# Fitting a plate rack wall unit



## Sagly (25 May 2014)

I've been fitting a new kitchen over the past few weeks and months and I've got a bit stuck with the plate rack.....

All the other wall units have the handy little brackets to hang them on but the plate rack unit has a solid back and no brackets.

My question is - what is the best way to hang this unit that will give a nice secure fixing for the HEAVY unit and the added weight of the plates etc.??????

A couple of screws through the back of the unit and into red rawl plugs doesn't seem like enough?

I did think maybe a batten screwed to the wall supporting the underside of the unit might help?

How do the pro's do it??


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## paul-c (25 May 2014)

that looks a perfect solution - those dulux tins will easily hold the weight #-o 
seriously though i would have exactly the same concerns.
im sure somebody who actually has a solution will be along soon.
good luck
paul-c


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## undergroundhunter (25 May 2014)

What about a French cleat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_cleat, this is how I would do it.

Matt


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## Sagly (25 May 2014)

There's no room for a French cleat unfortunately because the back of the unit sits flush to the wall.

When I finally get around to making some wall units for my garage though, French cleats will be the chosen method!


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## Spindle (25 May 2014)

Hi

Route a housing in the back of the unit to accept a batten screwed to the wall? In fact with a suitable router bit you could achieve a 'hidden' French cleat.

Regards Mick


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## deema (25 May 2014)

I would make / purchase a couple of metal plates. These I would drill to accept a number of screws and mount them at the corners of the cabinet. I would then screw through to the wall through the metal plate. The plates will distribute the load.

For a hidden fixing, you could make the plate so that the the screw head can be inserted through the plate and drops into a recess that captured the head. The back of the cabinet will nee a little relevant to allow for the screw head.


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## owen (25 May 2014)

Im guessing its going on a solid wall, I would get the cabinet up and level where you want it, drill 6mm holes, 5.5mm if the walls s bit soft, and wang t30 torx fixings straight through, some in the top, some in the bottom


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## Sagly (25 May 2014)

Owen, do you mean something like this?

http://m.screwfix.com/p/frame-fixing-7-5-x-62mm-pack-of-100/93866?filtered=true


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## wallace (25 May 2014)

How about just some longish screws and some decent plugs. You'd be surprised how much weight a couple of screws can hold. I have a cupboard that houses my spindle tooling and its just held up with 3 screws.


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## Sagly (10 Jul 2014)

Thought I'd update this just in case anyone was interested.......

In the end I did a few trials of fixings into my garage walls (they're built of the same blocks as the kitchen walls) and I didn't really get on with them. I will use the ones on the left to fix skirting boards in future though, their discovery was a bit of a revelation for me but I didn't use them because I only had one shot at it for the cabinet and when I tried them in the garage the first one stripped out when I over-tightened it.






So here's what I did....

I made good use of my new festool TS55 box and got the cabinet into position.






Then used standard red rawl plugs and 50mm 'ulti-mate' wood screws in each corner of the cabinet.






It seems pretty sturdy and the screws are definitely man enough in sheer (i.e. vertical load) but I may add some 'L' brackets between the top of the cabinet and the wall (out of sight) just to give me peace of mind for pull out of the plugs.






On a slightly different note, it's a real pain in the buttocks to post pictures on this forum. Of all the forums I use it's hands down the most difficult to use. I'm sure it's deterring people, which is a real shame because in terms of content it's one of the best and most helpful forums around.

It's time to update the software I think.


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## mailee (14 Jul 2014)

Plate rack looks good. I only use screws and plugs on jobs like that and had no problems with them. As for the photo posting I thought this was one of the easiest forums to post on. What problems are you having posting them? I just use photo bucket and copy the link and paste it on here, 'simples' tich!


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## Sagly (15 Jul 2014)

Thanks Mailee, feeling a bit more confident about the plate rack staying on the wall now! It does feel pretty solid as it is.

My last comment about posting pictures was writen in frustration and maybe came across a bit harsh? The problem is the size restriction. I'm no IT expert but if the forum software resized the picture so that the user doesn't have to it would make it a lot easier. I'll try your photobucket tip for my next post.


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## Harbo (15 Jul 2014)

I don't know what the back panel is made of, but I would be concerned that the screw heads would pull through?

Rod


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## bugbear (15 Jul 2014)

I don't think the plate rack will be heavier than the cupboards - cans of beans and chopped tomato and soup are a good deal heavier than thin pieces of bone china and porcelain!

BugBear


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## Sagly (15 Jul 2014)

No bone china in our house with a one year old stumbling about, all Ikea mis-shapes for us!


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## bugbear (15 Jul 2014)

Sagly":zjn75are said:


> No bone china in our house with a one year old stumbling about, all Ikea mis-shapes for us!



<topic drift>

I use white restaurant style porcelain - porcelain is actually the strongest everyday ceramic; porcelain objects are normally fragile because they're thin. Thick porcelain is really strong, and my plates are thick.

Laboratory mortar and pestles are porcelain!

BugBear


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## Harbo (15 Jul 2014)

Probably not as heavy as our Purbeck Ironstone range?


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