How To Build Pull Out Shelves For a Blind Corner Cabinet, Part 1

Figuring out how to build a blind corner cabinet pull out was the last of my kitchen organizing projects.  And definitely the most challenging, design-wise.

Blind corner cabinets are always a challenge to organize.  There’s the easy-to-reach part of the cabinet right in front of the door, but the bulk of the storage area is back in the corner…very hard to reach!  I had researched buying a ready-made version of something that would help with the problem, but none of them would the 13″ door opening in my cabinet (and they were all pretty expensive, too!)  So I decided to make my own.

I took a 2-phased approach to solving this problem.  The first is to build pull-out shelves for the blind portion of the cabinet.  These roll from the blind portion of the cabinet to the part that is right in front of the door so you can reach the things that are stored on the shelf.  This post will go through the details of putting these shelves together.

The second part is to build a pull out drawer unit that will roll out of the easy-to-reach area so that you can easily access what is on them…and make room to reach the pull out shelves.  You can find the details on how to make this in part 2 of how to build pull out shelves for a blind corner cabinet.

To recap all of the kitchen organization projects so far:

• Turn hard-to-reach shelves in the base cabinets into easy-to-access drawers.
• Move cooking utensils to a hanging, rotating storage rack to clear drawer clutter (part 1).
• Clear drawer clutter (part 2) by organizing the rest of the utensils that end up in a drawer.
• Move spice racks to a magnetic spice wall to clear the counter tops (part 1) by moving spice racks to a magnetic spice wall.
• Clear the counter tops (part 2) by building a pull down cookbook stand.
• Clear the cabinet clutter where serving trays and cookie sheets are stored by building custom dividers and shelves.
• Make the corner cabinets more useful by building some kind of easy-to-access storage system.  This week’s project!
• The bonus project from week 6:  6 Cabinet Door Storage Ideas

Continue reading to find out how to build pull out shelves for a blind corner cabinet.

The Pull Out Shelf Design

The idea for these shelves is that they start out in the blind portion of the cabinet.  To take advantage of the full height of the cabinet, there will be 2 shelves that can be pulled out separately.

When you need to access the contents of the shelves, simply pull them over to the front of the cabinet and get at what you need.  The sides prevent the contents of the shelf from sliding off when you move them.

What You Need

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½” plywood

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[easyazon_link identifier=”B00E8AF0P8″ locale=”US” tag=”frhotoho0b-20″]2 sets of bottom mount drawer slides*[/easyazon_link].  See page 6 for more information on how to determine the length.

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[easyazon_link identifier=”B000BQQ3KE” locale=”US” tag=”frhotoho0b-20″]1″ #6 wood screws*[/easyazon_link]

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[easyazon_link identifier=”B0091H50DU” locale=”US” tag=”frhotoho0b-20″]Circular Saw*[/easyazon_link]

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[easyazon_link identifier=”B002RLR0EY” locale=”US” tag=”frhotoho0b-20″]Cordless Drill*[/easyazon_link]

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Measure Your Cabinet

Here are the measurements you will need to take from your existing cabinets.  The letters on the diagram correspond to the measurements below:

A. Measure from the corner side wall to the door opening (inside the cabinet).  In my case this had a measurement of 26″

B. Then measure from the inside of the front of the cabinet to the back (which is usually a little more than 22″).  In my case this had a measurement of 22 9/16″.

C. Measure the total width of the inside of the cabinet.  In my case, it was 41″ long.

Cut the Wood

For the blind part of the cabinet, you will be making 2 separate slide out shelves.  Use the measurements from the last step to figure out how big the pieces of wood need to be.  Note: these measurements assume that you are using drawer slides which attach to the bottom of the shelf.  Here’s what you will need for these:

1. Two pieces of ½” plywood that are 1″ shorter than the measurements you took for A and B in the last step.  In my case, these 2 shelves were 25″ x 21 9/16″.  These will be the shelves.

2. Four pieces of ½” plywood that are 2″ wide and 1″ shorter than the B measurement from the last step.  These will be the front and back edges of the shelves (which will keep things from sliding off the shelves when you pull them out).  In my case, these were 2″ x 21 9/16″.

3. Four pieces of ½” plywood that are 2″ wide and 2″ shorter that the A measurement from the last step.  These will be the sides of the shelves.  In my case, these were 2″ x 24″.

If you are going to paint the wood, you might want to do it at this stage…it’s a little easier to paint the boards before you put them together.

Determine the Lengths of the Drawer Slides

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[easyazon_link identifier=”B00E8AF0LM” locale=”US” tag=”frhotoho0b-20″]Bottom Mount Drawer Slides*[/easyazon_link]

For the pull out shelves you will need 2 sets of bottom mount drawer slides.

Because these shelves are usually longer than half the width of the cabinet, the drawer slides need to be shorter than the length of the shelves in order to be able to install them in the existing cabinet.  Otherwise, you won’t be able to fit the back end of the drawer slide extension into the front end of the drawer slide installed in the cabinet.

To determine the length of these drawer slides, subtract the length of your shelf from the total width of the cabinet.  Using the measurement numbers from the diagram, calculate C – (A – 1′).  In my case, the calculation was 41″ – (26″ – 1″) which came out to 16″.  If you want to be really safe, buy drawer slides that are this length or shorter…but you can usually get away with going up one size…just tilt the shelves up a bit when you are sliding them onto the rails.  I bought 18″ drawer slides which worked fine.

Build The Pull Out Shelves

1. Turn the shelf board upside down.

2. Slide the front edge board under the front edge of the shelf.  Make sure the edges line up.  Then attach with #6 screws or small nails through the shelf into the front shelf edge board.

3. Repeat the same steps to attach the back edge of the shelf.

3. Attach one of the side pieces between the front and back edge shelves.  Again make sure all of the sides line up.

4. Install the other side in the same way.

5. Attach the front and back boards to the side boards at the corner.

6. Install one of the drawer slides to the bottom side of the drawer.  The wheel should be at the back of the shelf.  The drawer slide will not reach all the way to the front of the shelf.  This is necessary in order to fit the shelf into the drawer slide in the cabinet.

7. Attach the other drawer slide at the other side of the shelf.  The wheel should be on the same end of the shelf as the first one.

8. Repeat these steps to create the second drawer.

Install the Pull Out Shelves

1. Start by attaching the drawer slides for the bottom shelf, keeping the following in mind:

a. It should be installed about 1″ from the bottom of the cabinet.  You can either measure and mark the location…or use a piece of board as a spacer (my preferred method).  Either way, you want to make sure that it is level.

b. The back end of the drawer slide should be at the back corner of the cabinet.

c. The wheel goes towards the front….toward the cabinet door in this case.

d. Install the second drawer slide on the other side of the cabinet, making sure that it is at the exact same height and installed in the same position…otherwise your shelf will not roll smoothly.

2. Attach the drawer slides for the upper shelf.  This will follow the same process as the bottom shelf but at a different height.  You can choose the height based on what you want to store on the shelf.  I installed mine at about 12″.

3. Tilt the first shelf to get it to fit into the door.

4. Install the bottom shelf first.  Hold the shelf up at an angle and slide the drawer slide wheels on the back of the shelf over the drawer slide wheel installed in the cabinet.

5. Then you should be able to push the shelf all the way back into the cabinet.

6. Install the upper shelf and you are finished with this portion of the project!

The Finished Shelves

Here are my finished pull out shelves.

I tend to store things that I don’t use that often, but need to be able to get to occasionally.  Since there is more room over the bottom shelf when it is pulled out, I store taller and heavier things on this shelf.  The extra room makes them easier to get at.

The top shelf is used for lighter and shorter things that I can pull out without needing a lot of head room.

In either case, these pull out shelves have definitely made the blind corner of the cabinet much easier to access!

Click here to go to part 2 of this project where you will find out how to make the pull out drawer for the front of the cabinet

Have comments or questions on how to build pull out shelves for a blind corner cabinet? Tell us in the section below.

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