For years I wanted to install pantry drawers to organize the chaos of shelves. I struggled to come up with a plan because my shelves are a bit shallow at just over 11” deep and I had trouble finding pantry drawers that would fit. I am a huge fan of The Container Store’s ELFA system but just couldn’t get it to work in my small space. Just look at this disaster!
Then I found the Rev-A-Shelf wire basket drawers that would work perfectly for my pantry drawers. These come is so many different sizes, my dream of pantry organization was about to come true!! I ended up using the drawers that were 18” wide and 12” deep. I found a great deal on these drawers at Woodworkers Express.
The first thing I did was remove one of the existing shelves on the right side of my pantry and reinstalled it near the floor of the adjacent side. I installed my old/new shelf at a height that would match the new drawer system and so that when I installed finishing trim it would butt up to the shelf. I really wanted my new drawer system to look custom and built-in, so I made both sides of my pantry come all the way to the floor for a nice finished look.
The most difficult part of this project was planning the sizes I needed for my wood pieces. That’s when I get out the pencil, paper and calculator to figure it all out. Most hardware stores have a great service of cutting plywood for their customers. See my post on how to utilize this service and take much of the stress out of your DIY project.
After cutting my wood pieces (I used ¾” plywood), I primed and painted them. I did this first while everything was disassembled to make the process a little easier. You can get our painting tutorial here, I used the same steps for this project.
Then I used my handy Kreg Jig (https://amzn.to/2NAvSKC) (see tutorial here) to create the “box” for my pantry drawers to attach to. I started off making a 3-sided box (the 4th side or the “top” of the box will be an existing shelf). The depth of the drawer box is the same depth as my existing pantry shelves.
I added a 1”x2” to the back of my box so that I could drill my drawer box into the wall behind it. This is called a cleat. Be careful where you put the cleat so that a drawer doesn’t bump into it. I put my cleats between 2 drawers so that it wouldn’t interfere with the drawers.
These square clamps help keep everything lined up when it comes time to screwing the wood pieces together.
When I installed the “floor” of the drawer box, I put this at a height so that the floor trim would butt up to it and so that it would be at the same height as my newly installed adjacent shelf.
Next up, I carefully installed the slides for the drawer baskets to the drawer box sides, making sure everything was level as I went. Finally, I moved my 3-sided drawer box into the pantry and attached it to the existing shelf with Kreg screws (https://amzn.to/2JFWOHt). This completes the 4 sides of the drawer box. I also screwed the drawer box to the wall, using the 1”x2” cleat we added earlier.
To finish things off, I added a 1”x2” frame around the drawer box and a 1”x1” board between my 2 sets of drawers. This frame did a couple of things, it made the project look more build in and it also made the drawers so they wouldn’t stick out from the box (since they were a little deeper than my existing shelves).
I added floor trim and some trim along the sides to finish everything off. Trim is my best friend, it can hide so many imperfections or fill spaces when sizes don’t match up exactly. I used my favorite nail gun (https://amzn.to/2JFWOHt) to attach the frame and trim pieces and filled the holes with wood filler. This nail gun is my favorite but you’ll need an air compressor to use it. If you prefer to skip the air compressor, this battery operated nail gun (https://amzn.to/2qZF833) is a good one to try.
My second best friend is caulk, this is also a great trick for hiding imperfections or small spaces. Caulk where the various pieces of wood butt up or join, like where the floor trim meets up with the drawer box and shelf and where the trim meets up along the walls. Caulking these areas makes your project look so much more finished and built in. I touched up the paint and finally got to fill my pantry drawers and get this space in shape. I’m super happy with the outcome and it was a 1-person project that anyone could do!
Since adding the drawers, I have added a few more nifty organizers that I really like, one is this gravity can feeder that has proven to be a great space saver. Since my drawers aren’t super deep I had to find one that would fit my shelves and this one works great https://fave.co/37hTBud. I also like the lidded blue containers that stores my daughter’s extensive cake decorating supplies, they aren’t something she uses daily so these work great to contain the mess. I think the bamboo lids make them looks just a little more upscale. https://fave.co/3538hKY The grey baskets hold all the packets, bread and loose ends. https://fave.co/2H1ysKn
If you’d like to save some of these ideas for later, the photo below will work great for Pinterest, there is a button in the upper left hand corner to add it to your boards.
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