Wire shelving - no casters or casters, opinions wanted

[curls]

Looking for your opinions and experiences... I am planning to put some wire shelving in my chocolate & confections kitchen. The kitchen has a concrete floor. This shelving will hold ingredients, colored cocoa butters, and packaging. Wondering if I should get casters for this shelving... what are your thoughts on this oh so important question?  ;-)

[btbyrd]

I have two racks in my home kitchen: one for appliance storage and one for dry goods storage. Neither have casters because I never need to move them (except for cleaning purposes). If these will be in a fixed location, casters aren't really necessary... although wheels do facilitate pulling them out from the walls and cleaning behind/underneath them. 

[Martin Fisher]

Love them!

I have 6 sets — Webstaurantstore's Regency brand, but no casters.

[KitchenQueen]

I have  7 Seville Classics.Most of them the very large ones. 6-7ft tall?   I am completely happy with them.  If there's a better brand, I don't need it.   With or without casters,  Mine are about half casters,half without.  Damned good product.  Sturdy, Well made.  You can order any shelf size you like, any height you like.  I learned after my first one I wanted  the deeper shelves.  They will NOT buckle. These things hold a ton of weight.

 

[KitchenQueen]

Duh, it would be great if I'd read the question first. Definitely get the casters.  When you need to clean, you'll thank me.

 

 

[dcarch]

Casters.

You can take them off if at some point when you really feel that you don't need them.

Can't do it the other way around.

 

dcarch

 

 

[curls]

Very good point @dcarch.

[JeanneCake]

Yes, get the casters. What KitchenQueen said!   I have a bakery, and everything is on wheels so we can move things (tables, shelving, the convection ovens, the display case - the only thing not on wheels is the 30 qt Hobart) around to clean.  At least for me, another advantage is the caster raises the lowest shelf to the 6-inch floor clearance required by the BOH.

 

If you are doing your own version of Metro shelving, get the heavy-duty casters.  You don't want to have filmsy casters. They'll bend over time.

[dcarch]

make sure they are locking casters.

 

dcarch

[andiesenji]

Read the weight capacity with and without casters.

 

I have a bunch of the tall ones and for heavy storage, can't use the casters.  Without the casters the weight capacity is three times what it is with the casters.

I found out the hard way when I was loading one, with the casters, with boxes of books.  Fortunately I had just filled the bottom three shelves when the thing began to list to one side.  Unloaded it, looked at the caster - the screw was bent that screws into the upright.

 

Some heavy duty ones are rated higher but not all.

[Chocolot]

Are your floors level? You can level legs, not casters.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

1 hour ago, Chocolot said:

Are your floors level? You can level legs, not casters.

 

My floors are not level at all, influencing my oven. I live in an older house, only from the 1970's but not particularly well built or maintained, thanks to the land lord. Cakes are, well... interesting. I've quit trying to make layer cakes, because even if you turn the layers thick to thin side it really doesn't result in an acceptably level cake. I also fight with my microwave door, because it wont stay open due to the swayed floor and gravity. When I am putting a hot casserole back into the nuker, where I need both potholdered hands, I will let the door fall into my head to hold it open. Gotta watch out for the sharp latch hitting you in the eye!  

 

Bundt cakes work best for me because I can always cut off the higher side of the cake, flip it, and glaze it and it looks normal.  The cut off portion is, of course, quality control/cook's treat.

 

I have a decorative bakers rake in the dining room. No casters, although they would probably work with my sway backed house if they locked. I intended to use it for a bakers rack, but since I just about live in my kitchen, personal belongings end up there instead along with decorative stuff on the top one of the four shelves. It's right next to my chair in the dining area of the kitchen. Everything ends up there, and I need to give it good sorting, as is usual.

 

I just love shelves and wish I had room for a lot more. I don't know how I would feed about the industrial-looking kitchen shelves linked to here, because my kitchen is very large, attached to a dining area which doubles as our living room. The big TV is in there, and that's where we spend most of our time.

 

I especially love the wall-mounted wire shelves mounted above the washer and dryer. They are indispensable to me. I keep detergent, dryer sheets, rags for cleaning and old rugs for the cats up there. They also hold coolers for what used to be boat camping trips and now they are mostly used for extended power outages for hurricanes or ice storms.

 

I agree with the opinions about wanting casters in a more production-focused kitchen, though. My bakers rake has a leaf and vine pattern painted in textured black that just feels like it might melt if I put a hot pan on it. I don't know, because soon after I bought it, all my stuff, including my purse started migrating there.

 

I have bookshelves and pantry shelves that go nearly to the 8'/2.44 meters ceiling. Living here would not be nearly as comfortable without them. No castors, but I am just a home cook who pretty much lives in her kitchen when I'm not sleeping or out, which a rare occurrence. The bakers rack is very light once my stuff is unloaded from it. I am certain I would give it a thorough cleaning underneath more often if it was on rollers, though. The book/pantry shelves are very heavy and I suspect they're made of press/particle board laminated with some kind of thick white vinyl or other plastic. It's okay though, because they are flush with the floor and nothing can get under them. My husband took these off a job site (with permission, of course) he was working, else they went into the construction dumpster. You would not believe what some rich people/companies trash.

 

I also backed four of the bookshelves with some wooden slats that are laminated onto heavy canvas fabric much like a roll top desk has. There's also a piece cut to fit one of the black-painted shelves on the bakers rack that I use the most. This roll top desk material was also salvaged off a job site. I think it's oak, but I can't swear to that.

[curls]

Excellent points everyone! As I should have expected plenty of valid reasons for both choices. Will check the levelness of my floor & weigh the stuff that I plan to shelve and then make a decision. If I had room for two shelves, I could get one of each. LOL.

[dcarch]

1 hour ago, curls said:

Excellent points everyone! As I should have expected plenty of valid reasons for both choices. Will check the levelness of my floor & weigh the stuff that I plan to shelve and then make a decision. If I had room for two shelves, I could get one of each. LOL.

 

With locking casters, levelness of the floor may not be a problem.

If you intend to storage heavy items, and you are in an earth quake zone, please check your local Code for anchoring the shelves.

 

dcarch

[paulraphael]

My biggest argument against casters is that they're shockingly expensive. I priced out some wire shelving a couple of years ago and the casters cost more than than everything else put together.

 

I ended up improvising some light duty ones (which required some drilling ... I used the kinds that go on the bottom of a desk chair). But if you want the standard heavy duty ones that go with the shelving, you need to be a smarter shopper than me or plan a bigger budget.

[dcarch]

$150 for this chrome shelving unit plus locking casters:

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-48-in-W-x-72-in-H-x-18-in-D-Decorative-Wire-Chrome-Finish-Commercial-Shelving-Unit-6T60184872C/100655787?MERCH=REC-_-SearchPLPHorizontal1_rr-_-NA-_-100655787-_-N

 

600 lbs capacity.

 

dcarch

[Porthos]

I vote casters.

 

If one is a Costco member you can get the 6 Shelf NSF-rated unit, with the rear ledge uprights to prevent things falling off of the back, and with castors (72" X 48" X 18") at the store for $90-100 depending on the phase of the moon.

[curls]

@Porthos thanks for the tip about Costco & the rear ledge uprights. @dcarch thanks for the Home Depot link. It is nice to have two local solutions and avoid shipping costs.

 

Mail order I have found a good selection at ULine, WebRestaurant, and Seville Classics (thanks for the mention @KitchenQueen, I did not know about them).

[dscheidt]

23 hours ago, Chocolot said:

Are your floors level? You can level legs, not casters.

Depends on the casters.  Metro-style shelving isn't usally equipped with them, but there are plenty of casters that allow adjustments.  Some by lifting the wheel off the ground, others by raising the wheel.  

[paulraphael]

18 hours ago, dcarch said:

$150 for this chrome shelving unit plus locking casters:

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-48-in-W-x-72-in-H-x-18-in-D-Decorative-Wire-Chrome-Finish-Commercial-Shelving-Unit-6T60184872C/100655787?MERCH=REC-_-SearchPLPHorizontal1_rr-_-NA-_-100655787-_-N

 

 

Great find. I was shopping Amazon and the restaurant stores. Never saw a set of the casters for $40.

[Panosmex]

We bought two, 4-shelf units at Home Depot, Morelia, Mexico for home storage. No casters, as the units are easy enough to clean under. (We have all ceramic tile floors.) The two larger ones are in our capacious hallway, and used for dry ingredient storage and my extensive collection of SnapWare.

 

Also started out with two small, 3- wire shelf units, also from Home Depot. They fit nicely in small niche spaces in and around the kitchen. All my pots and pans are on one, miscellaneous plastic freezer containers on another, (I have a lot), baking pans and sheets on another. Getting these shelves revolutionized my kitchen in terms of ease of work and access to pans.