• Home
  • About
    • Contributors
    • Disclosure Policy
  • Green Your Life
  • Contact
  • Advertising

Live Renewed

Live with Compassion. Care for Creation. Impact your World!

  • Green Living
  • Family & Children
  • Impact Your World
  • Simple Living
  • Renew Your Life

DIY Kitchen Storage Boxes

January 16, 2015 By Emily McClements
Thank you for supporting this site with purchases made through links in this post.

Ready to remove toxic cleaners from your home? Find out how!

An easy DIY tutorial to make under-cabinet kitchen storage boxes. These boxes can hold produce or other kitchen items and help to keep your counters clear! A great weekend project! DIY Kitchen Storage Boxes @ LiveRenewed.com

*This is a guest post by my husband, Jeremy, who loves woodworking and builds us beautiful and functional stuff for our home. Because so many people commented asking about our kitchen storage boxes, I’m so thankful he took the time to put together this DIY tutorial for you! This post contains affiliate links.

By Jeremy McClements

I have wanted to join the fray and add a DIY post here for a while now. I love building and creating projects for our family. I take ideas I find other places and modify them to create things that make life easier and our home more functional. (Although sometimes my projects end up making life more complicated and me less functional, but that is another post for a different day as I am not ready to admit that I have a problem yet.)

There’s something satisfying about having a newly finished project that makes accidentally drilling through your right hand worth it. Plus, it makes the story better if a scab is involved and you look like you lost a battle. I’m just sayin’.

Since so many people have commented on the hanging boxes we have in our kitchen, I decided that would be a good first project to share, and it’s something anyone can put together quickly. When we decided to take everything off our kitchen counters, I came up with a plan to store produce and typical kitchen counter items that you don’t want to bury in a drawer or cabinet and never find again.

These are easy to build, can be done in about an hour (plus paint time), and work with scraps you may already have on-hand. You can modify the boxes to be any size you want. It’s also possible to make a few small changes and add casters to the bottom to make crates that roll under a bench or bed… but more to come on that at a later date.

Bottom line: you can do this. So let’s make this little dream come true!

DIY Kitchen Storage Boxes @ LiveRenewed.com

Shopping and Tool List:

  • 2 – 1×3 – 8 feet long
  • 1 ¼” finish nails or screws (like Pro Crafter Premium Wood Screws)
  • Nail Set (buries nails before wood filler – I used 3/32″)
  • Wood Filler (I like Plastic Wood)
  • Sand paper – 120 grit
  • Measuring tape
  • Pencil
  • Hammer or Nail Gun (I used a Hitachi nail gun with this compressor)
  • Screw Driver or Drill (I use a Dewalt drill)
  • Miter Saw (I use a Hitachi miter saw)

Cut List:

  • 6 – 1×3 @ 13″
  • 2 – 1×3 @ 14 ½”
  • 4 – 1×3 @ 7 ½”
  • 4 – 1×3 @ 5 ½”
  • 2 – 1×3 @ 8 ¼” (end to long point, cut at 40 degrees off square. See picture for Step 4 below.)

General Directions:

Step 1 - DIY Kitchen Storage Bins
Step 1: Build two rectangles with the 13″ and 7 ½” boards

  • If you have a nail gun use 1 ¼” nails and knock it out quick. If you don’t have a nail gun use 1 1/4″ wood screws and counter sink them in. (You will fill all holes with wood filler later).

 

Step 2 - DIY Kitchen Storage Bins
Step 2: Connect two boxes above with 5 ½” boards on top and bottom corners, making them flush to the outside and front and back edges.

 

Step 3 - DIY Kitchen Storage Bins
Step 3: Add backs to the boxes by attaching the remaining two 13″ long 1×3’s flush to the back of the box. Add one on top and one on bottom trying to keep the gap between them consistent with the sides of the box.

 

Step 4 - DIY Kitchen Storage Bins
Step 4: Attach angled 8 ¼” pieces to each side with the 40 degree line flush with the bottom of the bin.

 

Step 5 - DIY Kitchen Storage Bins
Step 5: Attach front 14″ pieces to the angled section.

Step 6: Fill nail or screw holes with wood filler and sand smooth.

Step 7: Sand outside of finished surfaces with 120 grit sandpaper

DIY Kitchen Storage Boxes @ LiveRenewed.com
Step 8: Paint (I painted the front with chalkboard paint after painting the entire piece so we could write silly things on them if we wanted to… we never really do, but it still looks cool.)

Step 9: Hang under cabinets by drilling 1 ¼” wood screws down through cabinet into the outside pieces (5 ½” pieces you added in Step 2)

  • One screw in each corner area should be fine here, but you know your cabinets better than me.
  • You can also rest them on a back splash and screw into wall

Step 10: Take all the crap off your counters and throw it in your new hanging bin. Enjoy your cleared off counters!

DIY Kitchen Storage Boxes at LiveRenewed.com

What would you like to read next?

How to Completely Clear Off Your Kitchen Counters

DIY Upcycled Sweater Pillow Cover

5 Ways Clearing Off My Kitchen Counters Changed My Life

6 CommentsFiled Under: Around The House, DIY/Homemade, In The Kitchen, Popular Posts

How to completely clear off your kitchen counters at LiveRenewed.com5 Ways Clearing Off My Kitchen Counters Changed My Life How to completely clear counters at LiveRenewed.comHow to Completely Clear Off Your Kitchen Counters 10 Green Cleaners for the Kitchen10 Green Cleaners for the Kitchen Default ThumbnailGreen Spring Cleaning in the Kitchen

Comments

  1. Rachel @ Intentionally Simple says

    January 16, 2015 at 9:47 am

    These are great – we have very little counter space and try to maximize it by keeping the counters cleared off too! This is a great storage solution.

    Reply
    • Emily McClements says

      January 16, 2015 at 5:47 pm

      Thanks Rachel! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Nicole says

    January 16, 2015 at 1:57 pm

    I cannot wait for my husband to make me some of these. Thanks so much for the tutorial, Jer!

    Reply
    • Emily McClements says

      January 16, 2015 at 5:48 pm

      So thankful for handy husbands!!

      Reply
  3. maria says

    February 24, 2015 at 6:15 pm

    Those are very cute! -And practical to boot! I love cute organization that cuts down on the need for a lot of time spent deep cleaning and reorganizing. Thanks!

    Reply
  4. Haley says

    May 28, 2015 at 3:30 am

    This is soo nice, I hope my hubby will make one for me this weekend. This could be useful in a garage too!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

My Book: Get started with a green and healthier life today!

Green Your Life is Now Available!

FREE Green Cleaning Guide!

Get your Free Green Cleaning Guide!

Popular Posts!

An Intentional Summer Plan and Routine for Kids
How to Completely Clear Off Your Kitchen Counters

Join me on Facebook!

FREE Green Cleaning Guide!

Get your Free Green Cleaning Guide!

Join me on Pinterest!

Copyright © 2023 Live Renewed · Custom Design by Simply Designs

Copyright © 2023 Live Renewed · Graphic Design By: Creative Kristi Designs · Log in

Privacy Policy
Ready to remove toxic cleaners from your home?
Get your FREE Guide to 5 Non-Toxic Cleaners and get started with green and natural cleaning today!
Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.