Glass Shelves

What are the benefits of glass shelves?

Wondering what the unique benefits are that make glass shelves a superior alternative to traditional shelving materials like wood or metal?

Most obvious is their visual appeal, as glass shelves can be mounted with minimally visible supports, providing an overall appearance of impressive ‘floating shelves’. As the shelves are see-through, they’re perfect for displaying decorative items to be viewed from various angles.

Though you do need to be careful to avoid overloading glass shelves – as you would also with any other type of wall-mounted shelf – they can be installed practically anywhere and used to display and store a variety of items.

Whether you have lots of collectibles in your lounge, cosmetics in your bedroom, hygiene products in your bathroom, ingredient jars in your kitchen, or office supplies in your workspace, you can keep them out of the way – yet visible and accessible – in an aesthetically appealing fashion.

As they allow light to pass through them, glass shelves also provide an opportunity to get creative with artistic lighting, such as underlighting beneath the shelves.

Additionally, toughened glass shelves are very low-maintenance. They’re resistant to scratches and stains, won’t warp or rot, and the smooth surface is easy to wipe clean – especially if you opt for a polymer coating that repels water, scum, rust, and mineral deposits.

How thick should a glass shelf be?

To ensure that pieces of glass are safe to use as shelves, they are made from tempered glass, which is several times stronger than standard glass and therefore much harder to break. If it does break from a heavy impact, it will crumble into pebble-like pieces without sharp edges.

That said, it’s still essential to make sure that you choose glass shelves with the right dimensions to support your intended use. The larger the surface area of the shelf, the thicker it should be.

We provide glass shelves made to measure here at Express Toughening, allowing you to specify measurements for rectangle, triangle, or quadrant shelves starting from 250mm by 100mm with a minimum thickness of 6mm.

This thickness is suitable for light items only, with 8mm or 10mm shelves suited to larger shelves with more to store on them. If glass shelving is required for a greater quantity of items or several heavier items, 12mm or 15mm may be a safer bet.

The right thickness also depends on the installation method, as the manufacturer of the mounting components you use will specify the limitations of the system for safe use. The chrome-plated shelf supports we supply can be used for shelves up to 15mm thick and a maximum weight of 10kg.

How do you install glass shelves?

While the finished look of a ‘floating shelf’ is certainly eye-catching, it must be secured to the wall safely to prevent the shelf from falling and potentially causing damage.

Screw-fixed metal brackets are one of the most common methods for mounting glass shelves because they are relatively small, simple, and minimalistic, complementing the modern aesthetic without distracting from the clarity of the glass.

Glass shelves can be anchored to walls using purposefully designed shelf supports, which ‘clamp’ them in place with rubber gaskets to keep the shelf secure and protected. The number of brackets you need per shelf will depend on the size of shelf.

The chrome-plated brackets we offer at Express Toughening come in packs of two, and can be used for any shelf material within the weight restrictions – not just glass – in thicknesses from 3mm to 15mm and a maximum shelf width of 600mm.

If your shelf is longer than this, you will need more brackets per shelf – and, of course, if you have multiple glass shelves to mount, be sure to order enough supports for all of them.