BOAXEL half brackets

Why this exists

I’m using the IKEA BOAXEL system a lot in my office/workshop, and I ran into a very practical problem: adding more full-depth shelves to increase capacity quickly becomes impractical. BOAXEL “40 cm” shelves (actually ~38 cm deep) are great when you need depth, but when you stack many deep shelves close together you end up with:

• hard access to items pushed toward the back,

• a layout that feels bulky and inconvenient for everyday use.

In reality, not everything I store is tall or needs full depth. Many shelves are filled with items that don’t even use half of the available vertical space, so I wanted a way to add extra shelf levels without committing to another full-depth board.

I initially considered drop-in shelf inserts like IKEA VARIERA, but they didn’t work for me: the sizing isn’t quite right for BOAXEL, and there’s no real height adjustability. I wanted something that behaves like a proper BOAXEL shelf level: clean, stable, and fully adjustable.

So I made these half-depth shelf brackets.

Design goal

The original plan was “half of BOAXEL depth”, but BOAXEL “40 cm” shelves are realistically ~38 cm deep, so a true half would be 19 cm. And 19 cm boards are annoyingly uncommon — I didn’t want extra cutting or custom work just to make it usable.

Final choice: the bracket supports 20 cm deep boards/shelves, with a thickness of 18 mm (1.8 cm) — the same thickness as original BOAXEL shelves. In my setup I use a 60 cm span, and in the EU/Poland it’s easy to buy ready-made boards in 60 × 20 × 1.8 cm, which makes this approach simple and accessible.

What you can do with it

• Add extra shelf levels without turning your unit into a “deep shelf stack”

• Store shorter items more efficiently (less wasted vertical space)

• Improve everyday access (no need to dig to the back)

• Keep BOAXEL’s clean look while gaining flexibility

• Adjust height exactly like standard BOAXEL shelf positions

Compatibility / notes

• Designed for BOAXEL vertical rails

• Optimized for 20 cm depth, 18 mm thickness boards

• Works great for 60 cm wide shelf bays (my primary setup), but you probably will be fine with 80 cm standard ... or shorter if you for some reason are aiming for non standard horizontal rail spacing

Printing tips

Not much, you print them up-side-down, so you need supports on build plate to support place where shelve will go. Screw holes do not require supports. Beside that, I printed mine brackets with 15% infill gyroid ... and that's it, I don't plan on storing heavy items on those shelves, so you do you and add that extra infill or extra perimeters if you think you may need it.

• Supports on build plate (snug)

• 0.2 layer height

• Gyroid infill

Installation

On the side there are holes for wood screws, I used:

• 3 x 25 with flat head - you need 4 of them

but you will be fine with 3.5 mm too, don't go for anything long, those screws only keep shelf in place, they won't be handling a lot of load/force. Just remember to drill pilot holes first.

I recommend to put first half bracket on BOAXEL rail, then screw second half bracket to the shelf, mount it on the rail and then screw the second bracket. Those brackets are quite stiff when screwed, they lack original bracket flexibility and play, so it might be a bit difficult to get it off - in case you need to get it off I recommend small dead-blow or rubber hammer

TODO

• Missing "in the middle" version - design a half-bracket to daisy chain shelves, as in original system