Built a Custom Tray Divider Storage Unit Into My Existing Cabinet!
5 Materials
$30
4 Hours
Medium
My cabinet was typical... a small shelf and pull out drawer. The cabinet would fill up with junk and was hard to access anything.
I am on this kick of converting cabinets into drawers... so I figured I would give it a shot here too.
The 1st thing I did was raise the pull out internal drawer to the very top. It would hold smaller items and I needed to make enough room on the bottom for the tray divider.
I did have to remove the little shelf in the back... a sledge hammer is a small space is not easy, but it did the trick.
Here is the internal drawer relocated. Just the right height to prevent people from over filling it with big items. Plus I could reuse the existing hardware.
I built a simple box.. making it slope from front to back so we could reach any little items.
Next I need to make a few more dividers to go into the middle.
I built it with 1/2 plywood with screws on the front back and bottom.... all of which are hidden from view.
Here it is installed with the full extension glides and the door mounted.
The door had some European hinges... so I used Bondo to fill the holes... including the door knob hole. (I will be adding a drawer pull bar handle instead.)
Here you can see one of the screws holding the door to the front of the box. I started my screw before looking at the door and quickly realized I needed to move it over so the 1 1/4 screw would go into the thicker sides and not in the panel itself.
I also added one on the bottom of each side... I needed to use a LONG extension because my impact driver would not fit in-between the dividers on the sides.
Overall it is great to have a custom solution to meet our needs! When the wife comes home, I am going to wait to se how long it takes her to notice the change. Surprise!
Yes.. I told her I was going to do it before I started... I always pass things by the boss first. She typically never complains because she knows it will be an improvement.
Hope this inspires you.
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2 of 126 comments
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Oh I get it. I was fortunate to have built in in current home. Total game changer. Nice job on your retrofit. Thanks for sharing
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Drawers are much more useful, and yours are so well done
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when can you come to New York to make me one. Love the idea
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Do you have dimensions or plans of how to build the cutting board drawer?