Fixes for Misplaced Shelf Holes
Shelf pin holes need to move half an inch. What to do? February 28, 2006
Question
I made a goof and drilled some shelf support holes too low. I already installed the cabinets and trim and the customer doesn't want me to remove them to replace the bad cabinet or redrill the shelf pin holes because they are only about 1/2" off and they don't want two sets of holes showing. Do you know of any offset shelf supports? Like the L type that have an adjustable drop or even a fixed drop of 1/2"?
Forum Responses
(Cabinetmaking Forum)
From contributor F:
Sometimes on a face frame cabinet, there is room to add a 1/4" panel on top of the misdrilled parts and still have the 1/4 panels edge covered by the face frame.
From contributor P:
Think about making some 1/4" skins to match the inside of the cabinets with holes in the proper place. Glue to the inside of cabinet and cut down shelves 1/4".
From contributor F:
That's almost exactly what I said, except better cut 1/2" off the shelves.
From contributor D:
Like contributor F said. I will only add that depending on which shelf pins you use, 1/4" might not be enough. I use the brass spoons and I drill the holes 3/8" deep to get them to recess the shaft fully.
From contributor G:
You have the right idea. Use L brackets and be done with it. I did this once and it worked great. The L brackets dropped the shelf a little too low in my case. I put a door bumper on each bracket to bring the shelf up to level. It would have been close enough but the bumpers were so easy to use I couldn't pass it up. I got my L brackets from HDL, 800-383-1009. I think they were 1/2" drop. If you do use a skin, you only need to cover one side and shorten the shelves 1/4". You can then drill through the holes in the 1/4" skin into the actual cabinet side to make the holes deeper. Either option will be a fairly easy fix.
From the original questioner:
Thanks. I like the L bracket idea with door bumpers on them. I think that would make the shelves level. The 1/4" skin idea is good also, but I use the 1/4" spoon type shelf pins and don't think that a skin that thin would work. I am going to try the L bracket/door bumper trick and see what happens.
From contributor B:
I had a job which included 2 full height bookcases. Opposite corner holes were 1/8" off. I just routed a recess in those opposite corners in the shelf bottom using a 3/8" bit with an "L" shaped jig as a guide. Whole job took less than 15 minutes. 1/2" is too much for that, but rotating the pins or skinning the interior will work just fine.
