Perfect and needed for sturdiness on the stand!

Beautiful shelves. The wood was light colored and very dry, which meant they would have eventually cracked. They darkened just a little bit and had a beautiful, rich finish after I treated them with 3 coats of BooS Block Mystery Oil and BooS Block board cream. It took me 4 days to treat them, but it was well worth it. I did one treatment of oil each day (top, sides, and bottom), and then one treatment of cream (top and sides only because the bottom would have been a hassle due to the grooves.) I let each treatment sit overnight and finally buffed the tops and sides with a soft rag. I recommend treating these shelves and ALL your wood cutting boards this way. I plan to treat them once a year to keep them moisturized and lasting a lifetime.

Well-crafted with quality Alder: "Alder will very seldom crack, and works well both in wet and dry climates." If you're purchasing for the hour-glass pot rack specifically you might want to consider getting the 8-tier set in addition to the 3 or 5- tier sets as the smallest trivet in the 8-tier does not fit the smallest shelf of the hour-glass pot rack, and the extra large trivets work nicely on the top larger shelves. The extra smaller trivets won't go to waste, and double as pan protectors in the cupboard, etc. Great addition to the rack, or stand-alone.

Perfect fit for my pot display

Love the way the wood stands out against the metal.