Cable Shelf Brackets for Wood and Glass Shelves

The Cable Shelf Brackets are definitely a designer way of hanging glass or wood shelves. They are a suspension system. The space used by the bracket system is above the shelf for the majority of it. Stainless steel cables start on the wall above the shelf, string through the rear bracket and then under the shelf to the front bracket, and then from the front bracket back up to the starting point, creating a nice right triangle. Cables are long enough to support up to 16" deep shelves. The Cable Shelf Brackets are packaged as a pair, and the shelf kit will come as a pair of brackets with a tempered glass shelf. All mounting hardware is included for stud mounting. Toggle bolt mounting is optional and suggested when you cannot align with studs. For longer shelves, you can attach a third or even a fourth bracket for greater support.

Multiple shelves can be stacked one above another taking into consideration the up and down spacing in relation to the shelf depths. One of the expanded pictures below will show several shelves above each other. The shelf kits come with brackets for the 3/8" to 1/2" thick shelves. When considering using your own wood shelves with the bracket packs, you would opt for the 5/8" to 3/4" size.

For use with your own glass or wood shelf

We were asked what spacing guide to follow when stacking one shelf above another, or 3, 4, or more per wall. Expo Design has given us this guideline. Each bracket (cables) forms a triangle coming out from your wall. One on each end of the shelf as you can see from the pictures below. From the screw hole in that top bracket (the peak of the triangle) to the BOTTOM of the shelf, that will be the interval of spacing in the following table. It is based on the depth of your shelf.

For 4" deep glass, spacing from screw hole to bottom of shelf is 17-1/2". Thus if you plan your shelves to be 18-1/2" apart in height (or more), you are good.

For 5" deep glass, then 16-7/8".

6" deep = 16-1/4"

7" deep = 15-5/8"

8" deep = 14-7/8"

9" deep = 14"

10" deep = 13-1/8"

11" deep = 12-1/8"

12" deep = 11-1/4"

13" deep = 10-1/8"

14" deep = 9"

15" deep = 7-5/8"

16" deep = 6-1/4" (max depth shelf is 16")

Basically, the more cable that is used on the underside of the shelf as the shelf gets deeper reduces the amount of cable available for the vertical stretch. The amount used on the hypotenuse stays pretty even on all sizes of depths, but the vertical lessens as the shelves deepen.

PLEASE consider this too when setting up your design. Although as your deeper shelves can have less spacing between them when stacking multiple shelves, this does not mean that you should space them too close together. With one shelf too close to the one below it, how would you place and take things off that shelf easily? Your spacing must depend upon how you plan to use the shelves also. Look at the picture immediately below. It has books on it. Yes, we may not grab any of those books for the next 5 years, they might just sit there; but then again, we may be referring to this tiny library on a weekly basis. We would want the shelves with enough clearance between them so we do not bang our knuckles on the shelf just above. So this spacing guide has more relevance for narrower depth shelves than it does deeper shelves. Although you can space 16" deep shelves about 7" apart, you probably would not want to. But on 6" to 8" deep shelves, yes, you may want them as close together as you can get them.

When in doubt, it never hurts to get a big piece of cardboard and draw your multiple shelves and the triangle shapes of the cables on the cardboard (as an end view). Then hold that up to your wall and look at it. This can assist you in spacing that will look great, and still be functional.

Expo Design summary | The Curve Clip and glass shelf kits | The Shelf Clip and glass shelf kits | Cable Shelf Brackets and glass shelf kits | Corner glass shelf kits | The Big Hook and glass shelf kits | Tempered Glass Shelf selections (glass only)