Adding Side Out Storage Solutions to My Lower Kitchen Cabinets
Adding slide out storage and built in solutions to my lower cabinets. Have I mentioned before that I don’t really consider myself a real “wood worker”? I can build a wall, a really solid bench and would love to build a house one day. But when it comes to more delicate and refined work I am a novice AT BEST. Case and point: the two drawers I built for my kitchen. I HATE THEM. So, I’ve been in the middle of my mini kitchen remodel for a while now and I’m taking my time to get it right.
No more deadlines for me.
No more rushed decisions.
Because I was remodeling the room anyway it dawned on me to scope every aspect of it out and fix anything that irritated me. After staining the floors and my kitchen sink base I covered the floors to protect them and then I emptied out every single drawer and cabinet and gave my kitchen a top to bottom cleaning.
I then sat down with my list of everything I have to store in my kitchen (bowls, pots and pans, spices, cups, tupperware, small appliances, you name it, etc. etc. etc.) and then I drew a basic template of the storage I had available to me.
I moved around everything besides my silverware lol
Its just the truth: until you live in the space for awhile its just impossible to know how the space is going to work for you!
Case and point: the drawers I hate.
But I still wanted some kind of drawer here so I headed over to Amazon and was totally stoked with what I found!
For some reason it never dawned on me that I could purchase fancy interior cabinet storage. I guess I figured because I built these cabinets I would never get to experience the perks of a store bought custom kitchen.
How wrong I was!
I found this great solution: a pull out to replace my drawers. I took out the center “shelf” that separated my old drawers and installed it in a matter of minutes, so easy!
And it is impressively sturdy.
Then I tried to decide what to do to cover it up. I didn’t want one tiny little cabinet door here beside the two big ones on the other side of it. I had a pretty little curtain leftover from my Laundry Room remodel so I went searching for the right hanger for it.
I found it! A swing arm curtain rod.
After installation I was totally smitten!
It swings out and then the pull out works just awesome! From there I moved on to even more new storage solutions.
(The lower cabinet beside my stove has totally got a piece of my heart. It is REALLY old. It was a cabinet my Grandma used in her entry for what might have been all 50 years that they lived here. (In fact you can see it here in the before pictures of my new Entryway Reveal) I totally love it, but the inside “floor” of the cabinet is pretty thin (and very old) wood and I would rather not have to do any modifying to it so I’m giving it a lighter job.)
I moved all of my pots and pan storage from that lower cabinet to the (much sturdier and much bigger) lower cabinet I built across from my stove. (See how I built my kitchen cabinets here.)
And here’s a “during” picture of what my kitchen looked like in total disarray lol Everything on the counter was what USED to be in the lower cabinet I’m now using for pots and pans!
With that done I wanted two things in that big lower cabinet: A divider to keep all my cookie sheets, pizza pans and cutting boards from falling over and a shelf across the top for pan and pot lid storage.
Initially I was going to purchase a pan and lid rack but then I thought: Why don’t I just build them?
I built both with scrap lumber I had on hand. With those done it sure was fun to put everything away! Just having an easy place to slide in all of my lids was pretty awesome. Lids are just so annoying to store usually!
It felt so good to clean everything out and get some new order in this room.
I also tackled a couple of things that have been bothering me for YEARS. For just $5 I finally purchased and put the brackets in that secure my dishwasher so it doesn’t move around and I added magnet latches to all my lower cabinet doors. Isn’t it just insane what we put up with forever?!
Next up: The upper cabinets!
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I’m Tarah!
It’s been a hell of a ride since I started this blog and renovated and moved into this old farm house back in 2015. I got married, divorced, lost my doggo soul mate, spent two years as a single gal, remodeled everything, threw my back out countless times and was even found by an amazing guy in my own backyard! (The story behind Storyhardt Farm.)
Around here we’re totally fearless when it comes to bettering our home. We love to refinish old furniture, re-purpose old pieces, build it from scratch and totally renovate anything that needs it! If we can do it – so can you. We’ve got some serious plans for this old farm and, for first time ever, I have a real partner!
This is gonna be so much fun!
You can also find out more about the amazing Grandma behind this blog who moved in to this old farmhouse with my Grandpa nearly 70 years ago!
Good job replacing the drawers. The pans in the lower cabinet need a single layer pullout also. I put up with wrangling with pots and pans for a lot of years before I finally got pullout shelves and could kick myself for not doing it sooner. It will hold just as much if you get the maximum width you can and the ease and less frustration will be amazing. I keep adding pullouts as I can and now this old woman doesn’t have to bend way over or get down on my knees to get to what is there only to find that it’s nearly out of my reach. Don’t wait. Be kind to yourself.
Thank you for the idea Pat! That is definitely something I’ll consider in the future!
I found Plastic storage bins from Target that fit the sizes of my lower cabinet and use them as my pull out shelves. Much cheaper & came in more sizes than commercially made pu!l outs. Not as pretty, but they work.
That’s a great idea! Thanks for coming by!