Home The interior Create a clever kitchen storage solution

Create a clever kitchen storage solution


Maximize storage and display space in your kitchen with this compact shelf unit. It offers space for small appliances, cookbooks, and more. Plus, its fasc and easy to build!
No room in your home poses as many storage challenges as the kitchen. It arguably has to hold the most stuff, but usually offers the fewest options for expanding the existing storage space.
This one - of - a - kind wall shelf unit solves those problems by offering extra storage and unique display space in a very compact package. The wall - mounted boxes are perfect for holding cookbooks or even small appliances. And they keep those items not just organized, but displayed in an attractive way. For even more versatility, each box is equipped with long rods that let you hang items off the sides.
Design Options. Many storage - and space - challenged kitchens can benefit from the vertical storage this unit offers. But we know everyones home presents different opportunities for carving out extra space. Thats why weve also designed a horizontal version of the shelf unit that youll find on page 37.
Simple Construction. Whichever version you choose, youll be surprised by just how easy it is to build one of these kitchen storage units for yourself. The boxes are made up of 1x12 poplar boards from the home center that get nailed and glued together and then painted. A backer board - cut from a poplar 1x8 - gets mounted to the wall, and then the boxes get screwed in place. Its downright simple, even for beginning builders. If you have a circular saw, a hammer, a drill, and some sandpaper, youre all set.
Home projects dont get much simpler than this one. Just cut a few parts со size with a circular saw, glue and nail che parts together, and add a bit of paint and hardware. Thacs all it takes to create stylish scorage for your kitchen.
Build it all with a batch of basic boards
Building this shelf unit is easy. The Assembly View at left shows that its made up of just a few parts: six sides, six tops and bottoms, and a backer board. Nails, glue, screws, paint, and a few drawer pulls wrap it up.
Buy the Right Boards. All the parts are made from a couple of poplar 1x12s and a poplar 1x8. When youre buying boards, just keep a couple of things in mind.
Second, be picky when buying boards. Select boards that are straight, flat, and smooth to prevent headaches later.
Know How Wood Works. To get great results, you also need to understand that seasonal humidity changes affect woods stability. The Box below explains why this is important in the construction of the boxes.
Follow the Steps. With your new materials and knowledge, just follow the steps at right.

Create a clever kitchen storage solution


Woodworking 101 understand how wood works
The tops and bottoms of the shelf - unit boxes match the width of the 1x8 backer board. So youd think that cutting these parts from a 1x8 would be the way to go. That would be easy, but it would lead to problems later,- - To understand why, consider that wood contains moisture, so it swells when humidity is high and shrinks in low humidity. This swelling happens mainly across the width of a board, not along its length. By making the wood grain "wrap" around che boxes in the same direction, as shown below, this wood movement is equal on all the box parts, so they wont crack apart over time. Luckily, making the boxes this way is easy. See Fig. 2 at right.
Crosscut the sides
Begin by cutting a pair of sides to length for each box. The easiest way to cut them is with a handheld circular saw. Use a 12" speed square to guide che saw. The speed square guides the saw to ensure that youll get a perfectly square cut. Just clamp the square in place, so your saw blade aligns with your cut line. Then make each cut.


Create the tops & bottoms
To make the tops and bottoms, rip one edge off a 4 - foot long piece of 1x12. You want to create a board thats the width of the box side minus 54". Use a straightedge to guide the saw for this rip cut. Next, crosscut this piece to create three tops and three boctoms that are 7/." wide.
Get it all together
Now you can assemble the boxes. To do chat, match up sides, tops, and boccoms for the best fie. Then glue each box together, and clamp it until the glue dries. After that, you can drill pilot holes for finish nails and chen tap the nails in. Once che nails are set, use a small amount of wood filler со conceal chem.
cut a backer board, paint it all, then install
With the boxes complete, cut the backer board to size. Before yoti install it, paint it and the boxes. Its much easier to reach inside the boxes now.
Mount the Boxes. Once the paint dties, you can mount the boxes to the backer. The Photo below shows how.
With that done, youre ready to install the shelf unit on youc wall. We perched the unit on a couple of paint cans to establish the right height. Use a level to make sure ts plumb.
Install It. Drill holes through the backer and into the wall. If you dont hit a wall stud, install wall anchors. Then screw the shelf unit to the wall, as shown in Mounting Options on page 34.
Mount the Backer Board. Lay the boxes face down. Then position the backer board, so one box is at each end and the third is centered. Drill mounting holes in the back of the board, and attach it to the boxes.
Change size and orientation for a new use.
The design of chis kitchen shelf makes it easy to modify. That means you can easily change ic to sui: your needs and your space. You can add or remove boxes, or even make the boxes taller or shorcer with ease.
The horizontal version shown above provides one idea of how a new configuration might work. You can see ics dimensions in the Illustration at left. To make this one, we simply used two boxes and a shortened backer board. Then we mounced a drawer pull between che boxes.

< Prev   Next >
 

Last read