.jpg IMG_0404.jpg
The shelves are made with poplar frame, red oak front panel and a 3/8" plywood bottom. They have been in use since November 2014 with no issues or visible wear.

[John Kananis]

I don't like melamine outside of utility purposes. How about lining the shelves with a colored laminate and edging the shelves with wood to match the rest of the cabinet?

[Justin Rapp]

I converted a closet into a pantry for my wife. I used full extension soft close slides rated for 100 pounds.
IMG_8729_small.jpgIMG_0405.jpg IMG_0404.jpg
The shelves are made with a red oak frame and a 3/8" plywood bottom. They have been in use since November 2014 with no issues or visible wear.

I did the same for our closet-converted to pantry. I used poplar for the sides and ply for the bottom on 100lb full extension slides. I did that about 15-16 years back and it's fine. I didn't finish the wood though, just left it bare and it's fine.

[Michael Drew]

I used 3/4 MDF and applied a good laminate to the top, and oak for the face. Wherever the shelves would span more than about 24", I increased to oak face to 2" to give the leading edge more support. That was about 10 years ago. The laminate is holding up just fine.

[Gary Thinglum]

Thanks for some good ideas to think about. Last night daughter-in-law went thru each thread. She was impressed with all the feedback and ideas. This will give them something to think about and decide how they want to do their pantry.
Thanks again for all the ideas.
Gary

[John TenEyck]

Melamine has been used for millions of kitchens. It is hard, flat, and durable against things like cans, etc. Plywood is a distant second measured against those criteria. Formica is overkill. I built my kitchen out of BORG melamine for the boxes 30 years ago. They are still doing fine.

As has been offered several times, I'd use Melamine on top of the existing shelving. Low cost, low effort, maximum benefit.

John

[Doug Garson]

I'm curious, what is it about the existing wire shelves that they don't like? We have wire shelves in our pantry with plastic containers to hold and organize small items, works fine for us. The open nature of wire shelving is an advantage to avoid mold or mildew.

[Charles P. Wright]

I would use 3/4" plywood, which is what I used for my kitchen shelves (including pantry). If you use hardwood edge banding it should hold up well.