Explore the Ash and Walnut Shelf Unit

This shelf unit answers a question open shelving usually leaves hanging: what do you do with the things you own but do not want on display. The body is built in ash veneer, whilst the legs and the sliding doors are solid ash wood with a walnut-coloured finish, so the darker doors read as panels moving across a lighter frame. Sliding rather than hinged means the doors never intrude into the room, which is why this works in a space where a chair or a walkway sits close to the furniture.

At 84.5 cm wide and 170 cm tall, the proportion is upright without being narrow, giving several shelves of open space above and closed storage where the doors sit. Ash is a pale, straight-grained hardwood with a pronounced growth ring pattern, and taking it to a walnut tone keeps that texture visible whilst deepening the colour. The timber holds FSC 100% chain of custody certification, which tracks the material from a responsibly managed forest through every stage of processing to the finished unit.

Setting Up Your Shelf Unit at Home

Two details make the installation worth doing carefully. First, the unit includes fittings to secure it to the wall, and on a piece of this height that is not optional in a family home. Second, the adjustable feet exist to bridge unevenness in the floor, and they should be set before anything is loaded, because sliding doors are the first thing to reveal a carcass sitting out of true; a door that catches at one end almost always means a foot needs a quarter turn.

In use, treat the open bays and the closed section differently. The visible shelves suit objects with some air around them, a few books, a lamp, a piece of ceramic, whilst the space behind the doors takes the cables, files and boxes that would otherwise clutter the composition. Clean the walnut-finished ash with a soft dry cloth and keep it away from radiators, since solid ash moves more with changes in humidity than the veneered body does, and stable conditions keep the doors running smoothly all year.