Why Add Pull Out Shelves to Kitchen and Pantry Cabinets

WHY INSTALL PULL OUT SHELVES?

Installing pull out shelves in kitchen,bath and pantry cabinets makes every cabinet easier to access

Appliance companies understand the value of shelves that slide out of the cabinet member. Afterall,

would you buy a oven or dishwasher that did not have shelves that rolled out? Refrigerators that only

had stationary shelves are called relics, or dated. All newer models of refrigerators have roll out shelves.

What does it say when your cabinetry does not have slide out shelves?

I SEE DIFFERENT HEIGHTS AVAILABLE, WHICH IS RIGHT FOR ME?

Henry Ford had a saying (you can have any color you want as long as it is black) That may have worked back then

but todays consumer wants choices, and rightly so. When purchasing cabinets few of us would say,

“just give me what everyone else has”

This is why we offer slide out shelves in different heights, widths, depths and configuration.

Because not every cabinet is 15 inches wide, we offer our drawers from 6 inches to 36 inches wide.

Bathroom , Kitchen and Pantry Cabinets can range from 10 to 26 inches deep, so we offer depths from 12-26

And because not every cabinet holds the same items, our pull out shelves are made in different heights

2 3/8 INCH TALL SHELF

This shelf or tray is the shortest sidewalled shelf that we produce. The outside dimension is 2 3/8 tall, the bottom is 1/4 inch thick which is dadoed 3/8 inch up from the bottom. This leaves the inside wall height at 1 3/4 inch. This is why it is considered a roll out tray by many. Our roll out tray will hold items such as pots and pans that will stack inside each other and have some weight associated with them. These shelves are limited in what they will effectively hold.

3 1/2 INCH TALL SHELF

If we had to have just one height in all of our cabinets, this is the one we would choose. The extra 5/8 inch allows greater storage flexibity so you could store not only pots and pans but light items that stack such as plastic containers without worrying about them falling off the back .

4 7/8 TALL SHELF

This shelf has tall enough sidewalls to prevent items such as paper towel rolls from falling out. We install this height of shelf in the bottom of base kitchen cabinets and compliment the cabinet with our 3 1/2 tall shelf for the middle of the cabinet. The 4 7/8 tall shelf is standard height for most pantry cabinet shelves

6 TALL SHELF

We started making the 6 inch tall drawer for a cabinet company that needed replacement drawers. We liked the size of this drawer so much that we decided to offer it on our website. We have had such overwhelming success with this shelf for pantry cabinet roll outs that we have stayed with it.

7 3/8 TALL SHELF

All pantries should include at least one 7 3/8 inch tall slide out shelf. This shelf is the ideal pantry shelf as it is tall enough to prevent cereal boxes, 2 liter bottles, stacked cans and spice bags from tipping out.

9 7/8 TALL SHELF

We produce this tall drawer for filing cabinets. With it’s depth, a filing sytem can be fitted into most any cabinet

Slanted

The slanted pull out shelf is the most versaitle shelf that we offer. Every shelf we offer from 2 3/8 to 7 3/8 tall can have the sidewalls slanted

Thinking of adding pull out shelves?

Anyone that has tackled home improvements knows that some things are better left to professionals. Installing pull out shelves in your kitchen cabinets is a value added home improvement that almost anyone can do without a lot of skill.

How many times have you looked inside your kitchen cabinets or pantry cabinets trying to find or retrieve something and wished there was an easier way to organize and access your kitchen cabinet items? Pull out shelves give you better access to all of your cabinets and they add value to your home. Look at any Real Estate listing and notice that a home with pull out or roll out shelves always have them in the listing. This is because a kitchen with pull out shelves adds value to the home.

Pull out shelves have been installed in cabinets for decades but most home builders will either put one pull out shelf in a couple cabinets or none at all. This is usually because of the cost of having a cabinet company make pull out shelves. Most custom homes that we have toured will have pull out shelves installed in most cabinets.

Some homeowners contact the local cabinet company to inquire about pull out shelves then forget the idea after learning that most cabinet companies price a pull out shelf in the range of $75.00-$150.00 for a standard pull out tray.

You can get cabinet pull out shelves at our online store for less than $30.00 each for an average kitchen cabinet. These pull out kitchen and pantry shelves are available in birch and oak. They are made to fit your existing cabinets and have a Lifetime Warranty.

Many homeowners have attempted to duplicate our pull out shelves thinking that they would save a couple dollars by building themselves. The First thing they find is the ply found at hardware stores is not the same as what we use. For instance, most hardware stores will carry 5-7 ply baltic birch, ours are 9 ply, what is the difference? The 5-7 ply has large fill layers in the middle that are not birch and usually do not match the outer layers of the ply. The slides that most hardware stores handle will be rated at 50-75 lb weight capacity, rather than our 100 lb, weight capacity. Without a router table and metric router bits, you will have to butt joint the sidewalls of pull out shelves together ( not the most desireable for a shelf that has heavy pots,pans, and plates pounding against them ) Also the bottom will have to be surface mounted, ever see a drawer that has the bottom sagging down? Most likely this drawer has a surface mounted bottom.

So you ask, can I install pull out shelves? The simple answer is YES. We have complete measuring and installing guides available to make it easy. Most homeowners can install roll out shelves in minutes.

What is the difference between pull out shelves,roll out shelves and slide out shelves? The difference is only what you want to call them. All these describe a shelf that slides out of the cabinet on drawer slides.

Take a look at our online store and design your own cabinet pull out shelves that will add value and convenience to your life.

How To Organize Your Kitchen

The kitchen is usually the most used area in any home yet is the most unorganized area. Look in most kitchens and you will find that to access items in the base cabinets or pantries, things have to be moved aside to find a certain item. I have watched people dig through their kitchen cabinets looking for a sauce pan that was used just a week ago or through the pantry cabinets looking for a spice jar that was hiding behind cereal boxes.

The problem with most kitchen and pantry cabinets is that they are not very functional for everyday life. They are big, deep, dark cabinets with boards for shelves. A typical base kitchen cabinet is two feet deep and you will usually have to crouch down to see into the back of them.

We believe that everyone wants an organized kitchen but the initial cost of organizational products prohibit having cabinets with pull out shelves and organizers. A typical pull out shelf from the cabinet manufacturer will cost approximately $75.00, multiply that by the typical kitchen of 10 cabinets with two shelves and just to have pull out shelves in every cabinet can add $1500.00 to the kitchen cabinet order and if you have pantry cabinets, that amount can almost double.

Why not start out with installing pull out, slide out, roll out shelves  and trays ( all describe the same thing ) in the cabinets that you use most. These cabinets are usually the ones closest to your oven or stove. These have the items that you use most for cooking and are typically crammed.

If your cabinets are large enough to spread your cooking utensils like fry pans out and can be stacked in two layers,consider a pull out tray. A kitchen cabinet pull out tray will be 1 1/2- 2 1/2″ tall and will allow you to stack two items without them tipping out. By installing pull out trays in these cabinets, you can easy access to the most used cooking utensils.

A kitchen cabinet that holds taller items such as liquor bottles, cleaning bottles, paper towel rolls, or that needs to have items stacked three layers high or more, consider a pull out shelf or drawer. These kitchen cabinet pull out shelves are typically 3 1/2″ tall or more. The higher sidewall of these pull out shelves will help to prevent the items from falling off when the shelf is slid out of the cabinet.

I will get into pantry cabinets, spice racks and pull out trash cans in a later entry.
see how to measure for pull out shelves http://www.slideoutshelvesllc.com/store/i4//information.html

Slide Out Shelves LLC expands product line

Slide Out Shelves LLC has been in business for numerous years, providing custom made pull out shelves for easy installation into existing kitchen and pantry cabinets. Recently however they have expanded their sliding shelf product line to include a variety of bathroom fixtures, sinks, cabinets and mirrors.

Currently you can pick from 11 styles, so one easy order gets you a matching combination of fixtures bound to improve any bathroom. And the variety of the styles is truly world wide, the Basket Weave style has distinctive oriental influence, the Antique and Colonial styles for the old world charms, even specialty woods like Chestnut, Walnut and inlay.

So if your bathroom needs an overhaul, or you are just adding on, add some instant style to your bathroom any interior decorator would approve of. Prices start for a three piece, style coordinated bathroom set at just $587 and that includes the vanity, vanity top, matching designer mirror and free shipping to 48 US states. The pricing and styling of these bath vanity sets are truly hard to find anywhere.

Added to our existing line of products, they hope to be your one stop source for both pull out shelves and bathroom fixtures. With such a broad range of products they aim to limit the time and money you spend and ensure you receive a quality product. Besides their products they pride themselves on service, so whether you are a do it yourselfer or a contractor in need of our supplies, need one specialty size shelf, or 500, they are there to help.

So remember, whether you need pull out shelves for your kitchen and pantry cabinets, or your bathroom needs a touch of style, Slide Out Shelves LLC has you covered.

Pull Out Shelf Holds Cooking Sheets and Platters

Most kitchens have a cabinet with a narrow opening. This is where we usually store cooking sheets and platter. The problem is, pull out just the cooking sheet that we want without pulling them all out. This shelf is designed just for that area and problem. It has a 7 1/2 tall back wall, and the sidewalls slope to a 2 1/2 front. The slanted sidewalls allows great view of the sheets or platters when the shelf is rolled out, yet gives good support to prevent the cooking sheets from tipping over or out. Comes with adjustable dividers that allow 1/4″ adjustment increments. Designed for standard base cabinets.
http://www.slideoutshelvesllc.com/store/-BIRCH-PULL-OUT-SHELVES–COOKING-SHEET/PLATTER/c1_21/index.html

Sliding Shelves and Trays

  What are the differences between sliding shelves and sliding trays and which is best to use in my application?

  That is a question we are asked often so I will attempt to clarify the difference between the two and the uses of both.

  A sliding shelf typically referes to a flat shelf that has drawer slides attached, and slides in and out of the enclosure that the shelf is installed into. This is not the best method in most applications as a flat shelf usually is difficult to grasp and slide in and out.Most flat sliding shelves have a lip on the bottom front of the shelf for this reason. Also a flat shelf will allow items to slide off the back of the shelf . In my opinion flat shelves are only good if they are stationary. If you need to roll out the shelves for easier access. Then sliding trays are the only method to use.

  Sliding trays have sidewalls, a front, and a back. Items that are going to be put into motion need some type of vertical to help support and  confine the item. The most critical vertical is the back and sides.

  The back of a sliding shelf should be one half the height of the tallest item in the shelf. This will give the item the necessary support to prevent the item from tipping over and out of the shelf.

  So, you may be asking yourself,” why do people call them sliding shelves rather than sliding trays”?. The answer: I do not know.

  If you were to ask someone to describe a sliding or pull out shelf. Usually the description will resemble a pull out tray or drawer more than a flat shelf with slides. After all, look at our business name “Slide Out Shelves LLC”. The name implies a flat shelf, yet what we produce is actually more of a tray or drawer. Then there is the slide out part of our name, you could change it to roll out, pull out, glide out,etc. and they would all be describing the same item.

  So no matter what you call them, the idea is to have a method of containing items in an enclosure yet give the ability to easily access the items by having them  come out of the encloure while still being contained.

In what areas do sliding trays or shelves make sense?

  Any enclosure or cabinet that is 12-14 inches deep or deeper is a canidate for pull out shelves. Any cabinet less than 12 inches deep typically does not present an accessibility issue.

  Base kitchen cabinets have always been the prime area to install roll out shelves as these cabinets are deep and dark

  Pantry cabinets typically hold more items than base cabinets and can be even more difficult to access.So installing sliding trays in a pantry will create a pull out pantry.

  Bathroom cabinets hold many small items that are typically stuffed inside 2 or 3 drawers because most bath vanities do not have drawers under the sink area. Pull out shelves can easily be installed in the bottom of a bathroom vanity cabinet to allow easy access and organization.

  Bathroom and hall closets are also areas that can benefit from shelves that slide out.

  Garage cabinets and utility cabinets can be fitted with slide out shelves or drawers. How often have you searched through a tool box looking for a small item? If you have slide out shelving inside your garage cabinets, you could organize the tool box items and have easier access to everything.

How tall does the sidewall need to be?

  As I stated earlier, the sidewalls should be one half the total height of what the shelf is holding. Personally I like slanted sidewalls on my slide out shelves as they give me the needed height to prevent items from falling or tipping off the back, yet allow the items to be viewed and removed from the front.

  In our base kitchen cabinets we have an area that we stack our pans. When these pans are stacked ontop of each other the total height is 6 inches. In this area we installed a 6 inch slanted shelf. The shelf is 6 inches in the back and slants to 2 3/8 inches in the front. The taller back and slanted sidewalls keep our pans contained, and when the shelf is slid out, we do not have to look down into a six inch deep drawer.

  In our pantry cabinet we have a mixture of 6 inch slanted and 7 3/8 inch slanted shelves. We have found that these two sizes work best in pantry cabinets as taller items such as cereal boxes are usually 12-16 inches tall, so the taller shelves give us the height needed to contain the items, yet the smaller items do not get lost as they are in the front of the shelves where the sidewalls are lower.

In the bathroom cabinets we installed 7 3/8 slanted shelves. These especially work great where we keep the bath towels. Before installing the slide out shelves in our bathroom, attempting to remove one bath towel, would ocaassionally have one or two other towels follow the one we wanted which resulted in refolding towels. Now we can roll out the shelf, and remove the towel from the top without others following.

 See all of our shelves at http://www.slideoutshelvesllc.com

Sliding Shelves, What Are They?

What are sliding shelves? Where are sliding shelves used? What to look for in sliding shelves? Where to find sliding shelves

Sliding shelves are shelves on drawer slides that allow the shelves to slide out of the cabinet or enclosure that contains the shelf. The shelf can be made of wire, metal, or wood, it can be flat or have sidewalls like a drawer.

Sliding Shelves are used in many applications. Many computer desks have sliding shelves to hold the key board and or printer. Televisions that slide out are usually mounted on flat sliding shelves. Refrigerators, dishwashers,and ovens all have sliding shelves. Sliding shelves or drawers are used in Kitchens, Bathrooms, Utility Rooms, Garages, closets, and Pantries.

When deciding on sliding shelves in residential applications, the two main items to consider are construction and weight capacity. Since most standard slides will have a weight capacity of 100 lbs static and 75 lbs dynamic, these will perform properly in most residential applications. However, if you are replacing the drawer slides for a  kitchen drawer or sliding shelf unit, always look for the weight capacity limits on the replacement slides as some hardware stores will carry lightweight slides to reduce costs to the consumer. And even though these slides look like standard drawer slides, they will not hold the same weight capacity. Drawer slides are made in 3/4 extension and full extension styles, which to use is a personal preference.

Sliding shelves with sidewalls are used in kitchen cabinets and pantry cabinets to give easier access to everything inside the cabinet by allowing the shelf or drawer to slide out of the cabinet. These shelves are usually made from wood products but also can be found in plastic and metal wire. The wood shelves are typically custom made and can be shipped to the consumer.

You can find these by clicking on the picture or find all of the sliding shelves we produce at http://www.slideoutshelvesllc.com

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

Pull Out Shelves

Pull out shelves installed in kitchen and pantry cabinets make organizing and accessing easier. Most cabinets are simply boxes with a door on the front to hide whatever is inside and the only functional purpose seems to be holding the counter top. Make your cabinets more functional by adding pull out shelves.

We can make pull out shelves for any cabinet at affordable pricing. Take for instance a popular pre sized sliding shelf 20×21 inches that sells for $64.45 only costs $30.95 when you order from us, a savings of $33.50 on a one shelf order.And if you order two or more of these kitchen shelves, you will save an additional $2.00 per shelf.

Pantry shelves, kitchen island shelves, bath vanity shelves can all be installed easily by most homeowners.

Take a look at what we offer in our pull out shelves line. You can equip your cabinets with our economical birch ply shelves or go for the solid wood maple and oak shelves.

How To Make A Pull Out Pantry

A pull out pantry is almost a necessity considering how deep and narrow most pantries are. We install pull out shelves in pantries all the time to make it convenient for homeowners to access everything easily. Occasionally we are asked to attach the door to the pull out pantry shelves so that it rolls out as one unit.

This is asked often by customers ordering pull out shelves for their own pantries through our web store http://www.slideoutshelvesllc.com

The first thing that needs to be done of course is to install the pull out shelves in the pantry. The following pictures show our double stack pull out shelves installed inside a pantry  multiple single pull out shelves can be attached the same way.

When installing the cabinet half of the drawer slides, be sure the front edge of the slide is mounted as close the the outside edge of the cabinet opening as possible without protruding outside of the cabinet. This will make mounting the pantry door easier as described later. We are installing our cabinet roll out shelves inside a face frame cabinet. The shelves will be side mounted so a 3/4″ plywood strip is attached to the cabinet sidewall to mount the drawer slides to.  Below is a full extension slide, but an epoxy drawer slide  mounts the same way.

Once you have the cabinet part of the drawer  slides installed inside the pantry cabinet, you are ready to get the pull out shelves set to accept the pantry door.

We use double face tape to set our door placements. These square tape pads can be purchased at most hardware stores. The double faced tape will allow you to place the door squarely on the pantry cabinet before screwing the pull out shelves to the door. These pads will also allow minor adjustments in square.

Place a tape square on the bottom and top shelves as shown below

Next, clamp a cleat to the bottom of the pantry cabinet at the height you want the door bottom to be.

Set your pantry door on this cleat, square the door to the pantry cabinet and press the door against the pull out shelves. The tape will hold the door temporarily until you can attach the  shelves to the door permanently.

Remove the bottom cleat and carefully slide the door open. This will expose the pull out shelves attached to the pantry door.

In each inside corner of the shelves install a screw through the shelf front into the back of the pantry door. Always be sure that you are putting the screw into the fat or thickest part of the door. Most pantry cabinet door frames are 3/4″ thick, our shelves are 1/2″ thick, so we use 1″ drywall screws to attach the  shelves to the door.

Once you have attached the bottom and top shelves to the pantry door, slide any remaining shelves against the door and attach the same way.

Now your pantry shelves are attached to the pantry door and when you pull the pantry door open or close, all the pantry shelves roll into and out of the cabinet.

Below are pictures of a base kitchen cabinet with slide out shelves attached to the door and pull out pantries

All Pull Out Shelves shown can be purchased through our web store http://www.slideoutshelvesllc.com
They are custom made to fit existing cabinets