DIY Floating Pantry Shelves: How to Build Floating Shelves
Updated October 13, 2026
These DIY floating pantry shelves are two 66 inch shelves I built for the butler’s pantry I made for my brother and sister in law. Each one goes together in an afternoon for about $50 in lumber, and every screw hides in a pocket hole, so there’s not a bracket in sight.
Floating shelf tutorials are all over the internet, and for good reason: they take up almost no space, they make a big impact, and they’re so much cheaper to build than to buy. These ones hold the dishes, they’re sturdy enough for small appliances, and they add a little class to a hard working pantry. Fancy, but make it budget.
How do you build floating pantry shelves?
Screw a 1×2 cleat, a 1×2 face board, and short 1×2 supports into a ladder shaped frame with hidden pocket holes. Glue and nail a 1/4 inch plywood top over it, add square dowel braces underneath, then screw the cleat into the wall studs. Caulk, sand, prime, and paint.
Table of Contents
- How do you build floating pantry shelves?
- Watch the Floating Pantry Shelves Come Together
- Floating Pantry Shelves at a Glance
- Materials and Tools for Floating Pantry Shelves
- Step by Step: How to Build Floating Pantry Shelves
- Step 1: Measure the Wall and Mark the Studs
- Step 2: Cut the Cleat, Face Board, and Supports
- Step 3: Drill Pocket Holes in the Supports
- Step 4: Screw the Frame Together
- Step 5: Add the Plywood Top and Dowel Braces
- Step 6: Caulk and Sand, or Prep for Stain
- Step 7: Hang the Floating Shelves
- Step 8: Prime and Paint
- How Much Do DIY Floating Pantry Shelves Cost?
- More Shelf and Pantry Projects
- 📌 Save These Floating Pantry Shelves for Later
- Floating Pantry Shelves FAQs
- The Bottom Line on Floating Pantry Shelves
Watch the Floating Pantry Shelves Come Together
Here’s the whole build, from the pine frame on the garage floor to the finished shelves on the wall.
Floating Pantry Shelves at a Glance
- Cost: about $100 in lumber for two shelves, plus screws, glue, caulk, and paint
- Time: one afternoon to build, plus drying time for primer and paint
- Size: 66 inches long, about 12 inches deep, and 1 1/2 inches thick
- Difficulty: beginner friendly, with a pocket hole jig, a miter saw, a table saw, a drill, and a brad nailer
- The rest of this pantry: the butler’s pantry cabinets, herringbone countertop, sliding drawers, and a Sharpie accent wall
Materials and Tools for Floating Pantry Shelves
Supplies
Amounts depend on how many shelves you build and how long they are. The links go to exactly what I used.
- 1/4 inch Sande plywood: the shelf tops (one sheet makes four 66 inch tops)
- 1x2x8 ft clear pine boards: the cleat, face, and supports
- 3/4 inch square hardwood dowels: the braces
- 1 1/4 inch brad nails
- 1 1/4 inch pocket hole screws
- Pocket hole plugs
- 2 1/2 inch Spax wood screws: into the wall studs
- Star bits: for the Spax screws
- Wood glue
- Latex caulk
- 220 grit sandpaper
- Primer
- Paint in the color of your choice (mine are white) and a paint brush
Tools
- Kreg pocket hole jig
- Table saw
- Miter saw
- Drill
- Brad nailer
- Stud finder
- Caulk gun
- Orbital sander
- Level
You can find more of my favorite tools and supplies on my Amazon storefront.
Step by Step: How to Build Floating Pantry Shelves
There are a lot of ways to build a floating shelf. A popular one is to build a frame, build a separate box, and slide the box over the frame. This method skips the box entirely: the frame and the shelf are one piece. Fewer cuts, fewer steps, more time to admire your work.
If you’d rather slide a box over a frame, here’s how I built DIY floating shelves for the kitchen, and for a small shelf between two walls, try my DIY floating bathroom shelf.
Step 1: Measure the Wall and Mark the Studs
First things first: measure your space. Mine fit between the tall pantry cabinet and the side wall, so I needed a 66 inch floating shelf strong enough for larger appliances, dishes, and all the overflow that never quite fits in a kitchen. Then grab your stud finder and mark every stud on that wall. The whole shelf hangs on screws driven into those studs, so this little step matters a lot.
Step 2: Cut the Cleat, Face Board, and Supports
Good news: everything in the frame comes from plain 1×2 pine. The cleat is the board that screws to the wall, the face is the front edge you see, and the supports run between them like the rungs of a ladder.
- Cut the cleat and the face to the length of your space. Mine were 66 inches each.
- Cut the supports to your shelf depth minus 1 1/2 inches (the cleat and face are 3/4 inch each). For a 12 inch deep shelf, that’s 10 1/2 inches. I cut one board to 63 inches first and then cut it into six 10 1/2 inch supports.
- Before you cut the supports apart, rip 1/4 inch off the top edge on your table saw. That leaves room for the 1/4 inch plywood to sit flush with the top of the cleat and face.
- Cut the plywood top to the same length, and as wide as the supports. Mine was 10 1/2 x 66 inches.
Once you’re done, you’ll have a bunch of random pieces of wood all over your floor. Totally normal. What I’d do differently: buy the lumber for every shelf at once. I built my first shelf, turned around, and realized I didn’t have enough wood for the second one. Learn from me!
Step 3: Drill Pocket Holes in the Supports
I never compromise on a seamless look, so every screw on these shelves hides in a pocket hole. On each support, drill a pair of pocket holes at both ends, all on the same side. There’s no bottom panel on these shelves, so the frame shows underneath. Face the pocket holes away from where people walk in; my shelves are on the right wall of the pantry, so all my pocket holes face left and you never see them from the door. Sneaky, right?
Step 4: Screw the Frame Together
This is where it starts looking like a shelf. Lay the cleat on the floor and screw a support to each end with pocket hole screws, so you have an open rectangle. Then screw the rest of the supports to the cleat in between. Mine ended up about 12 inches apart; spacing doesn’t need to be exact, but keep supports away from the stud marks so they don’t block the screws you’ll drive into the wall later.
Finish the frame by screwing the face board to the other end of every support. Fill the pocket holes with wood glue and pocket hole plugs so they disappear. At this point it looks like a little ladder lying on your floor, and that’s exactly right.
Step 5: Add the Plywood Top and Dowel Braces
Spread wood glue on the tops of the supports, set the plywood in place, and brad nail it down into each support along the whole length. If your cuts are close, the plywood sits perfectly flush with the cleat and the face, which is one of the most satisfying things in DIY.
Then flip the shelf over. Cut square dowels to fit between the supports (mine were 10 to 11 inches) and brad nail them in from the underside, right behind the face board. These braces stiffen the front edge, so the shelf doesn’t sag under heavy dishes or appliances.
Step 6: Caulk and Sand, or Prep for Stain
Almost there! Caulk the seams where the plywood meets the cleat and the face, let it dry, and sand the whole shelf with an orbital sander and 220 grit sandpaper.
Planning to stain instead of paint? Skip the caulk and use a stainable wood filler in the seams. Sand, apply wood conditioner, and stain before you hang the shelf; it’s much easier on the floor than on the wall.
Step 7: Hang the Floating Shelves
Hang the lower shelf first. Hold it at your height, check it with a level, and drive 2 1/2 inch wood screws through the cleat and the drywall into every stud. Mine fit verrrry snugly between the cabinet and the wall, which is exactly what you want, so I also screwed through the ends into the cabinet on one side and the wall on the other.
For the second shelf, cut two scrap wood spacers to the gap you want between shelves. Set them on the lower shelf, rest the top shelf on them, and move them along the wall as you screw it in, so the spacing stays even and the top shelf stays level.
You might be wondering how a 1/4 inch top holds anything. Each shelf is held on three sides, the back wall, the side wall, and the cabinet. If your floating shelf only touches the back wall, use a thicker plywood top for more stiffness.
Step 8: Prime and Paint
At first, I didn’t paint the undersides of the shelves. Unless you’re lying on the dirty pantry floor (or taking pictures for your website), you’d never notice. Eventually I went back and painted them too, and now they’re white all the way around.
For more on getting a smooth finish, here’s my step by step guide to painting cabinets and furniture.
How Much Do DIY Floating Pantry Shelves Cost?
About $100 in lumber for two 66 inch shelves, or about $50 a shelf. One sheet of 1/4 inch plywood (about $35) makes four shelf tops, the 1×2 pine is about $8 a board and each shelf uses three, and the square dowels are about $4 each. Screws, plugs, glue, caulk, and paint are extra, and you may already have most of them.
Is it cheaper to buy or build floating shelves? Build, by a lot. A ready made 72 inch white floating shelf at Home Depot runs about $380 to $540 for one shelf, and you still have to cut it to fit a 66 inch space.
More Shelf and Pantry Projects
- DIY pantry shelves in my own walk in pantry
- DIY floating bathroom shelf with cleats on three sides
- Brass rail shelf, a high end dupe
- DIY home office built ins
📌 Save These Floating Pantry Shelves for Later
Pin these floating shelves so the measurements are handy when you build your own.
Floating Pantry Shelves FAQs
Building is much cheaper. My two 66 inch floating pantry shelves cost about $100 in lumber together, about $50 each, plus screws, glue, and paint I already had. A ready made 72 inch white floating shelf at Home Depot runs about $380 to $540 for a single shelf, and it may not fit your space. Building also lets you cut each shelf to the exact length of your wall, down to the inch.
Use a cleat. A cleat is a board screwed straight into the wall studs, and the shelf frame is built onto it, so nothing shows below the shelf. On my floating pantry shelves, the 1×2 cleat is the back of the frame, and I drove 2 1/2 inch wood screws through it into every stud. Find and mark the studs before you build, and keep the frame’s supports away from those marks so they don’t block your screws.
It depends on how they’re anchored more than on the wood. Mine are screwed into the studs along the back and into the cabinet and side wall at the ends, so they’re held on three sides, and square dowel braces stiffen the front edge. That’s why a 1/4 inch plywood top is enough for dishes and small appliances. If your shelf only touches the back wall, use a thicker plywood top and screw into every stud.
Measure the tallest thing you’ll store, then add a couple of inches so you can lift it out easily. Twelve to eighteen inches between floating shelves works for most dishes and small appliances. To keep the gap even, I cut two scrap wood spacers to the height I wanted, set them on the lower shelf, rested the top shelf on them, and moved them along the wall while I screwed it into the studs.
Deep enough for what you’ll put on them, and shallow enough that nothing gets lost in the back. Mine are about 12 inches deep, which fits dinner plates and most small appliances. To build a different depth with this method, cut the plywood top and the supports to your shelf depth minus 1 1/2 inches, since the 1×2 cleat and face board add 3/4 inch each.
Yes, and it’s the easiest way to hide every screw. I drilled pocket holes at both ends of each 1×2 support, screwed the supports to the cleat and the face board with 1 1/4 inch pocket hole screws, then filled the holes with glue and pocket hole plugs. On floating shelves with no bottom panel, point the pocket holes away from the door so you don’t see them when you walk in.
One afternoon for the building, plus drying time. Cutting the 1×2 pine and plywood, drilling pocket holes, screwing the frame together, and nailing on the top goes quickly once your measurements are set. Plan extra time for caulk to dry before sanding, and for primer and paint after the floating shelves are hung. If you stain instead, do it on the floor before you hang them.
I used 1×2 clear pine for the cleat, face, and supports, 1/4 inch Sande plywood for the top, and 3/4 inch square hardwood dowels as braces. Pine is light, straight, and easy to paint. Plywood stays flat and won’t warp like a wide board can. If you plan to stain your floating shelves, choose a plywood with a nice face veneer and use stainable wood filler instead of caulk.
The Bottom Line on Floating Pantry Shelves
These floating pantry shelves are a 1×2 pine frame with hidden pocket holes, a 1/4 inch plywood top, and square dowel braces, screwed into the studs for about $50 a shelf. If you tell a friend one thing, tell them to mark the studs first and keep the supports out of their way. Their future self will thank them. Have you built floating shelves before, or are you planning some? Ask me anything in the comments. And if you’re a visual learner, all of my project stories are saved in the highlights on my Instagram account @crystelmontenegrohome.
