French Cleat
A French cleat is a pair of strips with matching 45° bevels: one is screwed to the wall with the bevel pointing up and toward the wall, the other is fixed to the back of a cabinet, shelf, headboard or mirror with the bevel pointing down. Lower the cabinet onto the wall strip and the bevels hook together and pull it tight against the wall. It is the easiest way to hang a heavy wall cabinet level, and the base of the popular French cleat tool wall in the workshop.
How a French cleat works
The weight of the cabinet pushes its strip down the slope of the wall strip, which pulls the top of the cabinet into the wall instead of away from it. Nothing has to be screwed through the cabinet once it is up, so one person can hang it and lift it off again.
How to make a French cleat
- Rip a strip of 3/4 in (18 mm) plywood 6–8 in (150–200 mm) wide, as long as the cabinet or the wall.
- Bevel it at 45° down the middle, on a table saw or with a circular saw tilted to 45°. One cut gives you both halves, each 3–4 in wide.
- Screw the wall half to the wall with the bevel facing up and in, level, with a 2 1/2–3 in (65–75 mm) screw into every stud.
- Fix the other half to the back of the cabinet near its top, bevel facing down and in, with glue and screws.
- Add a spacer of the same thickness at the bottom of the cabinet back, so it hangs plumb instead of tilting in.
- Hang it: lift the cabinet above the wall strip and lower it until the bevels lock.
Hanging cabinets with a French cleat
For a wall cabinet, set the back of the cabinet 3/4 in in from the edges of the sides, so the cleat hides behind it, or cut the cleat into the top rail. The cabinet half of the cleat carries the whole load, so glue and screw it into the sides as well as the back. Hang a whole row of cabinets on one long wall cleat and they line up by themselves.
French cleats are also the neat way to fix a headboard, a floating shelf, a heavy mirror or a large picture to the wall: they keep it flat against the wall and let you lift it off for painting.
A French cleat tool wall
Cover a garage or workshop wall with cleats in rows 6–8 in (150–200 mm) apart, and make every tool holder with a matching cleat on its back. Holders can then move anywhere on the wall as your tools change. Use plywood offcuts: a full 4 × 8 sheet ripped into 8 in strips and bevelled down the middle gives about 12 cleats 8 ft long.
Weight limit
The cleat itself, in plywood, is far stronger than what holds it: its screws and the wall. Screw into every stud with good structural or cabinet screws and the cleat holds a kitchen wall cabinet full of dishes. Do not rely on drywall anchors for anything heavy, and on masonry use proper concrete screws or anchors.
Frequently asked questions
What is a French cleat?
A hanging system of two strips with matching 45° bevels: one is screwed to the wall with the bevel facing up and in, the other to the back of the cabinet or panel with the bevel facing down. The cabinet drops onto the wall strip and the bevels lock it tight to the wall.
What plywood is best for a French cleat?
3/4 in (18 mm) plywood, Baltic birch or a good hardwood plywood with no voids, ripped into 3–4 in (75–100 mm) strips. Solid hardwood works too; MDF and particle board are too weak at the edge.
How much weight can a French cleat hold?
As much as its screws and the wall can hold. Screwed into every stud with 3 in (75 mm) screws, a plywood cleat carries a heavy kitchen wall cabinet full of plates; into drywall anchors alone it holds far less, so always find the studs.
What is the right French cleat spacing on a tool wall?
Usually 6–8 in (150–200 mm) between the rows, so most tool holders reach one cleat and tall ones span two.