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Design Dilemma
bambi_damty

Design Dilemma - Bookcase Depth 20cm or 30cm?

Bee Phillips
4 years ago

Do you prefer a slimmer depth to your bookshelf so your paperbacks fit nicely? Or a more generous depth to accommodate larger books and objects?

We are in the process of working out a bookshelf solution after they have been down in our storage cage for 15 months.

My dilemma is I have a bug bear with books having too much space in front of them. I don’t like pushing them forward so there is space at the back. I also don’t like having double rows of paperbacks. Many shelves are 30cms in depth which swamps a paperback.

We have about 500 books, mostly paperbacks. We have a restricted space in our office to install the shelving. It will be a hard working bookcase and not for object display.

I’ve estimated we need about 1.3m in length (based on average width of 2.54cm.) and about 16 shelves of 78cm.

We’ve landed on the String System after lovingly looking at it for years.

The Floor system which would be ideal in terms of having feet on the floor and coming in a 2 metre height can only accommodate shelves of 30cm and 78cm width.

The Side panel system can accommodate shelves of 20cm by 78cm but will require buying separate panels of either 4 x 50cm or 3 x 75cm.

There’s a part of me that says 30cm seems to be a standard depth for a reason, and it does mean we can put our coffee table books there rather than in alternative deeper shelf.

However any dedicated bookshelf I’ve admired seems to have a much slimmer depth.

It will be installed on a wall where the side profile of the bookshelf will be visible from the entry.

I’ve included photos of the space, one of the String System with 20cm and one of the String System with 30cm.

Would love to know what others who have been in a similar predicament decided!

Featured Answer
  • SonaandDi Taumalolo
    4 years ago

    You could always push your paperbacks to the front of the 30cm shelves, then place a piece of wood (or something) behind them, out of view. This would keep them from wiggling back and they would remain more aligned even when removing them. Good luck

    Comments (9)

    • Bee Phillips
      Original Author
      4 years ago

      Oh and by the way, the door will either be changed to opening outwards or converted to a barn door so there is room for the shelves and for the rug to come forward.

    • Kate
      4 years ago

      It’s your house. Build it to suit your needs.

    • PRO
      Dr Retro House Calls
      4 years ago

      I would go with 30cm depth as it allows more flexibility. I understand what you are saying about paperbacks and wasted space to the front not being a great look, but in my mind it is better to have that space at the front than to have larger books projecting beyond the front of the shelves which is what you would have with 20cm deep shelves. If it is a working library then the number and size of books may change over time and the 30cm depth allows for maximum flexibility.


      On a side note the 78cm long shelves need to be strong enough to support all of the weight of those books. The string shelving you are looking at is usually presented fairly sparsely (as in your photos). Nothing worse than sagging shelves....


      Best of luck,


      Dr Retro

      of Dr Retro House Calls

    • legendaryflame
      4 years ago

      Can you have seperate bookcases, one with deep shelves and another larger one with shallow shelves? Or, and string system wouldn't work here, deep shelves down low and skinner shelves up higher in one unit?

    • PRO
      Duck Duck Goose Design
      4 years ago

      Go with 30cm depth as it is more flexible then when you put your paperback books on the shelves put your hand behind them and make them all even at the front. This way you can also integrate pots or plants or ornaments that break up the books and add more interest.

    • Jo M
      4 years ago

      Could you do a wider shelf lower down and narrow shelves higher up, that way you can have the best of both. Otherwise I would go with the 20cm, I have lots of books too and the big gap at the front of the shelving drives me crazy!

    • PRO
      Helenscolour
      4 years ago

      I would go with standard shelving. Paperbacks can sit at the front along with larger books. That way you are not limited into the future!

    • Bee Phillips
      Original Author
      4 years ago

      Thanks everyone for all the helpful comments. I’m going to see if I can do a bit of a combo - and also pull out the books from storage to assess how many paperback versus large I have. The sad thing is we’re not buying many books since moving to Kindle so what we have may be a pretty solid indicator of our future needs...

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