Although it may seem a little premature, we need to make a decor decision. Back in January, we posted some images of our sketchup model that showed a slim black line running from the kitchen backsplash, through the dining room and into the living room. This black line is intended to be a steel ledge that helps visually tie the spaces together and serves as a multi-purpose storage/display system. (For instance, in the kitchen it will hold spices and other commonly used small items and in the dining and living room it will be a display space for pictures of Ferraris artwork, bud vases and whatever else captures our attention. )
And now that we have everything opened up, we need to install a row of blocking to attach the ledges to (this isn’t completely necessary but will give us more flexibility as we won’t have to depend on stud locations or use drywall anchors). But what ledges to use? We’ve seen a couple of versions floating around the interwebs, and came across two we liked from West Elm and Room&Board.
We tracked down one of each, knowing that it would be important to test out in person. On the left is the West Elm version. It’s 3.5″ deep, 1″ tall and comes in lengths of 2′, 3′, and 4′. The price is about $12-$17/linear foot and it comes in just the brushed finish. The Room&Board option on the right is 5″ deep and 2″ tall and comes in lengths of 3′, 4′, 5′, and 6′. It costs anywhere from $17-$23/linear foot and comes in either natural or stainless steel.
The R&B option is appealing because it comes in longer lengths which means we wouldn’t have to join shorter segments together. But it is also bigger and more heavy-duty than we really need.
The West Elm ledge has crisper corners and the proportions fit our space and application better. The downside, we’d have to butt a couple runs together to work with our design. We were also worried about potential flimsiness, but both products seem really solid and well-constructed.
Ultimately, we’ve decided on the smaller, West Elm ledge. We’re not crazy about the slotted fastener holes, but the idea is to actually put stuff on the ledge so maybe it’s not a big deal. We could also cover the holes with a small piece of fir trim. Hmm, we’ll have to revisit this later…when we actually have finished walls.