The question usually comes late. The shelf is chosen, the height suits the wall, and then your eye lands on the stack of binders: will they stick out? And in the hallway, where every centimetre counts, is a narrow board enough for the paperbacks?
KUUDU comes in two depths, 35 and 15 centimetres, with six spacings between the boards. We held the common formats up against them: books, binders, records, CD and DVD cases. The measurements come from the manufacturers, the arithmetic is below, and you can check it.
What fits on 15 centimetres
The narrow board is meant for the hallway, the kitchen and any wall where 35 centimetres would reach too far into the room. A paperback is 12.5 centimetres wide, a non-fiction book 13.5. Both stand on the narrow board, the non-fiction book with a centimetre and a half to the front edge. CD, DVD and Blu-ray cases are between 12.5 and 13.5 centimetres deep, so they fit too.
Anything larger overhangs. An academic book at 17 × 24 sticks out by two centimetres, a binder by thirteen, an art book by fifteen. That is what the full depth is for.
What needs 35 centimetres
Binders are 28.5 centimetres deep, A4 books 21, art books 30. On the deep board all of them keep some room at the front. Even a record in its sleeve, at 31.5 centimetres the widest format on the list, still has three and a half centimetres to spare.
| Format | Width × height | Depth needed | 15 cm | 35 cm | Smallest gap | Clearance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paperback | 12.5 × 19 cm | 12.5 cm | fits | fits | 25 cm | 6 cm |
| Non-fiction | 13.5 × 20.5 cm | 13.5 cm | fits | fits | 25 cm | 4.5 cm |
| Academic | 17 × 24 cm | 17 cm | overhangs 2 cm | fits | 25 cm | 1 cm |
| A4 | 21 × 29.7 cm | 21 cm | overhangs 6 cm | fits | 35 cm | 5.3 cm |
| Art book | 30 × 29.4 cm | 30 cm | overhangs 15 cm | fits | 35 cm | 5.6 cm |
| Binder, 8 cm spine | 28.5 × 31.8 cm | 28.5 cm | overhangs 13.5 cm | fits | 35 cm | 3.2 cm |
| Record in sleeve | 31.5 × 31.5 cm | 31.5 cm | overhangs 16.5 cm | fits | 35 cm | 3.5 cm |
| CD case | 12.5 × 14 cm | 12.5 cm | fits | fits | 16.7 cm | 2.7 cm |
| DVD case | 13.5 × 19 cm | 13.5 cm | fits | fits | 25 cm | 6 cm |
| Blu-ray case | 13.5 × 17 cm | 13.5 cm | fits | fits | 25 cm | 8 cm |
How tall the level needs to be
At KUUDU the spacing between two boards is the clear height. A 25 cm level really does have 25 centimetres of room; the board thickness of 1.6 centimetres sits on top of that. For most books that is enough: paperbacks are 19 centimetres tall, non-fiction 20.5. Binders, A4, art books and records are all above 29 centimetres and need the 35 cm level.
Two cases are tighter than you would think. An academic book at 24 centimetres fits the 25 cm level, but with only a centimetre to spare. If you pull such volumes out often, take the next size up. And in the smallest level, 16.7 centimetres tall, a CD case at 14 centimetres stands comfortably, while a Blu-ray case at 17 centimetres no longer does: it is three millimetres short. It belongs in the 25 cm level, just like a DVD.
In practice two spacings usually do the job: 25 centimetres for the bulk of the books, 35 for a row of binders or art books. Which row belongs at which height, so you can reach it without bending or stretching, is covered in our article on shelf heights.