Rough and Ready Veg Storage

I needed somewhere to store veg in my pantry, it needs to be airy, but most of all cheap!

Bring on the pallets!!!

Step 1: Materials

Everyone likes making things out of pallets, cheap, readily available, but a real chore to take apart!

Archimedes said "Give me a lever long enough and I can move the world"

I say "Give me a garden fork and I can dismantle a pallet"

I used 2 Pallets for this job, I made sure that they were untreated ones as I am storing foodstuffs on them

Step 2: Dismantled

So I ended up with a bunch of 1200x100 mm planks and some 4x2 pieces

I cut the 4x2's in two lengthwise (to give me 2x2's)

I also cut a bunch (14) of 400mm (16inch) lengths from the planks, which I had ripped down to 62mm (2.5 inches) width (I will be using the remaining pieces later)

Step 3: End Frames

I assembled 2 end frames using the 2x2's and the 400mm planks

They are assembled with a gap of 62mm (2.5 inches) between

I also put in a cross brace to ensure that they were square (and would remain so)

Step 4: Making the Carcass

I decided that I wanted the carcass to have an overall width of 800mm (32 inches), so from the planks I cut 4x 800mm x 50mm strips and screwed them on top and bottom as shown.

(Note the front most strip is on the top rather than the front to allow clearance for the top drawer)

Step 5: Drawers

I then made drawers to fit

Each drawer used 2 of the offcuts remaining from the sideframe slats (400mm x 37mm, one on each side)

The front and back are 750mm x 50mm pieces ripped from the planks

The base is 6 x 100mm x 400mm, also cut from the planks

All this was screwed/nailed together (using the nails recovered from dismantling the pallets)

Step 6: And There It Is Finished

I decided that as it was just for storing potatoes etc there was no real need to sand/stain it, it would work fine as is.

A rub of candlewax on the drawer slides helps "lubricate" the drawers

So all free apart from about 4 dozen screws