Sean A Sullivan: Web Developer, Marketing Enthusiast, Musician http://www.seanasullivan.com Web Developer, SEO Enthusiast, Musician Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:26:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.3 en hourly 1 DIY: Roll Out Kitchen Shelf http://www.seanasullivan.com/2009/01/diy-roll-out-kitchen-shelf/ http://www.seanasullivan.com/2009/01/diy-roll-out-kitchen-shelf/#comments Thu, 29 Jan 2009 06:59:11 +0000 Sean Sullivan http://www.seanasullivan.com/?p=244 Becca's Snowflake CookiesIn 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.

Kitchen Roll-out Shelf 2Kitchen Roll-out Shelf 1

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.

Kitchen Roll-out Shelf 3Kitchen Roll-out Shelf 4

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.

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