I realize this isn't the most glamorous project, and it certainly won't win any style awards. My better half has been asking for pullouts for the cabinets since we moved into the house last year. However, anyone that has looked at the retrofit pullouts online, or in any of the home improvement stores, probably had a mild coronary at the price. We needed 16 pullouts for the kitchen.
If you think about it, pullouts for pans, or a pantry cabinet, are really just like regular drawers. The only difference is what they hold. With that in mind, I made the pullouts, using maple I had in stock in the shop. They are 2" tall and 3/4" thick, dovetail boxes. When I was working on the design, I saw all kinds of variations, but really, I didn't see a need to have taller sides, which used more wood. I also didn't see the point in planing the pieces to 5/8" (typical drawer thickness) which would have taken more time to do and I would have had more sawdust to clean up and dispose of. I did make thru dovetails rather than half blind ones since I was being lazy and didn't want to figure out the math for the half blind ones.
Rather than buying maple plywood, I used 1/4" birch, which was much less expensive for the bottoms, with a 3/8" deep rabbet.
I also predrilled the sides for the drawer slides. I found slides on Amazon for a decent price. Again, there are a million options here. I opted for 75 lb, side mounted, full extension slides. The drawers were finished with satin polywipe.
The cabinet face frames posed a bit of a problem for the side mounted slides. I made a frame that was 7/8" thick which was the space from the edge of the face frame to the interior wall of the cabinet. The slides were mounted on the frame. A very important detail to note here, the slides I used required 1/2" clearance on each side. Somehow I forgot that detail on a couple of the boxes and had to trim off the sides a bit to get them to fit. There is also a left and a right side. I may or may not have missed that once, or twice, when assembling the frames.
The frames were screwed into the sides of the cabinets and the pullouts were installed. Now that the kitchen pullouts are complete, I can move onto the next glamorous project, building cabinets for the pantry. While I'm at it, I'm supposed to make drawer organizers too.
I did the same with out kitchen pantry cabinet to replace the deep shelves. 100% better now. Have a narrow bathroom "nook" with the same issue. I'll take your insert side frame idea for this one as it is a perfect solution versus just trying to hit the one or two studs behind the wall.
Pottz - I still have to figure something out for the area under the sink. The electricians and plumber really wasted a lot of space and mess a general mess. The pullout will probably look like Frankenstein's sister once I get it figured out. But that is 3 or 4 projects away.
I did manage to get a 20V DeWalt oscillating tool and a 20V DeWalt jigsaw out of the project. My DeWalt cordless drill started making really bad noises so that is a "must have" replacement. I'm pondering a Festool??
There are some things I’d ponder Festool for. I don’t think a cordless drill is one though. Get another Dewalt since you have the battery system.
DISCLAIMER: The previous statement is from a man that owns no Festool nor a Dewalt drill. Opinions shared therein are in no way affiliated with Craftisian or any of its partners.
Earl - I often barter tools for projects. 🙂 That's actually how I started with woodworking. Bought a sliding miter for use with a floor installation (having done prior areas with just a jig saw and square) and that lead to other actual wood projects...and on and on.
The glamour is in the utility. I made pullouts for some of our lower kitchen cabinets awhile back, and they are some of the most useful things I’ve made.
In your case, with that cabinet being narrow and deep, pullouts seem essential.
As we get older, rummaging in a deep cabinet is no fun! Only other additions that would be beneficial would be an overhead light, perhaps labels on the fronts, and even a "you are here" type household map for when you turn around. Can't think of a way to help with the "why am I here?" question. 🤔
The back of all of the lower cabinets in our kitchen are already places only my sweetie goes. I cannot bend and reach anything from there without risking permanent disability. Similarly, she was looking for a document that we knew we printed out this summer. "Is it in the fire safe?" "No. That's on the bottom of the bedroom closet, behind other stuff I know I haven't moved in two years. But maybe it's on top of the pile of stuff I was supposed to have put in the fire safe last April after we finished taxes."
i agree with kenny earl, if youve already got dewalt batteries and chargers i stick with em. and for a cordless drill how much better is festool ? and i do own both ! just my opinion though.
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
I've used similar concept on quite a few of my builds, though they were more shelves than shallow drawers.
You mentioned the other word that piques my attention... Fe$tool. I have 3 of their drills amongs a swag of other brands. Are they better... yes, is the price differenece worth it... yes, but the proportionate increase in price is disproportionate to the benefit... however, if you want better then yes.
However, I base this primarily on having a Fe$tool shop vac with Bluetooth and all my cordless Fe$tools (jigsaw, mulyi-tool, track saw, 1/4 sheet sander) have Bluetooth batteries. I initially though that Bluetooth on a drill was a wank, until I started to use TCT forstner bits (MFT style workbenches) creating a swag of chips with the BT drill activating the shop vac... I still have to attach the hose but no cord makes life easier... and I'm prepared to pay for easier. It is a bugga when you use the drill to drive a screw and the shop vac activates... always forget to unpair the vac and the battery.
Downside is that their impact driver takes Centrotec drill bits and their range sucks... no square heads and many others. You can add an adapter, however, it extends the bit length by about 60mm. Upside is they have some great chucks... their screw depth stop is exceptional... if you have a need for that feature and their 90° chuck is better than those hand held add ons.
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
