Canning is one of those rare ‘guilt-free’ hobbies of mine because it’s super practical and very delicious! It does however, take up a lot of space and in a small house, space is valuable. So we knew we would have to custom build canning shelves into our new small home. These shelves are placed in a narrow “hallway” that leads to just enough space for a washer and dryer chest freezer.

These shelves are:

• wooden
• strong
• free standing (but anchored to the wall)

They can fit:

• Waterbricks along the bottom (hold dry grains we buy in bulk)
• Quarts single height and 2 deep
• Pints single height and 2 deep with a 3rd placed if placed “in-between” two jars.
• Half-pints double height and 3 deep

Measurements:

Total height: 7 feet and a 1/2 inch

Total width: Interior shelf space 27 1/4inch. Entire shelf width 30.3inches

Shelf depth: 10inches

Shelf spacing: The bottom area from floor to underside of the first shelf is just shy of 20.5inches. Then the distance between each shelf is just shy of 8.5inches

Backing: 1/4inch plywood sized for just shy of the height (7ft 0.5in) and width (30.3inches)

Top: We made this piece wider for more area to store dry goods. 11 1/4 depth X 30.3 length.

Materials:

• Wood: we used one inch furniture grade premium wood from Home Depot (we found them to have nicer wood than Lowes)
• Wood glue
• Nail gun (we bought this small portable Bostitch air compressor that came with several tools including the ‘finish nail gun’ we used.)
• Table saw (We use this portable Kobalt one from Lowes-it has been great for our small space because it folds up when not in use)
• Sandpaper (we used  120 and 220 grit)
• Stain (we used Ipswitch Pine by Miniwax)
• Clear coat (we used Miniwax Clear Satin Polyurethane)
• Foam brushes for applying stain the clear coat.

The Process:

The way we built these did use a lot of wood, but it also made them very strong. We had never made shelves before this, so I feel like this method was a good fit for our beginner skills. We cut two side pieces that were the full height and depth of the shelves. We then cut a “second set” of sides, but this time each piece was the depth and height of one shelf. These were separated by spacers cut from the same wood width that the shelves would be made. As you’ll see in the pictures below, we then glued and nailed the pieces to the one long side and then removed the spacers and slid in the actual shelves. Once assembled we sanded, stained, and sealed with a clear coat.

Pictures below of how we put them all together

Prevailing Parent

Hi there! I’m Kaley, prevailing parent and wife, but also just me; stubborn lover of DIY everything, outdoors, and chocolate. Read more about myself and my family under the “Parenting” > “About My Family” tabs.