Rough and Ready Veg Storage

Stephen Taylor
by Stephen Taylor
2 Materials
$5
4 Hours
Easy
I needed somewhere to store veg in my pantry, it needs to be airy, but most of all cheap!
Bring on the pallets!!!
Materials
Everyone likes making things out of pallets, cheap, readily available, but a real chore to take apart!
Archimedes said "Give me a lever long enough and I can move the world"
I say "Give me a garden fork and I can dismantle a pallet"
I used 2 Pallets for this job, I made sure that they were untreated ones as I am storing foodstuffs on them
Dismantled
So I ended up with a bunch of 1200x100 mm planks and some 4x2 pieces
I cut the 4x2's in two lengthwise (to give me 2x2's)
I also cut a bunch (14) of 400mm (16inch) lengths from the planks, which I had ripped down to 62mm (2.5 inches) width (I will be using the remaining pieces later)
End Frames
I assembled 2 end frames using the 2x2's and the 400mm planks
They are assembled with a gap of 62mm (2.5 inches) between
I also put in a cross brace to ensure that they were square (and would remain so)
I decided that I wanted the carcass to have an overall width of 800mm (32 inches), so from the planks I cut 4x 800mm x 50mm strips and screwed them on top and bottom as shown.
(Note the front most strip is on the top rather than the front to allow clearance for the top drawer)
Constructing the carcass
I decided that I wanted the carcass to have an overall width of 800mm (32 inches), so from the planks I cut 4x 800mm x 50mm strips and screwed them on top and bottom as shown.
(Note the front most strip is on the top rather than the front to allow clearance for the top drawer)
Drawers
I then made drawers to fit
Each drawer used 2 of the offcuts remaining from the sideframe slats (400mm x 37mm, one on each side)
The front and back are 750mm x 50mm pieces ripped from the planks
The base is 6 x 100mm x 400mm, also cut from the planks
All this was screwed/nailed together (using the nails recovered from dismantling the pallets)
And there it is, finished
I decided that as it was just for storing potatoes etc there was no real need to sand/stain it, it would work fine as is.
A rub of candlewax on the drawer slides helps "lubricate" the drawers
So all free apart from about 4 dozen screws
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  2 questions
  • Shelly Finegan Shelly Finegan on May 25, 2018

    i love this! I have a cabinet that is about 5 ft tall and when this was my grandma's house she never knew what to do with it because there aren't any drawers or anything.... and come on, a girl can only have so many brooms and such... she just stored her TV trays in it lol a BIG ole cabinet for little tv trays 🙄 THIS would be perfect! even if only cleaning supplies were stored in the drawers, like cleaning towels and garbage bags and such.... I could make it onlythe width I need so that the brooms and stuff would stand beside it inside the cabinet... I love it! I even have a pallet.... now, I mean if you're still reading I do have question 😉 How Do I Tell If The Pallet Has Been Treated Or Not?? we are fixing this place up to sell it and I'd hate to accidentally poison someone if they did put food in it... I guess I could paint a little No Food sign for it?? 🤔🤔🤔

    anyhoooo I love it, great job

  • Stephen taylor, you are a wizard! That is perfect! What kind of pallets are those? I still can't believe you reused the nails😂you have a lot more patience than I do. I usually stash the hardware for my boys (I have 5 boys and they love pounding nails into junk) I hope I can find some similar pallets, i would really like to make one

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