Basement Pantry Shelves

Yes, another post with even more shelves. These are going in the unfinished area of the basement that holds the furnace and water  heater. The area is spacious enough to accommodate some good shelves for storage and, because it's inside, I wanted them to look a little nicer than my garage shelves. I settled on these plans for their nicer appearance, even if they were a bit more work.

The first step was to cut a bunch of 2x3 boards using a circular saw, rather than the World's Cheapest Table Saw, which I really do need to replace at some point. The circular saw worked well enough. I used a miter saw to angle the ends of the pieces on the left, which will be inserted at an angle later in the process.


I assembled the cut pieces to 2x4 boards using both nails and glue. Nails will hold it into place while the glue dries, and the glue will ultimately provide a lot of the reinforcement.


All three beams were assembled and ready to go in the basement.


In the basement, the beams were attached to overhead supports. I used furring strips to form the lateral surfaces. My wife dug through the pile at the hardware store to find the straightest ones they had available, which saves some money vs. using common board.


The rest of the furring strips are placed and secured with screws. Then the shelves are filled with food, nicely complementing the small pantry next to our kitchen. Despite appearances, the shelves are sturdy enough to stand on, though we haven't tried that while the glass jars are on them.