DIY Canned Food Organizer Tutorial

Hilary

Pure genious! Way to maximize the space in your adorable kitchen.

Jenn Gray

Super Cute. & Clever. Bythewayjenngray.blogspot.com

Jen

Love it!
It’s such a great idea and such a space saver.

Faith @ Artistic31Mama

Brilliant! I’m soo pinning this! 🙂 You hooked me with this post! I’m a new follower! I’ll be looking forward to seeing more posts! 🙂

Amanda

What a great idea – and so wonderfully executed, too!

I would love it if you would link up at Watch Out, Martha!’s first link up party: Martha Mondays on May 7th! Hope to see you there! (www.watchoutmartha.net )

Jen @ Yummy-Healthy-Easy

I just saw that your amazing airplane valance was featured on House of Hepworth’s this week!! WAY TO GO!!!!! 🙂

Little Ladybird

We need one of these, what a great idea!!

The Average Jane

This is awesome for “stepsaver” (read: tiny as heck) kitchens like mine! How did you place the casters to stop it from rubbing on the wall? I’m in an apartment and don’t want to have too many scratches to fix when it’s time to move out.

Gabrielle

Be still my heart! Love love love it! Thanks for the great tutorial.

The House at Bluebird Lane

Really great storage solution! I am also pantry-less and always on the look-out for more storage space ideas. Thanks for sharing!

Danielle

its so pretty. i would want to keep it out all the time.

Kim

This is exactly what I need! I’m super excited!! Thank you thank you for the instructions for how to make it. I was just wondering if you have any problems with it scratching the side of your fridge. I didn’t know if pulling it in and out would end up making places where it rubbed.

Anna

This is ingenious! Seriously hats off to you, this is the smartest use of wasted space that I’ve ever seen! I FBed it and Pinned it, thank you so much for sharing at the Weekend Warrior!

Anna
http://www.askannamoseley.com

Dee

Oh WOW! this is brilliant! It is so simple and so effective. It amazes me that no one seems to have come up with such a great way to store such items before now. Such ingenious thinking on your part.
thanks for making it and sharing it. I am going to pin this so that I can show hubby and inspire him to assist me (mostly do it for me) to adapt and make one for our kitchen. The timing couldn’t be better as we are in the process of re-thinking our kitchen space. I will blog it when I get to it and link back to your blog too.

Linda @ it all started with paint

And I thought I was weird for hugging my kitchen countertops! What a fabulous idea! So fabulous that I was compelled to pin and FB it too …

🙂

Linda

Iziko

Thats a brilliant idea!! Now Im wondering how I (read husband) can make something similar in our tiny kitchen…I dont have a perfect spot like u. But ill store this idea in my memory couse its a great idea! Only after reading todays post did I realize u r actually renting a place, Im amazed at what u have done to it! we r also renting but lets just say I wont be having a tour of our flat any time soon;) Thanks for posting! From Anita in Norway

Gale

Instead of drilling right through, you can use a forstner bit and only go halfway, and then just have a fixed top and bottom, with finished edges.

stefani

This is great! I love the pop of color on the inside.

A friend got one of these when she remodeled her kitchen and I figured I would have to wait quite awhile to get one for my own. It never occured to me to build one. Thanks so much for the info. 🙂

Hannah

Just saw this on IHeartOrganizing… this is incredible! Thanks for the great tutorial!

Karen @ THEBUZYBUG

Oh my goodness…I am soooo making this!! TFS!

MichelleC

What a great way to use space and it’s so cute with the chevron stripes.

Megan and Emily@Whimsically Homemade

Hey there! Just wanted to let you know we featured you in our Favorite Find Fridays post over at Whimsically Homemade. We used one of your pictures. If that’s a problem let us know and we’ll remove it immediately. Thanks for your great inspiration!

Haydee

Yowza, that’s SO fantastic! Beautifully done..and I love the added dash of pizzaz with the chevron…you have endless bragging rights with this fabulous project!

The Cantelmo Family

This is such a great idea!! I love it! I need something like this but I don’t think I have enough room in my kitchen. Maybe in my next house!

529aabfa-1b7d-11e1-8d2a-000bcdcb2996

So how do you keep it from being pulled out too far and falling over?

Melisa

You’re not only clever, you’re handy with tools! This is so impressive.

Curt

Just built it today for a friend. Pretty simple project but I’m in the business. Check for width. Built with 1×4’s and with the dowels it is pretty skinny for cans. Lots of storage for small space!

Tori

For your boards, you have 1×4″ — that is inches. Do you mean 1×4′ (foot)? Did you really have a foot of space betwen your fridge and wall?

This is such an awesome idea, and I’ve been looking for some extra storage space. I just know I don’t have a foot of space between the fridge and door. Maybe I’m just not understanding it correctly…I’m blonde ;P

johanna

Showed this to the Hubs this morning and he is already headed to Home Depot and Harbor Freight! I will have it in place this later today!

Jesi

I’m curious, how much did this project cost you? I know wood can be pricey.

Lycoris

I saw this too on pintrest! Thanks for the tutorial. Already thinking on how to modify it for my own needs. I just bought a bunch of the spice tins that are so popular now. I was thinking of a magnetic paint or metal plate of some sort on the back just over the cans. That way I can get them off the fridge. So afraid if I close the door to hard they will fall and make a mess.

Stephanie Keisman

I have the same question as LAnamas. My hubby and I are wanting to make this, but we are concerned about it falling over, especially with kids. Any thoughts? I suppose if you take care to put heavier items towards the bottom, that would probably help stabilize…

MomHomeGuide.com

Wow! I will have to try this. I don’t have a closet pantry in my small kitchen, so the cabinet that I use as a pantry is always getting too full. Thanks for the post!

Chinwe Onuoha

I agree with everyone that this is a great idea, but my main concern is cost. How much did the project cost? I was told by someone that it would cost me around $50 which is kind of steep for me. Please, all who have made this, tell me how much does it really cost before I get excited about it. I live in a small apartment with a tiny kitchen and I have the space on the side of the fridge to definitely accomodate this pantry on wheels.

Ryan Sandnes

That is fantastic.. I think I know what a future project is gonna have to be!=)

Sallie424

This is wonderful Thanks for the construction post! Scaling down markedly and this is calling to me, for the kitchen, I’m sure!

Unknown

Fantastic Suggestion – exactly to my taste.

In Europe they call these cabinets “Pharmacy Cabinets” because the pharmacists use deep pull out cabinets just like this to efficiently store all the itty bitty drugs and vials. Space is at a premium over there – HENCE why IKEA offers it.
I plan on building or buying one FLOOR TO CIELING with two 12 inch pullouts.
It will have a left and right wall and a top. . . for TRACKS to guide and glide.

Caster on floor is good, but interested in comments and thoughts on using DRAWER GLIDES, left and right every two feet of the height. (inset at shelf level?)

Any more thoughts on size limitations for this sort of pantry?
Gene in Nashville

Infarrantly Creative

Girl I have seen this floating around Pinterest for sure. I actually ran to my fridge to see if it would work in my space too. Fabulous!

jessesToons

I loved every bit of this, I wish I had skills like this. My dad used to build cabinets and I could never figure it out. I would love to get more experience with it. I’ve been looking around and have heard of these cabinets in Halifax that I would probably really enjoy trying out. I guess we’ll see how it goes. So fun!

naboss

Thank you so very much for sharing this project in concise detail and inspiring my boyfriend and I to [finally] solve our kitchen dilema! We figured out the schematics for what will fit in between our fridge/wall, purchased the materials, and prepared all but one aspect. I’ve read through your wonderfully clear instructions and the comments posted above; however, I am left with just one question I am hoping you could answer:
Someone above brought up the “swivel” vs “fixed” casters contention, but I did not see a response in favor of one or the other. Since you have the swivel one in practice, is there a reason why we would want to use the swivel casters and not the fixed ones?
Thank you again!

Mike

wish we could buy these pre-made! This looks fairly easy, but I’m not sure I have the patience and skill.

Rustybeth

Something like this plan would be a great thing to use as a front facing book shelf for kids. OF course, not on coasters, and affixed to a wall, but a great option for little readers. I feel other ideas coming on as well. Thanks for the inspiration.

Nagham

we just built ours ,came out pretty neat ,thanks for sharing
would love some tutorials for walk in closet too !

John

I am a do it your self guy, I have built and mad many things over the years, and I do it the same way, just from my head, I don’t have any design plans, other then a drawing I did to go by if I nee it, if you need any tips, I would gladly give what I can.
If you belong to face book, you can look me up and I have an album of things I built over the years. find me under Jay Mac it’s a picture of a blue “2013” here is the link directly to my album:
https://www.facebook.com/Smiley1958/media_set?set=a.2424442070569.89659.1837024272&type=3

Carrie This Home

I love, love, love this! What a great way to maximize space in a small kitchen. Pinning this now! I’m stopping by from Link Party Palooza (#142 First Day of School Photo Tutorial) Have a wonderful weekend!

Aiden Elizabeth

Such a great idea you shared with us ,this idea will help me to save a lot of space and it is also looking too good .Thanks for Sharing .

juanita spencer

The hubby made me one, only he used 1 x 6 boards and used peg board for the back I use small baskets to put small items in like gravy mixes. I love it.

bubblegum casting

n ice postt loved it

Katie

This would be the perfect solution for my super tiny kitchen that lacks storage and a pantry. I need to make this.

Taria Lorehand

if you don’t want to put can goods in it, I think using the space for brooms or dustpans, things like that would work as well. just another idea.

Tina

I have been mulling this idea around in my head for a couple of years. Nice to see someone has actually made one. I have a larger space so I plan to do two. I also will make the more stable so they can roll out on their own and not need the support of the wall or frig. Thanks for all of the tips on this one. I’ll definintely be able to use all of that info and adapt it to what I want to make.

Angela and Sarah (Emergency Essentials, LLC.)

Hi Mallory,
We are writing an article, and wanted to highlight your tutorial. We are an emergency preparedness store (beprepared.com) and think this is a great concept for emergency food storage. We’d like to get permission from you to use the picture of your shelf for our weekly email and blog post. We are of course, linking back to your page and giving you full credit for the tutorial. Please email us and let us know.

Helen

I love this idea and I really need one of these. I’ve been studying your plans and I did not see how much space you allowed between shelves. Could you share that info with me?
Thanks so much!

kristi@ishouldbemoppingthefloor

This is seriously brilliant! LOVE!

Paige Reader

Couple tips:

My handyman put this together for me. Took him 4 hours at $20/hour. Materials: $96 (I used pine). SOOO worth it!

I had less space to work with so my shelves are only 4″ deep.

I made one 13″ shelf, one 11″ shelf, and the rest 6″. It can get heavy quick if you put big heavy things in it (glass bottles, big cans). I use mine mostly for lightweight things that take up a lot of space: pasta, cake mix, Campbell’s soup cans, cookie decorations, spices.

We nailed a thin strip of wood to the wall about 1′ down from the top of the shelf, to give the pantry something to roll against as you pull it out to stabilize it. Oh, and if you are making the shelves less than 6″ deep, make sure the casters you buy will fit next to each other at each end. Mine were too wide, so we used 3 casters in a row and staggered them slightly, again for more stability.

A super-cool pantry! I love it!

Gay

My husband and I designed one of these about 5 years ago. Instead of using wheels we used heavy duty drawer slides, top and bottom. Also instead of dowels, we used metal stainless 1inch wide strips. The strips take up less room since they are only about 1/8 inch thick. I would think without some sort of guide to slide out it would destroy the side of your refrigerator over time. Also we used 1/8 inch plywood for the back. By doing this project we were able to use a 4 1/2 inch space between cabinet and refrigerator.

pat

Did this many years ago, but made it with a 1×6. That way, was able to hang a mop, broom, dustpan and anything else on the flat surface side. Perfect solution for a tiny studio.

Debbie Walters

I built one of these many years ago and add a guide on the top so it would not wobble back and forth. It was a 1×1 attached to the top of the mobile unit in the middle. Then on the wall I attached a 4 X 1 that ran the length of the mobile unit with a 4 X 1 at the bottom to rest on top of the 1 X 1. I then attached a 1 X 1 on either side of the 1 X 1 to the 4 X 1 so it could slide through the middle of it.

Kim

I’m going to make this very soon, but I was thinking about using peg board for the top half of the backing instead. That way I can hang up my measuring cups and spoons, and packages above the shorter cans. No wasted space!
Thanks for the awesome idea and instructions!

Tandi

How can you stop it from scratching the frig?

Rick

you should make it clear to use 1×4 lumber. a store bought 1×4 is only 31/2 inch, not wide enough for can and dowel.

Janille McGee

I just built this! Thank you so much! We have a small kitchen with no pantry in a three bedroom apartment for 4 adults. Terrible design, but it is what it is. We are painting it nerdy style, but it’s the same age as yours. Thank you so much!!

Chell'e

I absolutely love it!!! ❤❤??☺ . Now if someone had 2 openings on both sides of their fridge, where they are able to put another one on the other side of their fridge that would be even more convenient for a small kitchen. Now that would be pretty cool and convenient and right there when you need something.

Fredy

Hello Mallory,
I have made a surprise to my wife with your decoration by following your guide 🙂 She was really impressed.
Thanks for all 😀

Rajvendra

Thank you for sharing this amazing post. It helps me a lot.

gail

If you make this with only two casters and you fully load up with canned goods you can exceed the weight limit of two 50 lb. casters. Get stronger casters or use 4 like in the diagram, All in tandem. Canned good can exceed 100 pounds, and then there is the wood.

Ella

thanks for sharing this post, worth reading.

Chris Gayle

Your blog provides a useful and quality information and your information within the comment is awesome.

Arun Kumar

Sharing best article is not easy for every writer, But a professional writer can easily, yes you are also a best writer, Thanks for this

Sue ZieQue

I stumbled upon your post and it was a lifesaver. I have plenty of room for canned goods but no decent place for my brooms, etc and cleaning supplies except in the garage, which isn’t really that convenient. With some minor modifications, I was able to make broom closet/cleaning supplies organizer. I will happily share photos but not sure how to post them on my comment.

Prada17

Thanks for sharing!

maket pasta

Thanks for post

shriacer

Good job, keep it up

strafor

Thanks for post

Patric Huges

Great article. I love to share this one.

kdrama-ost

good job and I like it. great post and it is very beneficial.

Tips

The canned food organizer is a great idea. Smaller versions of the same thing can be used for spice racks. Appliance garages are also a space saving idea.

Chris clemens

Great Idea!! Has anyone tried using dowels on both sides instead of the wood backing? Does it need the back to achieve the stability it needs?

Richard Belleza

Wow, this is great! My kitchen is very small and this would definitely come in handy since storage space in my pantry is small too, thanks for sharing!