It’s easy to turn any cabinet into a DIY pull-out shelf.
I recently did this with an unused space under my kitchen counter to create a slide-out shelf for my recycling bin.
Here’s what you need:
- Rev-A-Shelf pull-out shelf (multiple styles and sizes are available)
- Rev-A-Shelf door mount kit (this is how you’ll attach the cabinet door)
- Cordless drill
- Screwdriver
DIY Pull-Out Shelf Instructions
1. Measure
To start, measure the width of your cabinet.
You’ll want to order a shelf that’s at least ½ inch narrower than your cabinet to allow for easy installation. For example, my cabinet was 12 inches wide, so I ordered the 12-inch Rev-A-Shelf (which is actually 11.5 inches wide–confusing, I know).
The door mount kit works with any size shelf.
2. Mount the Cabinet Door
When you take the shelf out of the box, your first instinct is going to be to place it in your cabinet and start screwing it in place. Do not do this!
You need to attach the cabinet door to it first using the door mount kit before sliding the whole thing into the cabinet. This will save you a lot of hassle.
Attach the door mount to the shelf following the provided instructions. Then, attach the cabinet door to the front of it.
Attaching the door mount to the shelf
Now attaching the door to the mount
THIS PART IS IMPORTANT: As you attach the cabinet door, you need to make sure the top and bottom of the door line up with the cabinets on either side of it. Otherwise you will have a wonky-looking cabinet and have to go back and reposition your screws (which is what happened to me).
You can do this by resting the shelf on the bottom of your cabinet and holding the door in place as you make marks for where the screws should go. This will all make more sense as you’re actually doing it.
3. Install The Shelf
NOW you can slide the whole shelf—with the cabinet door attached to it– into the cabinet and screw it into place.
Use a pencil to mark where the screws will go, then drill pilot holes into the base of your cabinet. Screw the shelf into place.
This is all a bit hard to explain through text, so I made a video to help show the steps. You can see where I went wrong (twice!) by putting in the shelf too soon and then by misaligning the cabinet door.
Hopefully this will help you avoid some of my mistakes!
