Chesterfield Bookshelf Library London

The Chesterfield Bookshelf Library gives a room a wall of books. Rather than a freestanding bookcase against the wall and a cabinet beside it, the Chesterfield builds the shelving and the cupboards as one piece, from skirting to ceiling and from wall to wall, so the books sit in a grid of open bays and everything that is not a book goes behind a door at the base.

The example shown is in Light Grey U708 ST9 throughout, with slab cupboard doors and integrated profile handles, so the base run reads as a clean band under the shelving and the grey continues inside the bays behind the books.

How it works: the Chesterfield is built from 18mm E1-grade MFC on a solid 18mm back, so the bookcase carries its own structure fixed to the wall rather than leaning on the plaster. The uprights divide the wall into bays sized to what a loaded shelf will carry, the shelves are adjustable on a drilled pitch, and the base run is a row of cupboards on concealed soft-close hinges, deeper than the shelves above.

The bay widths, the shelf pitch and the number of cupboards are set at the design visit, to the wall and to the collection going on it.

Designed around the books

A library wall works when the shelves are planned by what goes on them. Paperbacks, hardbacks, art books and box files all want a different height, and a grid that ignores that wastes a third of the wall.

• Open shelving from cupboard top to ceiling, bay after bay
• Adjustable shelves on a drilled pitch, planned by book height
• Base run of slab cupboards with integrated profile handles
• Cupboards deeper than the shelves, for files, games and the things that are not books
• A display bay, lit from above, for the pieces worth showing
• A ladder rail or a desk bay in place of a shelving bay, to order
• Integrated LED strip lighting (warm white, white and yellow)
• Floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall, scribed to the room

Designed for the room: the bays can be uneven where the wall has a chimney breast or a door, the shelving can stop short of the ceiling to leave a cornice, and one bay can become a desk with the shelves above it kept, for a study that stays a library.

Built for the weight of books: the uprights and the solid back share the load, the bay widths are held to what a full shelf will carry without deflection, and a wider bay for a display piece is built with a thicker shelf.

The Chesterfield shown measures 4150mm wide by 2350mm high. Those are one room’s dimensions; yours is measured before anything is cut.

Manufactured in our Wembley workshop

A bookshelf wall is a grid, and a grid shows every error, so the Chesterfield’s shelf holes are drilled on the CNC in our HA9 Wembley factory to one pitch across every bay, and the uprights and shelves are cut on the beam saw to the bay widths agreed at the visit.

The base cupboards are cut to the same bay widths as the shelving above them, so the door joints line through with the uprights, and every visible edge is banded in Light Grey on industrial equipment.

The wall width, the ceiling height, the skirting and the cornice are measured at your design visit, and the run is scribed to them on installation.

Quality you can rely on: your Metro fitted furniture comes with a 10-year guarantee covering parts and labour.