shelves onto cladding?

[EmilyJane]

I am putting up wooden cladding in my kitchen, and want to fix shelves, with quite a weight, to it. If I put up the battens in the correct places, inside the cladding, can I put wall plugs through both the battens and the wall, for extra strength? The problem is the hole in the wall would need to be bigger than in the wooden batten, for a snug fit, if there is danger of the wood splitting with a wall plug!

[stoneyboy]

EmilyJane,
The hole in the batten (and cladding) must be large enough for the wall plug to be pushed through and into the wall. Once screwed in place the shelves will still be strong.
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