Introduction: Empty Space Next to the Fridge? Make a Roll-Out Pantry
With some web-spiration, a 3D-Printer on hand and some empty space next to the fridge, I decided to make a roll out pantry.
Optional:
3D-Printer + filament
Supplies (as seen):
(2) 2x6x8 construction lumber
(1) 3/16x4x8 plywood
(1) 3/4x4x4 plywood (scrap used)
(4) Casters
(8) Dowel rods (as shelf holders and railings)
(3) 1/4"x6 Quarter round molding
(14) #6 3/4" Flathead Screws (for dowel railing holders)
(2) #6 32x3 Machine Screws with nut (for handle)
(38) 1" Wood screws (for casters and scrap pieces to hold backing)
(6) Scrap pieces of wood (can use leftovers from the 2x6x8 pieces)
(48) Finishing nails (guess, not sure how many used)
(2) Quarts of paint
Tools:
Drill
Hand Saw
Measuring Tape
Clamps
Straight Edge (square)
Painters Tape
Kreg R3 Jr. Kit
Dowel Rod Jig Kit
Wood Glue
Hacksaw Blade (off the hacksaw)
Sandpaper
Hammer
Chisel
Step 1: Measure Out Your Space
First you'll need to measure out your space, as everyone's may be a little different. I didn't want my pantry being taller than the fridge and I wanted the pantry to be flush with the fixed wall on the side, so take that into account as well.
In my case I had 6 1/2" x 29" to play with so I purchased two pieces of 2x6x8 construction lumber (as the measured size is 1 1/2" x 5 1/2") and cut them into (2) 26" boards and (2) 66" boards. My fridge is about 5" taller than 5' (66") but that gives me room for my casters.
Step 2: Cut Your Pantry Frame
I measure the distance from my hand saw blade to the edge of the base assembly. This will be your cut distance. Then I measure my actual size + my cut distance and set up a square and clamp it down for a straight cut.
Step 3: We're Starting by Making a Box
Now that we have our boards cut we need to make a box. I used pocket screws for a cleaner look. I use a Kreg R3 Jr. to make the holes, and just guesstimate where they'll be placed. Make sure to get the right size on the Kreg for your lumber thickness and use a clamp to hold it steady.
(3) holes on the same face of the smaller two 26" pieces will be used so that the outside 66" board will be clean of screws once the box is made.
If using regular screws (which I do) use the longest extensions for you drill so that there won't be damage to the wood and the screws get to where they need to be.
Tip: When I don't have a spare set of hands, I use scrap wood clamped on the sides of a vertical piece and then clamp that piece to the wood at a right angle. It's not completely secure but it's enough to get the job done.
Step 4: Pantry Backing
I used some 3/16" plywood for my pantry backing. Some scrap wood to hold it in place and some 1/4" quarter round molding to finish the edges. Using the same principle of hand saw cutting, I laid out some guides for my plywood and cut away.
Tip: to reduce tearing on the back side of the wood when cutting I like putting down some painters tape to keep everything together.
As I'm using all the space possible next to the fridge, I inlaid the scrap wood, inside the pantry, so that the 3/16" plywood would be flush with the back. The pantry was then flipped over and the plywood hammered into the scrap wood with finishing nails.
I then measured the edges of the pantry for the quarter round, cut the pieces needed and that was hammered into place as well. Now's a good time to put in your Kreg's pocket hole covers in, if you haven't done so. A dab of wood glue and they fit right into place.
Step 5: Shelving
Measure out how tall you want your shelves to be (measure some items you'd like to place in your pantry). I came up with a total of about 6 shelves with the below heights.
Note: The distance for all shelves + (number of shelves X thickness of your wood) should fit inside your pantry.
So 6 shelves with the following final heights:
(1) 13" shelf - cereals and bigger boxes
(2) 9" shelves - smaller items
(3) 7" shelves - cans
13" + 18" + 21" = 52" + (6 x 3/4") = 56 1/2" total, which gives me some wiggle room and a small shelf space left as the total inside size of my pantry is 63".
Now we'll need to do some cutting. I cut mine out of some scrap 3/4" construction plywood I had on hand. Since I kept the 26" boards on the inside of my pantry box, I can easily make shelves this length. I wanted them inset a bit so I cut them to 5" widths which comes to a total of 6 boards at 5" x 26".
Once you have the shelves cut, you'll need to cut some grooves out for the 1/4" quarter round molding to fit. The way I did it was to line all the shelves up, mark my wood at 1/4" from the edge and move my saw blade to 1/4" deep. Made a few passes with the hand saw, broke the edges and used a chisel where needed.
A quick test fit with all my shelf heights (to make sure I didn't mess anything up) and then some sanding as you don't want sharp edges.
Step 6: Doweling
I'm sure there are better ways of doing this, as I messed up quite a bit, but here's what I went through. I had a small dowel jig that I had never used, so I thought I would give it a try. I stuck to one side of the pantry and measured out my shelf sizes while working my way up from the bottom. Put in dowels on that one side, then placed a shelf with a level to guide me to where the other side was supposed to be at. Worked out well once I got the hang of it.
There will be mistakes, but they're easily fixed with some glue, a hacksaw blade and some sandpaper. I would sand down the end of the dowel a bit to make sure it would take the glue, place the dowel, then use the hacksaw and a wet towel to clean things up. Sand as necessary afterwards and everything would be flush.
Once all the holes are in place you're gonna need to cut all your dowel rods. I cut my dowels at 1 1/2" as the jig I had cut 3/4" into the pantry.
Now is a good time to put the casters on and make sure everything fits in the space you have.
Note: The way I put my casters on the pantry made sense in my head but wasn't practical as the pantry, once loaded, became top heavy. I went back and widened the casters to fix the problem.
I went ahead and used this time to cut 7 dowel rods out for the pantry railings at roughly 26" as well.
Step 7: Hardware or Is It Software?
Using SketchUp I went ahead and designed a handle for the pantry and some dowel rod holders. Video below.
Here's the process I use. Once designed in SketchUp I export the model as an .stl (J. Foltz SketchUp extension), run it through NetFabb sudio (or the online version) to fix the file for printing and then port that to my 3D - Printer.
Print away!
Step 8: Paint!
Pick your colors and have at it. At the expert advice of my fiancee, I painted the handle, dowel rod holders and dowels alternating colors from the pantry to make things fun.
Step 9: Some Assembly Required
Put everything together and make sure you make good use of your new space.
The handle was fairly easy as I knew the distance to center for the screws. If you purchase one from a hardware store, just mark those points on your pantry, make sure they're not going to hit a shelf on the inside and use a drill bit that's about the same size as your screws.
The dowel rod holders were put in by measuring up from the level shelves the same distance on both sides of the pantry, this gave me a good level rail to keep things in place. Some of the dowel railing needed some trimming, as they were too long to fit, but after some touch up paint I put them in place.
Web-spiration from : http://www.classyclutter.net/2012/05/build-your-own-extra-storage-diy-canned-food-organizer.html

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51 Comments
6 years ago
Tempted to try ball bearing casters... And putting the shelves in with biscuits to give the structure some extra stability.
7 years ago
How far apart did u put your caster ...having issues with our fall over ?
7 years ago
If the side of your fridge seems warm, then the airflow is probably necessary. If you are concerned about the airflow, then you may want to try incorporating pegboard for the backing.
8 years ago
Cool idea! like the old Camero too!
10 years ago on Introduction
Great idea, but what about the heat generated from the back side of the fridge, it would not damage the food? I am sure it works great in other areas. Nice work.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Hi Nazih, thanks for the comment, several people have asked me the same question. I haven't experienced any issues but I think the heat generation really depends on the fridge. I purchased a new Samsung fridge to replace a 10+ year old fridge that had metal coils in the back. I know for a fact that my old fridge gave off quite a bit of heat as you could feel it when you walked by. I've checked the bottom and sides of the pantry at different times of the day, for the month or so it's been installed, so if there is heat generated in the back of this new fridge, it's so small it's un-noticeable. Everything seems to stay at a constant temperature, but I'll verify that with a thermometer just to make sure and follow up with an update. I did go through the owners manual and all it states about air circulation is having 2 inches of space from the top, back and sides. Nothing is mentioned about heat generation, but I'm sure if you didn't have at least that much space some heat may be transferred. I'm not saying this would be the same for everyone, you'll just have to take note.
Reply 8 years ago
Actually the danger is not for the food, but for the fridge itself: it could get damaged or it could not work at all if it is not given enough air circulation to dissipate the heat it "sucks" (literally! It works using the "heat pump" principle) from the things being refrigerated. Surely a fridge with limited air circulation consumes more electricity.One should ALWAYS have a look at the installation guidelines of the fridge manual to be sure.
Mine for example clearly says that it should be installed leaving a clearance of 5 cm (2 inches, roughly) from furniture on the sides and of 10 cm from the one placed above the fridge.
In your case there still is a lot of free space around the fridge, but it could be an issue for someone else. I think you should write a disclaimer in the tutorial about these potential problems: there is a lot of people who is totally clueless about how a fridge does its job that could be tempted to build a roll out for each side and also a cabinet above the fridge.
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
There is no heat from the side of the fridge the heat will come from the back of the fridge and heat rises so no problem with it going round the side of the fridge.Nice job i,m measuring up now
9 years ago on Introduction
eu estou fazendo 1 igual sososo
10 years ago on Step 9
Looks great! How do you keep if from scratching up your wall and fridge?
10 years ago
absolutely brilliant creation!! ive got very limited storage space in my kitchen and now know how to make use of that so far useless space between my fridhe/freezer and the wall! thank you!
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Thanks Veroniiiqaa, hope it serves you well.
10 years ago
Great job. I'll definitely be making mine soon just to hold the brooms and mops hiding in there. One question though. How balanced is the shelf? Do the casters make it stable enough not to fall over? I might incorporate something like drawer slides or something to hold it to the wall and make it alot sturdier.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Thanks brendrag! Empty, the shelf is very well balanced and stands on its own. As it sits now, the shelf is still fairly well balanced, but I'm sure adding additional items may make it want to tip over. I debated placing a rail of some kind on the side wall and may still eventually set something up made of wood, as drawer slides (greater than 24" of travel) were none too cheap. My thought was a single scrap piece of wood attached to the wall could act as a guide, and two pieces holding a dowel which would be threaded through that sidewall scrap, could rest along the top of the pantry. This would not only act as a guide to keep the pantry upright, but also act as a stopper to prevent it from being pulled out all the way.
My current set-up has two pieces of scrap wood, one on the top of the pantry and another against the wall, to act as a stopper, as I was worried I was going to pull the pantry out all the way and have a messy cleanup.
10 years ago on Step 5
Knowing you made those notches with a circ saw gives me the heebie jeebies! I know we can't all afford table saws (myself included) but that looks a bit risky.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
How so wastubbs? If you think about it, not paying attention or doing things too quickly can make any activity with power tools "risky". Granted I wasn't looking for an exact cut (which a table saw would have provided), I've used these type of notch cuts for years without issue. So making these cuts with a circular saw is just as safe as using any other power tool.
10 years ago on Step 4
Another thing viewers at home should keep in mind when doing long cuts of plywood or other laminate with a circular saw, you can reduce tear-out first and foremost by using the proper saw blade.
Circular saws are commonly sold with either a framing or "ripping" blade with large, aggressive teeth. You can also get finishing or "crosscut" blade with much smaller teeth. I learned this the hard way when cutting up some expensive oak plywood only to have it tear out the whole length on my cross cuts. Gross.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Thanks wastubbs, that's a good tip. Generally speaking a blade in the 60 to 80-tooth range is great for cutting veneer plywood, laminates and other fragile woods. You also have to think about how old your blade is when having tear-out issues, as it will get worse with a dirty or dull blade. FYI, the dirty will come way before the dull. A good idea is to clean your blade if you start seeing tear-out before purchasing a new one.
10 years ago on Introduction
Great work, awesome idea. A cheap IKEA bookshelf would be a great head start for this project...
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Thanks michaelnelson, I didn't think about that, that would be a quick and clean substitute.