How To Turn a Wooden Wine Crate Into a Pull-Out Kitchen Drawer

I hope you didn’t miss my recent post on how to install a pull-out basket inside a kitchen cabinet  ~ this was truly one of my favorite projects! Every time I pull out that basket I rejoice in happiness as I love the convenience of easily reaching for the item I need instead of bending and digging inside a dark cabinet. As I have many more base cabinets in the kitchen,  I came up with one more and similar idea: this time, I used a wooden wine crate to make a “pull-out” drawer.  Compared to my basket, the wooden crate is deeper and sturdier so it can hold more, bigger and heavier items. The one I used for this project happened to have the perfect dimensions to fit inside one of my lower cabinets, as it is almost as deep as the counter and just as wide as the face of the door, so there is no wasted/unused cabinet storage space around the crate.

To install it, I followed the same steps as for my pull-out basket ~ instructions can be found here.  I once again used a set of drawer slides; although these are supposed to be mounted on the sides of a drawer,  I use them on the bottom, so they can be used to make any size “drawer”. The only additional step for this project is that I needed to drill six holes on the bottom side of the crate to attach the crate onto the upper slide. I used six flat head screws that I inserted from below the upper slide and through the crate, and secured each with a nut inside the crate. This may sound a little complicated but once you’ve read the easy instructions here, it will all be very simple.

I was also a lot more attentive when measuring where to drill, as I needed to make sure that my “drawer” would pull out on perfectly aligned rails (there was not much measuring involved in my recent basket project).

Other than that, the project remains a very easy one. You can find free wooden wine crates at your liquor store – although some stores may, now, charge a small premium for them- or you can buy a new crate at the craft store.

One thing that I really like about this drawer (and the pull-out basket) is that the mechanism has a stop feature and it will stop the drawer from sliding completely out – just like any other drawer, I suppose!

The are a couple advantages for this do-it-yourself project vs installing any other regular drawer: For one, the cost is very low – the 14 in. side mount drawer slides that I used cost just under $12 and the crate was free – whereas to install a ready-to-buy drawer would cost more than $40. In the case that you would need a custom made drawer that fits your cabinet, the cost would double or triple. In addition, the crate is very tall (most drawers are not) which keeps bigger items from falling over. Plus, the tall sides hide the items inside it ~  so convenient when the contents are not so pretty! Last, this drawer has some personality with its latin name carved logo, don’t you think?

I used this new “drawer” to store the dozens of empty food glass jars that I have – I never throw one away. And if you wonder what someone can do with all these glass jars, I have plenty of uses for them and here are only a few:

• Store olives in the refrigerator: Olives are better preserved in a glass jar than in their deli bar plastic container.  Also, the shape of a jar fits better on the door of the refrigerator, thus leaving space for other items on the shelves.
• Organize a kitchen junk drawer, like this one.
• Use them as little vases with a fresh flower around the house, especially by a sink, as found here.
• Use them every year for my amazing Floating Christmas Ornaments décor.
• Refill the spice jars with spices that are sold in plastic sachets.
• Organize an office drawer by filling small jars with many same items, i.e. paper clips, tacks & push pins, rubber bands etc.)
• Use them as candle holders for votives  – usually for a casual outdoor or summer gathering.
• Fill the glass bottles with homemade lemonade, recipe found here.
• To fix, mix and store a quick homemade vinaigrette or salad dressing.
• Use them in the kitchen pantry in so many ways, usually to store nuts or to transfer smaller quantities of food remaining from a bigger plastic bag or container.

I have one more project in mind that involves this pull-out idea, but it’s a bigger one and it will take some time before I’m ready to show you!

Have a wonderful weekend and…