Last reviewed 6 October 2026. Prices checked on 6 October 2026.
Short answer: String is a Swedish shelving system from 1949. Its steel wire side frames fix to the wall or stand on the floor, its shelves come in 58 or 78 cm widths, and String lists its frames and shelves as shipping within 1 to 3 days. Mestra is wall-mounted modular shelving in 18 mm Baltic birch plywood, made to order in our Norfolk workshop, with each bay set to any width from 500 mm to 800 mm. String costs less and arrives sooner; Mestra fits your wall more closely, is birch plywood throughout, and comes with a ten-year warranty.
Both are modular. You can add a shelf, swap in a cabinet, or extend the run later. The real differences are the material, how closely each one fits the wall, how long you wait, and what you pay.
String vs Mestra at a glance
| String System | Mestra | |
|---|---|---|
| Material | Powder-coated steel wire side frames that the shelves rest on, or clear acrylic Plex frames. Shelves in veneered or lacquered particleboard, or perforated steel. | 18 mm Baltic birch plywood throughout, finished in hardwax oil. Melamine is also offered: we confirm the colour and price with you. |
| Fixing method | Wall-mounted frames fix to the wall and don’t touch the floor or ceiling. Floor-standing frames rest on a foot at the front. | Rails fixed to the wall. Shelves and cabinets hang on steel pins in the rails. There is no freestanding version. |
| Widths | Shelves 58 or 78 cm wide. | Any bay width from 500 mm to 800 mm, in 1 mm steps. Narrower or wider bays by quote. |
| Heights | Wall frames 50 or 75 cm. Floor frames 85, 115, or 200 cm. | Rails 900 mm, or 1800 mm with two rails. Some layouts use a low 395 mm rail. |
| Depths | 20 or 30 cm. Floor frames are 30 cm only. | Shelves 220 or 300 mm. Between bookends, also 360 mm. Cabinets 360 mm. |
| Finishes | Frames in white, black, beige, dark grey, dark red, and dark brown. Shelves in white, beige, dark grey, ash, oak, walnut, black-stained ash, and dark oak. | 13 hardwax oil colours. Sample packs from £24. |
| Lead time | Listed as in stock and shipping within 1 to 3 days on String’s product pages. | Made to order in Norfolk: 5 to 10 weeks from order. Our terms commit to delivery within 12 weeks. |
| Delivery | From String direct: not verified. From Haus London, a UK stockist: free to the UK mainland on orders over £100. | Included for UK mainland addresses. For islands and other remote addresses, contact us before you order. |
| Assembly | Flat-packed, self-assembly. Whether wall fixings come in the box: not verified. | Flat-packed. You fit it with our guidance. Fixings and fitting tools come in the box, matched to your wall. We check your wall type with you before we send them. You bring the drill. |
| Warranty | Two years from purchase, for defects in materials and workmanship. | Ten years from delivery, for defects in materials and workmanship. |
| Returns | From String direct: not verified. From Haus London: tell them within 14 days, then send it back within a further 14 days, at your cost. | 60-day Home Trial. We collect at no extra cost; parts need to come back in resaleable condition. |
| Example price | £1,001 for two bays: 12 oak-veneer shelves, 58 × 30 cm, on three 200 cm floor frames. About 120 cm wide, 200 cm tall, and 30 cm deep. | £1,496.71 for two bays: 12 bookended shelves, 220 mm deep, on three 1800 mm rails. 1234 mm wide, 1800 mm tall, and 254 mm deep. From £828.34 for one bay. |
String prices are String’s listed UK prices on 6 October 2026. Mestra prices are from our layout pages at the time of writing (October 2026), including VAT and mainland UK delivery.
Materials
String’s side frames, the wire ladders the shelves rest on, are powder-coated steel. String sells them as wall panels and floor panels, and says the steel is 100% recycled. Its wooden shelves are particleboard with a surface layer: String’s own specification for the oak shelf is veneered particleboard under a clear lacquer, and the white, beige, and grey shelves are lacquered. There are perforated steel shelves too, with a low or high edge, and Plex frames in clear acrylic, a design String first launched in 1954.
String Pocket is a separate, smaller product: two wall frames and three shelves, 60 cm wide and 15 cm deep. Haus London notes that several Pocket shelves can be used together, but not with String System parts.
Mestra is 18 mm Baltic birch plywood all the way through: rails, shelves, and cabinets. The layered edge is on show. The hardwax oil soaks into the birch so the grain shows, and worn spots can be re-oiled. If you would rather have a solid colour, we also offer melamine and confirm the colour and price with you.
Plywood costs more than veneered particleboard. In return, the edge shows the same birch as the face, and a worn spot can be re-oiled rather than the shelf replaced. See our materials page, or order finish samples to see the plywood and colours in your own light.
On load, String recommends no more than 15 kg spread evenly across a 78 cm wooden shelf, and Haus London gives 20 kg for a 58 cm shelf. We plan each Mestra layout as a complete supported system, because how much a shelf holds depends on its span, the rail spacing, and the wall fixing, not on the board alone.
Fit
String shelves come in two widths, so a run grows in fixed steps. Across an alcove, that usually leaves a gap at one or both sides. Height comes from the frames. Wall frames are 50 or 75 cm tall and float clear of the floor. Floor frames are 85, 115, or 200 cm tall, and Haus London notes they clear a skirting board of up to 13 cm, or 4 cm more with extension feet.
With Mestra, you set each bay to any width from 500 mm to 800 mm, in 1 mm steps, so you can split an alcove or a wall into bays that fill it. The bays are straight and square. We don’t scribe them to uneven walls, so measure at several heights and use the narrowest figure. Shelves and cabinets move in 100 mm steps on the rails. Corners and L-shaped runs are priced by quote. Our made-to-measure shelving page explains what you can change and what stays fixed.
Ordering and fitting
You can buy String parts from String’s own website or from UK stockists such as Haus London, and plan a layout with String’s online planner. String lists its frames and shelves as in stock, so the parts can be on their way within days. Everything arrives flat-packed for you to assemble.
