Sean A Sullivan

In our kitchen, next to the stove, we have this vast cabinet that didn’t really make much sense to us. Because it is so deep, a shelf wouldn’t really be functional as it would be a huge pain to reach all the way back. Becca decided that she’d like to have a nice roll out shelf because that would make it perfect for storing her cooling racks and various baking and cake pans (she loves to bake.)

Upon making a stop at the local home improvement store, we found out that you can’t just buy a kit to throw one of these into a cabinet. And besides, why would you want to? Most projects like this in kit form are of cheap construction and the hardware is usually a joke. In addition, I figured by choosing the right wood and finish, I would be able to get it to match the look and feel of our cabinets. So, I decided to do the DIY thing and buy the materials and bust out the tools to do this thing right. Also, with Rob’s help and Alex’s plans for inspiration, I had built a new workbench in the garage a couple weeks ago, so this was a perfect opportunity to put it to use.

As far as materials, I was able to get away with doing this project for pretty cheap. The two main materials were a sheet of Birch plywood and the track and roller hardware (capable of holding up to 100lbs of weight.) After adding a few pine boards to the cart and checking out, it was time to get to work.

Probably the hardest aspect of this project was the fact that I would be building it inside of the cabinet. It was definitely a little tricky getting the exact measurements for all my cuts. I ended up redoing a couple of my cuts to ensure that the final product would come out flush. Also, the inside of the cabinet was wider than the opening, so I had to cut a few pieces of pine to push in the tracks so they would clear the opening and doors.

After getting the front piece of the trim cut to sit on the shelf as both a ledge and an underneath handle, I cut a few side rails. When I was done finishing all the wood with a light coat of finish, I glued and screwed it all together. Getting it installed the cabinet was a little tricky and required some precision with the level and tape measure.

Overall, I’m really happy with the way it all turned out. I think this will be a great addition to our kitchen cabinet configuration and I definitely recommend this as a great project for anybody looking for this kind of utility out of a deep cabinet that is otherwise hard to use.