“Wire shelving is one of the more versatile applications you can use,” said BuyMetalShelving.com Sales Rep Cameron Canfield.  “You will see wire shelving a lot in the restaurant industry, especially walk in freezers and prep rooms.  A lot of times this type of shelving is used in the restaurant industry because food storage works really well on them just because if you’re storing bread or something like that, the crumbs will fall through and they don’t sit there and the wire allows other particulates or contaminates to not gather upon the shelves.”

It’s made of wire.  It’s usually covered in chrome.  And it’s pretty cool.  And here is where it is normally found, as well as what it is doing there…

“Wire shelving can also be used in applications such as the medial industry; they usually like the surgical steel/stainless steel models because of the antimicrobial aspect and it allows water to permeate through the shelving so it’s really good for areas with sprinklers and things like that because you’ll get good air flow,” adds Canfield.

Not only does it look cool, but wire shelving is also very easy for customers to set up.

“It assembles rather easily; what it is, is four posts and then you can adjust a shelf  with four little objects called split sleeves that you can adjust in one inch increments and then the shelf locks onto those sleeves, so you can pretty much choose where you want to place the shelf on the actual system, said Canfield.  “That makes it a pretty easy set up as you can adjust the shelf height using those one inch increments.”

Don’t let the pretty look of wire shelving fool you—this stuff can hold some weight.

“These are pretty heavy-duty shelves and they can hold several hundred pounds each,” assures Canfield.  “On the 36” x 12” they can hold 800 pounds.  They come anywhere from a 54” high, all the way up to 86” high, so there are a couple of choices in between;  you have a  54”, a 63” a 74” and an 86 inch.”

The sizes help with wire shelving’s versatility.  Having that kind of load capacity, and those choices of sizes make it a very feasible option in a business, or even a residence.

“As I said, most common applications for wire shelving are in restaurants.  I’ve had a couple people order this wire racking so they can store pots and pans and other food on it in appropriately covered bins and storage containers” explains Canfield.  “These types of wire shelving can be used inside a walk in fridge or outside in a cooking pantry where dry goods and canned goods which can weigh a lot, are stored”

That design and those materials are why you see wire shelving, and not say any type of boltless shelving, in a restaurant setting.

“We have outfitted several walk in freezers with our food-safe option because what it does is comes in a   with an antimicrobial green coating that goes over the wire itself to keep it from hosting germs and things like that but it works well in places of high humidity applications such as a freezer where you’ll have high condensation and that coating will keep it from rusting,” clarifies Canfield.

And the price isn’t too much more than you’d pay for another shelving solution.

“It’s very comparable in price to boltless shelving,” said Canfied.  “Perhaps slightly more than boltless shelving but at the same time you don’t have to worry about as much wear and tear as you would with a particle board decking being the actual shelf, and so the wire shelving option will have a lot more applications and sizes where you can use it at.”

Buyers can get wire shelving as small as 12” and as big as 36” wide.  But wire shelving gives you a lot more ranges in sizes (sizes come in 12”, 14”, 18”, 21”, 24” & 30”) so those looking at a wire shelving solution can kind of customize the space its going to fit in.

A lot of people need and want boltless shelving, but that option may not work if they have an odd size area where they’re trying to fit the shelving into.

“Like I said it is a lot easier to have an add-on wire shelving unit that goes into a corner, or whatever the case may be and you can do that pretty seamlessly with wire shelving,” said Canfield.

So if you don’t want a lot of wasted space in your facility or especially in any restaurant , that is usually the time an experienced shelving rep like Cameron recommends that you try a wire chrome shelf because of the variety of shapes and sizes you can use.

“Plus it’s definitely a good looking shelf!  If you like chrome, these would be the perfect shelving options for you,” said Canfield.  “A lot of reasons people choose these shelves over, say a boltless shelving solution or things like that is the variety of sizes you can get wire shelving in.”

Another attractive factor for choosing a wire shelving option is the options and its versatility.

“Wire shelving units are really easy to put casters on and usually when you get those big heavy duty boltless shelving units, those are not as mobile.  But the wire shelving are easy to throw casters on and they have a lot of accessories as far as rails, lips or shelving liners that you can use,” said Canfield.

And those are some of the reasons why wire shelving may work for you.

“Like I said, it has an option of where you can customize them with bins, and with baskets and a lot of things you don’t get with a boltless shelving option,” summarizes Canfield.  “Wire shelving has a big range of accessories that you can use with it and its good for most applications you would want to use it for.”