How To Make Pull Out Shelves

Making pull out shelves for kitchen and pantry cabinets can be made with some basic tools and accurate measurements.

Tools Needed:

Tape Measure

Table Saw

Pneumatic Pin Nail Gun

Orbital Sander

Wood Glue

Optional Tools:

Wood Planer

Router table or dadoe blades

We are going to make pull out shelves that will work in kitchen cabinets or pantry cabinets. The first thing to do is to measure the cabinet opening carefully. You can view how to measure for pull out shelves by clicking here.

The cabinet that we are going to install these shelves in measures 17 7/8′ opening and is 23deep. We are going to make the shelf 22 deep.

Construction Method:

These shelves will be made by cutting groves for the shelf sidewalls and shelf bottom. The construction methods are refered to as Rabbet Joints (sidewalls) and Dadoe ( bottom ). Keep in mind that you do not have to have all the tools needed to make pull out shelves  as described below. You can make cheap kitchen shelves by butt joining the sidewalls and nailing the bottom of the shelf to the bottom surface of the drawer box. In fact there are a couple kitchen pull out shelves sites that make cheap shelves like this and you won’t need anything but a screwdriver. Keep in mind that if you ask most woodworkers, this is not the way to make kitchen drawers. And don’t make a cheap drawer then worry about the manufacturer of the drawer slide such as blum drawer slides etc. We  do use  3/4 extension blum slides on our shelves but have found most drawer slides will work for the purpose. Blum is a good slide but if you are going to make a cheap pull out shelf, use the cheap drawer slides also. Otherwise we would say that you are putting makeup on a pig.

Milling The Board

These shelves are going to be made of solid maple but you can use any wood to make your shelves. If you are going to use a plywood, this step is not neccassary.

We purchased maple board that measured 3/4 thick x 3.5 inches high. The height is exactly what we want but 3/4 thick wood adds un-needed weight and space from the shelf.

First thing we want to do is plane the board down to 1/2 inch thick which gives us the strength that we need and gives more storage space. If you are going to use a plywood, just purchase 1/2″ sheet and skip this step.

Now we can cut the sidewalls for the shelf out, but first some calculations. We want a finished product that will fit a 17 7/8 opening and the depth will be 22 inches.

The drawer slides will take up 1 inch of the opening (1/2″ on either side) 17 7/8 – 1= 16 7/8

We are going to cut rabbet joints 1/4 inch into the sidewalls (1/4″ x 2 walls) 16 7/8 – 1/2=16 3/8

So if we cut the front and back sidewalls 16 3/8 long the shelf will fit into a 17 7/8 opening

The length will be 22″ for the drawer sides.

After cutting out the sidewalls for our pull out shelves the next step is to make the rabbet and dadoe groove. We use designated routers for this but you can use dadoe blades or change bits on a single router table.

The rabbet joint is cut on the 22″ sidewalls using a 1/2″ bit raised 1/4″

Cut both drawer sides like this

Now we can cut the dadoe groove into the bottom of the drawer sides. This is done with a 1/4″ router bit, raised 1/4″ up. Dadoe all the drawer sides

Now we sand the top and bottom edges

You can also used an orbital sander for this step

Now for the finish sand using an orbital, sand all sides.

Now the boards are ready to be clearcoated. You can skip this step if you desire a natural finish

3 coats of clearcoat lacquer gives a great sheen. Scuff sand lightly between coats. After the clearcoat has dried we are now ready to assemble the shelf.

We use melamine glue for surfaces that have been lacqued  and a yellow wood glue for natural surfaces

We are now ready to pneumatically nail the drawer together. Put a pin nail about 3/4″ apart. 4 pin nails for a 3 1/2 tall drawer side

We are using full extension ball bearing slides for our pull out shelves. So we attached the drawer portion of the slide to the drawer

Now we slide the other portion of the drawer slide onto the part that is attached to the drawer and we have a completed pull out shelf ready to install into any kitchen or pantry cabinet

Find all of our pull out shelves here