I’ve been installing and living happily with traditional wire shelving for more than 15 years, but three years ago I tried Rubbermaid’s Configurations shelving system and it’s much better.

Simplicity, effectiveness, adjustability and ease of installation are the reasons why.

With only four main parts, the Configurations system is easier to buy and put up than others that require many more parts. Screw a horizontal metal anchor strip to the wall, hang vertical supports from them, clip shelf arms into slots in these vertical supports, then lay shelving on top. That’s it. And since these shelves come in two slightly different widths, they’re designed to overlap each other during installation, eliminating the need to cut any metal at all.

Since shelf support arms on Configurations shelves clip into slots in the vertical supports, you can reconfigure the set up as your storage needs change. This design is also why there aren’t any angled braces to get in the way of stuff stored on shelves below, as with traditional, non-adjustable wire shelves. It’s a great system that continues to impress me.

You’ll find Configurations available from several sources. Home Depot Canada makes it available in stores, with a couple of closet kits listed online. Type “Configurations” into the search field to get there.