It may be hard to match the wood cabinets exactly with contact paper and even if its just "close" it may look mismatched (my opinion)... so why try? If you are going to use contact paper maybe chose a fun pattern, faux stone/marble or a color? Or for a more permanent change, you could paint the shelves an accent color or white. (Just be sure to take a shelf with you to the paint counter at your hardware store - so they can advise you on the most durable paint methods for you to use.) Or you can just embrace the contrast of the dark wood with the maple cabinets. Once these are filled..they wont be so stark. I do love this bookcase nice choice! Good luck!

Bad time consuming idea.

Ever notice how all the trees in the forest aren't the same?
Maple trees live next to Oaks, Cherrys and Pine?

The wood elements in your home don't have to match either.

This isn't an answer to your question, but I had to share anyway...

When I was a kid, my parents had a green Plymouth station wagon. You know, the kind with the back seat facing backwards? Well, this one was green with the faux wood paneling on the sides. Guess it sat out in the sun too much, because the wood paneling stared to fade. So my mother took the wood patterned contact paper and re-did the panels on the car!!!!

Oh yeah, she also used the red brick pattern and "wall-papered" our kitchen.

Personally, I think wood-grain contact paper LOOKS super fake, and cheap too. I would never use it except maybe as a background BEHIND books or something like that, where the stuff would barely show.

As bepsf said, woods don't have to match.

If the not-matching bothers you, I think you'd be better off spray painting your shelves white or a nice accent color (red?). But not wood grain contact paper, please!

(If you reall really want the boards to match the lighter wood, you can buy real wood veneer, self adhesive, to stain and polyurethane. But it wouldn't be cheap, so you'd have to want to do it rather badly!)

In a word, no. If you must, just paint them.

I agree contact paper looks cheap. It CAN work, if you are deliberately going for a kitsch look. But it doesn't sound like that's what you're going for.

Hi all,
It's Kim. Thanks so much for your input. I had a feeling that people would think this was a bad idea!! I'm actually a little relieved since I tend to make projects harder for myself and at 6.5 month pregnant, I'm not sure if that's such a great idea.

I read on AT and other sites that there's contact paper that's a little higher end and doesn't look as bad as that 70s stuff, but I was skeptical. The reason why I wanted to cover the shelves is because we already have a lot of different color woods in our kitchen and nothing seems to be hanging together. The one thing about the espresso wood is that it will sorta kinda match our soapstone counters. The other option is to get the Ikea Dacke all stainless steel shelf which is nice, but more expensive. Decisions, decisions... If you have any ideas for other modern bakers racks that have similar dimensions as the Helix and the Ikea Dacke, please share them. I feel like I've searched far and wide and these were my 2 options. Don't want wall shelves since the wall it will be up against doesn't seem to have consistent studs. A rack is the way to go. Thanks again!!!

I wouldn't touch the shelves but I would include a display of wood serving and/or salad bowls or other wooden objects that bring it all together with other woods in the room.

Applying contact paper is labor intensive and difficult to do without getting bubbles and creases - you have to go re-e-e-e-ally slowly and it's so hard to make it lay flat. You can poke the bubbles with a pin, but that winds up looking terrible. I found this out when I put the stuff (faux marble) inside my medicine cabinet. It's okay in a medicine cabinet,but you would hate it if you spent the money on a nice unit and then ruined it with wrinkly bubbly contact paper.

You could buy some nice paper at Kate's Paperie, which sells really large sheets -- some of which is coated and durable -- and affix it to the shelves with double-sided tape, or wrap the shelves like presents. then you can change the paper easily when you tire of it. I do that for the top of my lateral file cabinet, which doubles as a sort of "buffet."

Hi Kim,
Try looking at Ikea's secondary storage section:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/secondary_storage/16200/

They've got a number of options, most of which are under $100! The Gorm shelving unit, for instance, is made of untreated wood, so you can paint or stain it any color you want, and the dimensions are spot on.

I agree with above that if you're gonna do it, I'd do it with a different pattern or with a solid color. More fun a realistic. The wood ones always look bad, except the darker wood colors, and this is already dark wood so that won't work.

Absolutely not. Do not cover those shelves. I agree with some of the others that you can mix wood colors just like you can mix metals (gold, silver, bronze etc.)

I also like JulieR's Idea that you could display some lighter colored wooden bowls on the shelves.

OR-What about these options from The Container Store?
I have the Inter Metro shelving unit and love it. It come in white, silver or black. Both of these options are less expensive than the Ikea versions and are most likely sturdier.

http://www.containerstore.com/shop/shelving/interMetroreg/bestSellingSolutions?productId=10000968&N=13378

http://www.containerstore.com/shop/shelving/freestandingShelving?productId=10008626&N=13376

I agree with most people above and say don't use the contact paper. Do you have a picture of the kitchen you could add to the post? This would help everyone recommend a finish and/or other option for the shelves.

I personally have the bookshelf in my apartment that you're looking at and really like it. I also agree that you can have different woods in the same room. It adds character. But, the easiest way to change the shelves up would be to paint them. Maybe a fun, funky color? But again, a photo of your space would help out a lot.

I don't think I've ever seen a wood-grain contact paper project and said, "Wow, that was a great idea."

This might be in the opposite direction you're trying to go with price, but the Container Store debuted freestanding Elfa options a couple of years ago. It'd be super modular (baskets/shelves/hooks, solid shelving/wire/mesh), so if down the road, you don't need this kind of thing for your kitchen anymore, with some adjustments it could be customized to the needs of a new space. Start exploring here: www.containerstore.com/elfa

definitely try wallpaper - maybe go for a fun bright pattern to eliminate any matchy matchyness! but definitely don't do faux wood - ew so 70s!!

No to wood gained contact paper.