How deep a bookcase should be
A bookshelf is as deep as its deepest book, plus 2 cm of space. No more depth is required. Paperbacks and novels are 12 to 14 cm deep; a narrow 16 cm bookshelf is sufficient for them. Non-fiction books need around 20 cm, illustrated books up to 30 cm. Everything above it no longer carries books, but air.
At a depth of 40 cm, a strip is created behind the books that no one sees and in which what no one wants to have there collects: dust, lost bookmarks, a second tier of books that had no place at the front. The depth that goes beyond the book size is therefore not storage space. It is wasted space, which also makes the piece of furniture appear bulkier than it needs to be.
For narrow walls and hallways, this means more than it initially seems. A shelf rarely needs more than 20 cm and therefore hardly takes up any width while organizing an entire wall. The impression of fullness comes from the spines of the books, not from the depth of the furniture behind them.
If you want to stack art books horizontally, base the shelf depth on your largest volume rather than the average. One protruding book disrupts the line of the whole wall. Plan around the ten largest books in your collection, not its average size. The imagined average is almost always smaller than the largest book you actually own.
What carries books for us
INFINITY BOOKSHELF is a bookcase in the narrower sense: a modular stainless steel system in the RAW finish, available in sets of three, four, five or ten modules. Modules stack or sit side by side; the bookcase ends not at a fixed dimension but where the collection currently ends. Without a closed back, it remains usable from both sides and can stand freely in a room: books on either side, no back closing off the space.
TAISHO is the compact freestanding alternative: 140 × 32 × 100 cm, weighing 45 kg, with open levels. At 32 cm, it is deep enough for non-fiction and most art books without wasted space behind. It suits a collection intended to remain manageable and rooms where shelving should not reach the ceiling.
CHOWA takes another direction. It gathers a few books and objects into a group rather than accommodating a row: furniture for a selection, not a collection. Twenty meaningful titles find a place here. Four hundred belong in the modular system.
Three pieces, three stock sizes. What unites them is the refusal to treat books as decoration. Books are weight, they are format, they are order, and a shelf that takes this seriously looks different than one that only offers one space. It looks like less. This is no coincidence.
Unusual bookshelf or quiet book wall
Both are possible, just not at the same time. A book wall thrives on repetition: the same modules, the same spacing, and the books take on the color. A fancy bookshelf does the opposite. It is the object itself, and the books in it are guests who must not overcrowd it. Then there are thirty volumes there, not three hundred, and each of them is elected.
Mix both approaches and you get neither a quiet wall nor a standalone object, but furniture that has not made up its mind. The first question is therefore not which shelf looks better, but which has the leading role: the books or the furniture. Everything else, from material to dimensions, follows from that answer.
The shelving systems that are still considered designer bookcases today were designed for growth, not decoration. A shelf should be able to change with ownership without being replaced; it was on the side of the books. This attitude is also behind the modular approach of this manufacturer: a system made of stainless steel that retains its function even if the inventory changes.
If you see a wall of books as part of a room rather than a subject in itself, the wider shelves category offers other formats, including purely wall-mounted solutions. The choice between wall and object returns there in another form. It is rarely final. Collections change, and with them the leading role.
Set up, secure and order
A high, fully loaded shelf is secured to the wall, regardless of material and weight. When at rest, a loaded shelf stands on its own. The crucial moment is when someone clears a level on one side or supports themselves on the top shelf when getting up. What keeps a shelf at rest no longer applies at this moment.
Secure the bookcase against tipping in accordance with the assembly instructions for the model. The floor carries the load; suitable wall fixings prevent tipping. The correct fixing depends on the model and wall construction. Refer to the wall-shelving information for mounting guidance.
Before the backup comes the order, and that starts with the books. A bookcase is built to order and takes five to six weeks to deliver. If an inventory requires a certain size, the shelf is designed accordingly: width, depth and distance between levels can be adjusted to fit the books, not the wall. The wall only provides the framework. The books provide the grid.
It therefore makes sense to mention not only the wall dimensions, but also the tallest and deepest books that should find their place. The division is drawn and priced, not the wall; will only be built afterwards. A bookcase that is created like this will ultimately not fit into a room. It suits a library, no matter how small.
