Floating cabinetry for bespoke furniture

Floating cabinetry describes any piece designed to be wall-mounted rather than floor-standing, so it appears to hover clear of the ground with a visible gap of floor beneath it. This is most familiar in a television unit, but the same approach applies to display shelving, bedroom storage, home-office cabinetry and standalone drawer units, wherever a lighter, more open feel is wanted in the room.

The effect depends on getting the proportion right. A run of floating cabinetry that sits too close to the floor loses much of its visual benefit, while one set too high can look disconnected from the furniture and seating around it. We work through this during design, considering sightlines from where the room is actually used, such as a sofa or a desk chair, rather than setting a height in isolation from how the space is lived in.

Floating pieces are also a natural fit for lighting. A strip concealed beneath the underside of a floating cabinet casts a soft wash of light down the wall and across the floor, reinforcing the sense that the piece is suspended rather than resting. This is one of the more effective uses of the integrated lighting described on /bespoke-integrated-lighting-furniture, and one we specify regularly on floating media units and display shelving.

Because there is no visible base or plinth, floating cabinetry also tends to suit a handleless front, discussed on /bespoke-handleless-cabinetry, since the combination reinforces the sense of a single, continuous suspended volume rather than a piece built up from separate visible parts. That said, floating construction and a handled front can also be combined where the wider room calls for it, and the two decisions are made separately rather than assumed to go together automatically.

Floating pieces are generally lighter in construction than an equivalent floor-standing unit, since they are not designed to bear weight through legs or a plinth, but this does not mean less is involved in specifying them. The internal carcass, the fixing points and the wall itself all need to be matched to what the piece is intended to carry, and this is resolved during design rather than left to be worked out on the day of installation.

Floating cabinetry is fixed using a method designed to suit the wall construction found on site, whether that is masonry, timber stud or another form of construction, which is confirmed during survey before the piece is designed. The fixing approach for a given wall and piece is worked out as part of that survey rather than assumed in advance, since wall construction varies considerably between properties and even between rooms in the same house.

What a floating unit is intended to hold, whether a television, books, glassware or general storage, is confirmed early, since this affects the internal construction of the piece and the fixing approach used for the wall it will be mounted to. This is resolved during design rather than left until installation.

Floating television units in particular need to accommodate power and signal cabling out of sight, and this is planned during design alongside the client's electrician where new supply or routing is needed. We coordinate on positioning and access, though the electrical work itself is carried out separately by a qualified electrician.