ROLL-OUT KITCHEN TRAYS
Al Carrell: We all waste a lot of time and energy in the kitchen reaching for a pot or a dish that we need. But just imagine if your cabinet shelves were completely accessible. No more rummaging. Just pull out a drawer and instantly find what you need. Well, you can make these roll-out cabinets shelves yourself. It'll cost you about $20.00 to build a couple of shelves. And that's about a fifth of the price of professional installation roll-out maker, Lee Pfoutz, is sharing his expertise. The first step is measuring. Now Lee, I see you're measuring between the two openings there.
Lee Pfoutz (Better Shelf Co.): Right. That's to get the maximum distance that we've got to work with Al. And then from that figure we'll subtract at least one inch for the slides.
AC: We cut plywood fronts, backs, sides and bottoms and join them.
LP: Basically, we prefer to use this lock shoulder joint because it works faster for us, but we've got a lot of extra equipment too, but the butt joints will work just as well and is a lot simpler for say, a do-it-yourselfer type.
AC: Bond the joints with wood glue and brads.
LP: We're selecting the good side going down.
AC: I always tell people if you're going to have a glue job you got to have the proper clamping. This way you've got it squared up. The glue is going to take care of itself and you've got no problems. Once the glue dries, about half an hour, fill the low spots in the wood. Lee's using three sanders to level the wood. You can do the job using only a random orbital sander.
LP: Most everything is done with an 80 grit.
AC: Wipe off the dust and your shelf is ready for the finish of your choice. Lee has a high volume low pressure sprayer. A brushable finish is fine too. Let the finish dry and all that's left before installation is attaching the slides and protective bumpers. These particular cabinets have a couple of obstacles that you might run into. To create a wide enough opening for the roll-outs we reversed the direction in which one of the door opens, then we removed the midsection between the cabinet doors and that piece gets attached to one of the doors. This plywood strip holds the sockets for the roll-out slides. It screws right into your cabinet wall. And presto! Your roll-outs are ready. You know, these sliding shelves really help organization and accessibility for everyone, including people on the go, older folks and the disabled.
Contacts:
Better Shelf Co. 972-578-1760
Episode 56 1997 - 98 Season
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