Additional kitchen storage - DIY pull-out kitchen pantry
Hello my dear DIYers! I'm so glad you stopped by and I really hope this post will be useful for you.
I'm Kristina, a dreamer and doer behind this blog. And this slide-out pantry shelf tutorial will be the first and probably the only post in English here. I do get messages from people from other countries with questions about measurements and instructions, just looking at the drawings is sometimes not enough. So I decided to spread love and share an English version of this DIY-story.
Here's a photo of our kitchen that really needs a major remodel and it most definitely will get it soon because we got heavily flooded by our upstairs neighbours. Nevertheless our DIY pull-out pantry stayed safe and sound in the middle of total devastation.
The total cost of this shelf was 1200 Russian rubles which is about $22. Yeah, I know it might look super cheap to you but exchange rates get wild sometimes. If you ever build one, please drop me a line. It'd be interesting to know how much it cost for you in your country.
Please note that all dimensions and measurements I provide were the actual dimensions and measurements of actual materials available in a Russian lumber store.
I know that some of you use inches and feet, it's a total blackout for me. Try using this website to convert cm to inches and decimals to fractions.
And just to entertain you I'll post a few photos of our Soviet-style kitchen before and after our super cheap express makeover.
When you're a young couple you have to be creative :)
Before
After
Materials and tools used:
1 x Pine Board 20 х 140 х 3000 mm (in millimeters)
1 x Pine Board 20 х 140 х 1500 mm
1 x Sheet of Plywood
8 x Corner L-brackets (better some heavy duty reinforced kind)
4 x Aluminium Tubes 10 mm in diameter, 2 meters in length
4 x Furniture Casters
a Wood Drill with a Drill Bit 10-12 mm in diameter (should be no more than 2 mm wider than your Aluminium Tubes)
a Hacksaw/Higsaw for cutting metall or a proper Rotary Tool
Wood Glue
Screws
Paint (optional)
Step 1. Basic measurements
Step 2. Calculating dimentions of all parts
Frame
The Top and Bottom Panels are drawn in blue. Calculating their dimensions is easy. You already got them after measuring the space between the fridge and the wall. The pine boards that I got from the store were 2 cm thick. That makes:
2 x panels 2 x 14 х 58 cm
Now take the overall height 151 cm and subtract the height of the Casters you bought. My casters were 8 cm in height including metal base. Then you should subtract the thickness of the Top and Bottom Panels all together (2 cm x 2). At last we get 139 cm which is supposed to be the height of the Front and Back Panels. They are grey in the drawing. That makes:
2 x panels 2 x 14 х 139 cm
So once again - a list of parts:
I know that I should re-draw my sketches with English captions and probably add Imperial units of measure. But, sorry, all those feet, five eighths of an inch and 2 49/64" are just too overwhelming for me. All I could remember is that 1 inch equals 25.4 millimeters. When I used this website for unit conversion it told me that 1 centimeter equals 25/64". Really???
Anyway that means the thickness of the pine boards I used is 25/32". Wouldn't that just make my crazy drawings look even crazier?
Step 3. Assembly
Sand all parts before assembly!
Frame
Now assemble the outer frame using corner brackets.
Reinforced brackets with a stiffening plate in the middle are durable and strong enough to keep the angle at 90 degrees without your shelf wabbling. If you think that may not be enough use crossing metal needles as additional support at the side that's closer to the wall.
IKEA sells those crossing supports under the name "cross-brace". Is that what they're called?
Painting
I primed and painted my pantry shelf the same color as I used on our kitchen cabinets. After the paint dried I installed and glued the Shelves to their supports with a wood glue. Then threaded the aluminium Rods in place.
It's been more than a year now but I haven't still decided on the type of handle or knob to screw to my rolling pantry. And honestly I keep forgetting about it. Maybe one day..
Meanwhile this fairly simple shelf amazes me every day. It successfully occupies the tight space that used to be wasted and contains the same amount of junk as two upper sections of our kitchen cabinets. AND my dear husband who likes cooking thinks I'm a hero :)