Imagine your home without shelves. Did you just experience an icy chill down your spine?
It doesn’t bear thinking about, does it? Stuff all over the floor, complete disarray, chaos in every corner.
Come back into the warmth, and embrace the answer that is the humble shelving unit. That such a simple design can restore order is a testament to human innovation. As well as housing all your clutter and essential but unsightly products, they can act as room dividers, creating nooks in open-plan spaces. Choose the right design, like Habitat’s Wave, and it can perform as a focal point in its own right, a piece of form as well as function.
Options focus largely on freestanding looks or wall-mountable, which has the bonus of keeping your floor area clear of stuff. By and large, a shelving unit doesn’t sport doors or a back, marking a difference between cupboards and bookshelves.
We’ve found the best shelving units to buy across all budgets to help you order and streamline your belongings. It’s time to get shellfish.
See the options below
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Habitat Wave Metal Wall Shelves - White
Dimensions: 46 x 15 x 35cm
This small steel design from Habitat magics up storage where before there might have only been a plain wall. The white wave is supported by two bars for additional strength and can be wall-mounted with the right fixings. Fill it with everything from trailing plants to lamps and books.
Buy now £30.00, Argos
Argos Home Round Shelving Unit - Gold
Dimensions: 45 x 10cm
This popular unit makes a statement out of what can sometimes be as ordinary as shelves. It circles two rubberwood levels with two gold-coloured hoops and brackets for adding your fixings. The design makes it a choice for a variety of rooms, from holding bathroom toiletries to an in-tray by your front door.
Buy now £30.00, Argos
Borough Wharf 5 Shelf Shelving Unit
Dimensions: 165 x 84.5 40cm
A storage behemoth for both inside and outside the home, this unit is made up of both shallow and deep shelves, giving all sorts of belonging a place to call home. Set it in the kitchen as a larder extension, or take it outdoors to the garden to house your plant nursery.
Buy now £132.99, Wayfair
Habitat Kids Mountain Shape Wall Shelving Unit
Dimensions: 23.5 x 50 x 12cm
Everything in a child’s bedroom requires some degree of imagination - it’s where young minds go to play and dream, after all. Transform something as pedestrian as shelves into a display reminiscent of the Himalayas thanks to Habitat’s whimsical mountain design. The playful look is made from MDF and can bear up to 5kg, so it’s perfect for their favourite bedtime books, a nightlight or perhaps a few choice toys.
Buy now £22.00, Argos
Dunelm Fulton Wall Shelf with Hooks Pine
Dimensions: 31 x 100 x 30cm
A unit that not only has space to hang coats, umbrellas and bags, but a shelf too for additional storage. How’s that for a smart design? The hanging bar means you can fold towels over it too, making it an option not only for your hallway but your bathroom too.
Buy now £40.00, Dunelm
Dunelm Modular Gold & Light Oak 5 Shelf Wide Shelving Unit
Dimensions: misc
A shelving unit that arrives as a jigsaw but one that you can make up exactly as you please. This bundle is made up of two five-tier modular shelving unit plus extra shelves and supports. If you’re one for DIY, you’ll be delighted at the level of self-assembly involved.
Buy now £330.00, Dunelm
Symple Stuff Grissom 180cm 4 Shelf Shelving Unit
Dimensions:180 x 120 x 45cm
Made from hard-wearing metal and wood, this shelving unit will appeal to those with industrial tastes. Each shelf can be adjusted to the required height, so you should be able to store everything from kitchen appliances to vacuum cleaners with ease.
Buy now £75.99, Wayfair
Ebern Designs Geneen 137cm 4 Shelf Shelving Unit
Dimensions: 137 x 50 x 7cm
Serving as both decor and storage, this ladder was originally designed for storing blankets, yet each ‘step’ is deep enough to display a few treasured knick-knacks. The pine wood structure has non-slip feet to keep it from sliding against hard floors.
Buy now £38.99, Wayfair
John Lewis + Swoon Brunel Wide Shelving Unit, Brown
Dimensions: 195 x 110 x 38cm
The result of a JLP x Swoon collaboration, this handsome unit has been made in India with a mix of Acacia walnut wood, MDF and brass cladding. There are six shelves, each able to bear 25kg with wood or metal accents to help you organise on the surface too. One to sit pride of place in your living room.
There’s a narrower version here (£599).
Buy now £799.00, John Lewis
IKEA Lack wall shelf unit
Dimensions: 30 x 190cm
Give your home what it ‘Lacks’ with everyone’s favourite flatpack furniture specialist, IKEA. The store is known for clever storage solutions - not to mention great value prices - and this unit is a textbook example. The narrow wall-mounted shelving unit can slip into the smallest of spaces and tightest of nooks for any room that could use a bit of calm and orderliness.
Buy now £65.00, IKEA
