# Forum Home Renovation Kitchens  calculating shelf spaces

## macklin

How do i calculate how many shelves and the spacing measurments. 
IE if I have a cupboard say 7ft high and I want 6 shelves (or any amount)
how do I calculate the spaces. hope I made myself clear ????????  
thanks   
john amcklin

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## Ashore

Why Do I get the feeling your fishing  :Rolleyes: 
Take the total thickness of the shelves and subtract this from the inside measurment of the cupboard
Divide the remaning space by the number of shelves and this gives you the distance between shelves for equally spaced shelves 
ie.. if shelves are 2' thick each then total thickness is 6 x 2" = 1'
7' - 1' = 6'
6' (divided by No of shelves) 6 =1'
bottom of first shelf is 1' from the bottom of the cupboard the bottom of the next shelf is 1' from the top of the first shelf etc etc :Biggrin:

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## Sybarite

I may be putting my foot in it here, but don't you have to add one more space than the number of shelves? 
i.e. 600mm internal, 2 x 16mm Shelves. 
(600 - 32) x 1/3 = 189.333* between base, first shelf, second shelf and top. 
Completely prepared to reatract this if wrong... 
Cheers, 
Earl

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## arms

quite correct ,there are alway 1 more space than the number of shelves in a cabinet 
,6 shelves equals 7 spaces

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## echnidna

Assuming the top of the cupboard is the same thickness as the bottom shelf you must include it with the shelves.  
So for a 6 shelf cupboard 
deduct the total thickness of 7 shelves from the total height and divide that by 6

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## BobL

John, are you pretty certain you know what you are going  to store on the shelves? If not and even so whatever spacing you use will eventually not suit. Consider making the middle shelf only as a fixed shelf and use an adjustable shelving system. 
Cheers

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## Ashore

> Why Do I get the feeling your fishing 
> Take the total thickness of the shelves and subtract this from the inside measurment of the cupboard
> Divide the remaning space by the number of shelves and this gives you the distance between shelves for equally spaced shelves 
> ie.. if shelves are 2' thick each then total thickness is 6 x 2" = 1'
> 7' - 1' = 6'
> 6' (divided by No of shelves) 6 =1'
> bottom of first shelf is 1' from the bottom of the cupboard the bottom of the next shelf is 1' from the top of the first shelf etc etc

  opps  :Doh: 
divide remaining space by no of shelves plus 1 :Doh:

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## arms

> Assuming the top of the cupboard is the same thickness as the bottom shelf you must include it with the shelves.  
> So for a 6 shelf cupboard 
> deduct the total thickness of 7 shelves from the total height and divide that by 6

  
wrong

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