The kitchen in the new house is an older kitchen from the 80’s. It doesn’t have any of the modern elements that many of our previous kitchens had: no massive island, no professional range, and no clever storage spaces. Plus, it’s half the size of our previous kitchens. The cabinets are very basic and their shelves are not even adjustable. I’m not complaining, though, because it is a really bright and happy kitchen ~ I’ve managed to find my way around it and I’m enjoying cooking!
The one thing I really miss, however, are the the pull-out shelves on the base cabinets. In the San Francisco home, I had pull out baskets like these and pull out shelves similar to these. They were absolutely fantastic as no one wants to bend over and dig around inside deep cabinets! Since this kitchen has nothing like that, I decided to make an easy, quick and inexpensive pull out shelf/basket that would give me some practical storage. With just a basket, a mechanism from the hardware store, a few screws and 20 minutes from my afternoon, I added this pull-out basket into one of the lower cabinets. It turned out not only functional but also extremely cute!
Inside it, I arranged the smaller appliances that are now just a pull away! The basket slides all the way out and stops just like a drawer. I can easily reach for the item I need and slide the basket back inside the cabinet. Every item has its place inside the basket, so I don’t have to move things around when I try to reach something in the back.
Here is how the mechanism extends, when the basket is pulled out.
It can also be converted into a basket for onions & potatoes, or a bread basket:
Or it may be used as an additional drawer to store kitchen towels, extra sponges or even ziplocs:
Whatever the use, I love the functionality!
Here is how I made it. I used:
The drawer slides come in a package of two and you can find them at your hardware store. They are meant to be mounted on the sides of the a drawer, but I mounted them on top of the shelf. This drawer slides set comes with 12 wood screws, but I used only 6 of them. I spent some time trying to understand how the mechanism works and which part goes where, before starting.
There are two parts to the slide: 1) the cabinet part which is drilled onto the shelf and 2) the drawer part which is attached to the basket. To separate the two from one another, gently release the black lever, and the parts will easily detach, as shown on the right, here:
Attach the drawer parts on the bottom of the basket by inserting the machine screws through the basket (the screws will find their way to the other side) and secure the screws from inside the basket with a flat washer and a cap nut. On each slide, I used 3 machine screws, 3 washers and 3 cap nuts.
Here is what the basket looks from the inside:
The screws are well secured with the washers and the cap nuts inside the basket:
The next step is to position the cabinet parts inside the cabinet: to make sure that they will be placed at a correct interval, I first attached them to the basket, I then placed the basket inside the cabinet at the desired place and then slid the drawer out, to expose the cabinet shelf and cabinet parts. With a pencil I marked the spots where I needed to drill. I did this alone, but you may need someone to hold the basket in place while you make the pencil marks. You need to make sure that the cabinet parts are placed at the correct spot so that the basket is not too far inside the cabinet, that it can slide all the way out, and that the cabinet door will close when the basket is pulled back. Once you have marked the drilling spots, detach the basket (by releasing the lever) and drill holes to attach the cabinet parts in place, using six out of the twelve wood screws that came with the slides set (three on each slide).
Then, simply slide the basket into the cabinet mechanism!
I’ve decided to use it to store the food processors and their accessories but I’m sure that I will be making many more in the future for the other lower cabinets
Thank you so much for sharing this… It has been so helpful!
So glad that it was helpful!
You used 14″ sliders. How deep for a cabinet that’s 22 3/4″? Does the drawer come fully out or does part of it stay inside for stability? Is there a weight limit?
Thank you. I want to use it with wine crates as in your other post. JD
Hi Judy, as we no longer live in that house, I won’t be able to give you any measurements. Both the basket and the crate did not go all the way out (the pictures in both post show them fully extended) and I do remember that those slides were pretty sturdy so there was no weight issue (the crate was always full of glass jars). I hope I was able to help! Angelica
Thank you! Great idea!!
Thank you! It really works great!
This is exactly what I’ve been looking for and this is ingenious. I’m ordering a wooden box to use as a pull-out drawer to fit my narrow width undercabinet. Since I live in an apartment and cannot drill inside the cabinet whether side or bottom, I was wondering if your method would work if I assemble the whole thing outside the cabinet first and use a separate wood board as the bottom. I will cut the bottom to fit the dimensions I need so the assembled piece can be placed inside the cabinet without having to drill into the apartment cabinetry. I might use removable velcro strips at strategic points under the bottom board to hold it down more securely to prevent a tip-over.. I hope you’re able to respond quickly as I’m starting the project soon. Thank you for your idea!
Hi Hazel, after I did the basket I used about the same technique to make a “pull-out” drawer with a wine crate, here’s the link:
http://mydearirene.com/2016/09/10/how-to-turn-a-wooden-wine-crate-into-a-pull-out-kitchen-drawer/
Do you think the velcro strips will hold it? It really depends on how heavy the content of the box will be, I believe.
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