Introduction
Gain extra storage space in the kitchen by installing toe-kick drawers under your base cabinets. Just assemble the under cabinet storage drawer units in your shop, then slip them under the cabinets and screw them in place.Family Handyman
Under Cabinet Storage Overview
Installing under cabinet storage drawers sounds like a tough job, requiring fussy planning, the skills of a cabinetmaker and child-size hands to work in that cramped space. But this project is amazingly easy. To simplify the whole process, we designed self-contained drawer units that you can assemble in your shop and then slip into place. To simplify planning, we’ll show you three basic measurements that let you size these drawers to fit under any cabinet. Even if you’ve never built or installed a drawer before, you can do it. This project is economical, too—you can build the drawers for a fraction of the price a cabinetmaker would charge. The number of drawers is up to you; install them under all your cabinets or just one.
Check out these clever kitchen cabinet and storage ideas as well!
Will under cabinet storage work with my cabinets and kitchen baseboard?
The vast majority of kitchen cabinets are similar to the ones we show here, with sides that extend to the floor (see Photo 1). But there are a few rare exceptions. Some cabinets, for example, stand on legs rather than the cabinet sides. Open the cabinet doors and take a look at the bottom of the cabinet box. If you see screw heads or holes near the corners, your cabinets probably stand on legs rather than the cabinet sides (the screws or holes allow for height adjustment). In that case, installing drawers will require different steps than we show here.
If your cabinets are constructed like ours, you can install drawers just as we did. There are just a few things to keep in mind when thinking about adding under cabinet storage:
- If the cabinet is more than 30 in. wide, consider installing two drawers rather than one. Wider drawers tend to bind as you slide them in or out.
- Your drawers will be shallow; don’t expect to store kettles in them. A 4-in.-high toe space will give you storage space that’s about 3 in. deep.
- You can install drawers under a sink cabinet (or a bathroom vanity). But if the sink’s plumbing runs through the bottom of the cabinet, the drawers will have to be shorter.
Under cabinet storage tools and materials
You could build the drawers with nothing but hand tools and a circular saw, but a table saw and miter saw will give you faster, better results. A nail gun is another big time-saver, though you can hammer everything together with 1-1/4-in. finish nails instead.
All the materials are available at most home centers. In the hardware aisle, choose “full-extension” side-mount drawer slides (see Photo 3). That way, only 3 to 5 in. of the opened drawer will be covered by the overhanging cabinet front. With cheaper “3/4-extension” slides, only about half the drawer will be accessible. If you can’t find full-extension slides, or if you want “overtravel” slides that extend even farther, shop the Web. Search for “drawer slides” to find online suppliers. Slides are available in 2-in.-length increments. Most cabinets accept 18- or 20-in. slides.
Choose hardwood plywood like birch or oak for your drawers. Construction-grade tends to warp. Most home centers carry plywood in 2 x 4-ft. and/or 4 x 4-ft. sheets, so you don’t have to buy a full 4 x 8 sheet. Pick out straight pine 1x4s for the cradle sides. (Check out these tips for picking the best plywood for the job.) For the drawer faces, you’ll need hardwood that matches your cabinets. If your toe-space height is 4 in. or less, a 1×4 board will do. For a taller toe space, you’ll need a 1×6. Most home centers carry only a few types of wood such as oak, cherry, and birch or maple. If your cabinets are made from a less common species, look for a lumberyard that carries a wider selection (check online for “Hardwood”). Or improvise—with the right stain, you can make birch or maple approximately match the color of just about any wood. The grain may look different, but that difference usually isn’t noticeable in the dark toe space. We used maple faces, even though our cabinets are made from cherry.
Drawer Sizing Simplified
Measurement “A”
- Subtract 1-1/2 in. from “A” to determine the width of drawer sides, front and back.
- Subtract 1/2 in. from “A” to determine the width of drawer faces. The length of each face depends on the width of the cabinet.
Measurement “B”
- Subtract 3-3/4 in. from “B” to determine the length of the drawer front and back. This will make the entire drawer/cradle assembly 1/4 in. smaller than the width of the cavity.
Measurement “C”
- Subtract 1/4 in. from “C” to determine the length of the cradle and drawer sides.
- This is also the maximum length of the drawer slides you can use.
Finishing up under cabinet storage
Remove the drawers from their cradles for finishing. Unscrew the slides from the drawers and sand the drawer faces with 120-grit sandpaper. Also prepare a few stain-testing blocks, using leftover scraps from the faces and sanding them. We removed one cabinet door and took it to a paint store to have matching stain custom-mixed. If you have the patience to experiment, you could buy a couple of cans of stain and mix them to create your own. Either way, apply the stain to your test blocks before you stain the faces. The match doesn’t have to be perfect, since the faces will be shaded by the overhanging cabinet fronts. After staining the faces, we finished our drawers—faces and boxes—with two coats of water-based polyurethane. Before reinstalling the drawers, add the drawer pulls or knobs. We couldn’t find pulls that closely matched our existing cabinet hardware, so we chose pulls that fit over the tops of the drawer faces and are hidden under the cabinets (see first photo).
