When you are looking for a new bookcase or shelving unit for the home or office, you will be faced with a choice of literally hundreds of items. So how do you work out what is the best choice for you? Let us take you through the key points to consider when choosing a new bookshelf.
Choice of materials
Whilst on the face of it there are a lot of different materials to choose from when picking a new bookshelf, they can be distilled down into three distinct types which have their own characteristics, as well as pros and cons.
Solid wood bookcases. These are the originals, and provide you with the most durability and sense of quality. Depending on the wood used these can towards the top end of the cost scale, solid oak bookcases for instance are expensive, but very much built to last.
Solid wood shelving units due to the fact they use real wood are ideal if you are looking to create a sense of opulence in your space and are perfect for creating a country or farmhouse vibe as well as bring a sense of class to your office space.
Metal frame shelving units. These are perfect for modern and also minimalist interiors and use wood or wood effect shelving on a metal frame. Typically these will have no back or sides so are good if you are aiming to create a sense of light or space. Finish on the metal framework is typically either black or chrome in the majority of cases, although other options are available.
With these industrial style bookcases you have a wider range of shelving options to suit your need, which makes them ideal if you are looking for a bookcase to double as a display unit for photos and other items of home décor. The stepped levels between shelves that you can get with these are great for breaking up the straight lines you would associate with more traditional bookcase designs.
MDF & Particle Board. This is an incredibly versatile material that comes in a huge range of finishes to be able to provide a colour or style match to whatever you are looking to achieve in your living room or home office. Because of the nature of the material, it means that you can buy cheap bookcases very easily if you go for this option, making it perfect if you are on a budget.
Modular & Cube Shelving Units
If you are looking at shelving to break up a long or wide room, then this is a good choice to consider, the stacked cube effect of this shelving provides a good level of storage, without relying on the long straight lines of a more traditional style of shelving unit. You can also get options that provide a stepped effect with the shelving unit getting taller at one end.
Cube shelving units provide you with very versatile storage and display space, but because they have more panels, are also the most time consuming to build initially.
Bookcase with doors
They hybrid storage option of a bookcase with doors is a great solution for busy living or working spaces where you want to have a bookshelf for display purposes, but also need storage space to keep clutter hidden out of site. These are available in both solid wood, and also as a cheap bookcase made from MDF or particle board for those looking for a cost effective storage solution that solves two problems in one go
Anti tip brackets – safety first
We always in conjunction with the manufacturers we work with recommend any bookcase more than 50cm tall is secured to the wall with a simple mounting bracket. This is particularly important if you have either pets or small children in the home. These are included as standard on most items and can be attached in a matter of minutes to help avoid injury in the future. Any bookcase or shelving unit that does not include one, but you would like one, please get in touch and we will happily send you one out free of charge.
