Introduction
Your kiln is only as good as the setup inside it. Kiln furniture — the shelves, posts, and supports that hold your work during firing — directly affects how evenly your pieces fire, how many pieces you can load at once, and how long your kiln lasts. Here's everything you need to know.
What Is Kiln Furniture?
Kiln furniture refers to all the refractory (heat-resistant) materials used to support and stack work inside the kiln. The main components are:
Kiln Shelves
Shelves are made from mullite, cordierite, or silicon carbide — each with different trade-offs in weight, durability, and thermal shock resistance. Cordierite shelves are the most common for electric kilns because they're affordable and handle repeated firings well. Silicon carbide shelves are heavier but conduct heat more evenly and last longer under heavy use.
Buy at least 2–3 shelves when you set up your kiln. You'll rarely use just one.
Kiln Posts
Posts come in various heights (typically 1/2" to 6") and allow you to stack multiple shelf levels inside the kiln. Mix and match post heights to accommodate pieces of different sizes in the same firing. Posts should always be placed directly beneath where shelves overlap on the level above — never let a shelf cantilever without support.
Kiln Wash
Kiln wash is a refractory coating (typically a mix of alumina hydrate and kaolin) that you paint onto your kiln shelves before firing. Its purpose: prevent glaze drips from bonding permanently to your shelves. Without kiln wash, a drip of glaze can fuse a pot to your shelf at 2300°F — ruining both.
Apply kiln wash in thin, even coats to the top surface of shelves only. Never apply it to the underside. Reapply any time the coating looks thin, chipped, or glaze-contaminated.
Stilts and Setters
Stilts hold individual pieces off the shelf surface, allowing glazed bottoms to be fired without touching the shelf. They're typically used for earthenware and decorative pieces. Be careful — at higher cone temperatures, metal stilts can leave small marks in soft glaze. Use ceramic stilts for high-fire work.
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Good kiln furniture makes every firing more predictable — and protects the investment you've made in your kiln and your work.
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