"Warehouse shelving" covers everything from a stockroom picking face to the bays behind a trade counter, and it is often confused with pallet racking. This guide separates the two, then works through the decisions that matter for hand-loaded shelving: shelf depth, load per shelf, bay width, aisle space and how the run grows. Every product mentioned is on the warehouse shelving page.
Shelving or pallet racking? Decide this first
The distinction is simple and it saves expensive mistakes:
- Shelving is loaded and picked by hand. Boards sit on beams at heights a person can reach, and the load is spread across the shelf. Our ranges are rated at 175kg, 300kg or 400kg per shelf, evenly distributed.
- Pallet racking is loaded by forklift or pallet truck. Whole pallets sit on pairs of beams with no board, at heights only a truck can reach, and each beam level is rated in tonnes rather than kilograms.
If the goods arrive on pallets and stay on pallets until they leave, you need racking, not shelving. Rack It Stack It supplies new and used pallet racking nationwide and installs it with SEIRS-registered installation teams – see pallet racking installation. If the goods are broken down into cartons, bins, totes or loose items and picked by people, you need shelving, and the rest of this guide applies. Many warehouses run both: racking for reserve stock, shelving for the picking area.
Picking shelving vs bulk storage shelving
Ask what the shelf is for before you look at any sizes:
- Picking faces – small, fast-moving items picked many times a day. You want more shelf levels, shallower boards (400–450mm) so items are within reach, and bays of a width that suits your bin or carton sizes. The five-tier RISI175 bays suit this: five levels in 1800mm, 900mm wide, 400mm deep.
- Bulk and slow-moving storage – heavier cartons, boxed spares, bulk consumables. Fewer, deeper levels (600mm) and a higher load rating. This is the 400kg heavy duty range and the 600mm-deep storage racking.
- Packing and dispatch – packaging, consumables and returns. Depth matters more than load; 600mm boards keep roll cages and cartons off the floor.
Shelf depth
Match depth to the item, not the room. A carton that overhangs a shelf is a carton that gets knocked off. Our warehouse shelving depths are 400mm (RISI175), 450mm and 600mm (400kg heavy duty) and 600mm (storage racking). Measure the deepest carton or tote on the pick list and add a little clearance; 600mm takes a standard 600 × 400mm tote lengthways with room to grip it.
Load per shelf
Every rating we quote is per shelf with the weight evenly distributed, and it is the rating you need to design around:
| Range | Per shelf | Levels | Bay size (H × W × D) | Typical warehouse use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RISI175 five-tier | 175kg | 5 | 1800 × 900 × 400mm | Picking faces, small parts, cartons |
| 600mm storage racking | 300kg | 4 | 2000 × 2000 × 600mm per bay | Long runs of deep bulk storage |
| 400kg heavy duty | 400kg | 4 | 1830mm high; 1200/1800mm wide; 450/600mm deep | Heavy boxed stock, parts, equipment |
Weigh a full carton and multiply by how many fit on a shelf. Twelve 10kg cartons is 120kg – comfortably RISI175. Eight 45kg boxes of fixings is 360kg – that is a 400kg shelf. The 1800 × 600mm 400kg unit is the largest single bay we make and the usual choice for heavy bulk; the 400kg 3-bay deal is the same shelving bought as a run.
Bay width and the length of the run
Warehouse shelving is nearly always bought as a run, so start from the wall or aisle length and work back:
- 900mm bays (RISI175) give the most flexibility in an awkward length; a 10-bay RISI175 deal is a 9m run with 50 shelf levels.
- 1200mm and 1800mm bays (400kg) cover a run faster with fewer uprights.
- 2000mm bays of 600mm-deep storage racking join into one run and share uprights, so four bays measure 7775mm rather than 8000mm.
Aisle space
Leave more than you think. A hand-picking aisle needs room for a person, a picking trolley and someone passing – around a metre is a sensible minimum, and wider if roll cages use it. Anywhere a pallet truck will enter or turn needs the length of the truck plus the operator: a standard pallet truck is 1150mm in the forks alone, so plan for over two metres at the end of any aisle a truck serves. Double-sided runs down the middle of a room need an aisle on each side; single-sided runs against a wall need one.
Modular expansion
Stock grows. Choose a range you can extend without replacing it: RISI175 and 400kg bays are free-standing units that stand side by side, so you add bays as you go; the 600mm storage racking is extended with add-on bays that share an upright with the existing run. Keep the same range and depth along a run so the shelf levels line up and the aisle stays straight.
Planning a whole warehouse
For a full fit-out, the racking and shelving are only part of it: aisle widths, pick paths, mezzanine options and where the packing benches go all interact. Our warehouse optimiser is the starting point for that conversation, and the team quotes mixed racking-and-shelving projects nationwide. For shelving alone, send us the run lengths and the load and we will price it as a package.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between industrial shelving and warehouse shelving?
Nothing in practice – both describe hand-loaded steel shelving with boards, rated per shelf. "Industrial" tends to be used for the higher load ratings (our 300kg and 400kg ranges), "warehouse" for the use. Neither is pallet racking.
How much weight can warehouse shelving hold?
Ours: 175kg, 300kg or 400kg per shelf, evenly distributed, depending on the range. Per bay that is 875kg (RISI175), 1200kg (600mm storage racking) and 1600kg (400kg heavy duty).
Does shelving need to be fixed down?
Free-standing shelving does not need floor fixing, but in a working warehouse it is good practice to fix tall runs to the wall or to each other so a knock from a trolley cannot rock them. Pallet racking, by contrast, must be installed and fixed correctly – which is why we install it with SEIRS-registered teams.
Can shelving and pallet racking be mixed in one aisle?
Yes, and it is common: racking for the reserve pallets, shelving for the pick face, often in the same bay footprint. Keep the shelving out of the forklift's path.
Browse warehouse shelving, compare it with stockroom shelving and 400kg heavy duty shelving, or see the complete heavy duty shelving range.