How to Make a Pull-Out Shelf for Pots and Pans

RON HAZELTON:
Now, my wife Lynn and I both love to cook. And this kitchen's pretty well set up for it, except for one thing, and that is the way the pots and pans are stored down here. Now, what I don't like about this is I have to almost get down on the floor even to reach in here.

And in order to get the things in the back, half the time I've gotta move the stuff that's out front out of the way. What I want to do is design and build what I'll call a pots and pans pullout that will allow me to get these things out in the front here, where they're easy to reach.

And make maximum use of this entire cabinet space. 
Well, after giving this considerable thought, and of course discussing it with my better half, I have come up with this design which I've worked up on a piece of software called SketchUp.

What I'm going to do is build a cabinet with two slide-out trays or drawers, that's going to sit right under here.  I'll build a cabinet out in the shop.  Now I've opted for two wide drawers: one on the top and one on the bottom.

And that means that this stile, which is right in the middle?  Well, that's gonna have to go. Before removing the center stile, I decide to add a strip of 1 x 2 as a support to prevent any sagging.  And I attach it with screws from the inside.

Then I remove the cabinet doors. Cut the stile with a handsaw and pry it out.  Next, I remove the shelves on the inside by cutting them into sections with a jigsaw.  And pulling them out. Or, in some cases, knocking them free with a mallet.   I'll be using poplar and birch plywood to build the pots and pans slide-out cabinet.

Once I've gotten the material back to the shop, I begin trimming everything down to size.  

Well, I've cut out all the pieces for our project.  And I'm gonna start by assembling this outside cabinet, or case. All the parts are laid out right here: bottom, top, two ends. Won't need this one right now so I'll set this over here.  I'm gonna start by putting some glue along these edges. 

First, I apply glue to the side panels. Then, set the top and sides in place, and slip on a corner clamp to hold the pieces in position.

Next I set the bottom in place, secure all the joints with adjustable clamps, make a few final adjustments - and nail everything together.   Finally, I set the back in place and attach it.  Well here's our case. Turned out really well.

Now all I have to do is cover up these raw edges of plywood right here. Very simple. Just cut some strips of solid wood, glue and nail them on.  There, that finishes work on the case.  Now I'm gonna start on these drawers or trays that slip up inside.

Now you could call this a drawer but really it's more like a tray with sides on it. Because everything kind of sits up on top of the bottom.  More typically in a drawer, I would use probably a quarter-inch plywood for the bottom.

In this case, I'm using half-inch ply to give myself a little bit more rigidity.  So what I'm gonna do is start by attaching the two sides to the bottom section. Once again I use glue and nails. But this time I reinforce things by adding screws.

Just to make sure the pots, pans and lids don't slip off the rear of the pullout, I'm going to make the back a couple of inches higher.  Finally I get ready to attach the front.  You'll notice I've left it an inch or so wider than the pullout. This overhang will conceal the drawer glides that we'll mount to the slides later.

Now, this is the drawer or tray that's gonna hold the pots and pans.  It's gonna sit inside the cabinet just like this.  Now what's gonna make this move in and out easily are these metal glides right here.  And they're what are called full extension glides.

They allow this drawer to slide all the way out. So I've got easy access from front to back.  One half of the glide mounts on the inside of the cabinet. The other half installs on the side of the pullout shelves. With the glide hardware mounted, installing the drawer into the cabinet is as simple as setting the drawer in place and pushing it in. 

That looks nice.  Okay.  Now I'm gonna take this inside, put it inside the cabinet and make sure everything fits.  Now this is what cabinetmakers call the moment of truth.  Yes.
Next I remount the cabinet doors and set the pullouts in place for the final time.  Wow, what a difference a coat of paint makes, huh? Now we're left with just one little problem. Remember that stile that we took out here? Well, that's left a gap between these 2 doors that's sort of like a missing front tooth.

So here's what I'm gonna do about that.  I cut a piece of 1 x 3 the same length as the doors.  Clamp it to the back of one door and attach it with screws.  The result?  No more unsightly gap. A non-skid rubber mat will keep the pots and pans from sliding around as the pullout is opened and closed.

Well there's just one last step to this project, and that's to populate my new pullout.
[MUSIC]
Well you know this couldn't have turned out better.  I mean, my pots and pans are right here near the stove where I'm going to use them.  I don't have to reach down low when I want to put them away.  I've got full use of this cabinet from front to back.

In fact, this turned out so well, I just had to go out and buy myself a new set of cookware.   And while I was at it, I figured if this one works so well, why not create another one over here for the bakeware?  After all, if you've got a good thing going, why not do a little more of it?