Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Under-the-Sink Panels: From Fake to Functional

You know what I'm talking about, right?


Yeah, those panels under your sink that look like drawers, but really aren't. Up until recently, I didn't think there was anything that could be done to make these usable. Then I saw something amazing at a friend's house. They had turned their front panels into a storage space.

So this weekend, we went to Lowe's in search of the kit that could make this happen for us, and found it in the kitchen organization section (imagine that). We needed the 14" size, which was $18.57 for two trays.




See where this is going? Maybe I'm behind the times, but I did not know such a thing existed.

At first, I was determined to make this my own project and do it without any of Luke's help. But it didn't take long before I realized my foolishness. These things just go much quicker when he lends his handiness (as much as I hate to admit it). Oh well, teamwork is a good thing, right?

The kit came with a pretty decent set of instructions, which we followed for the most part.


First, we had to take out the panels and remove the pesky plastic strip things that were stapled into them.



Then it was a matter of measuring and marking where to drill the pilot holes for the hinges and tray slots, as well as the holes in the frame opening itself. The kit came with templates to help do this.


The trickiest part was drilling the screws into the frame openings, because of the tight spaces we were working with. (And during this part, it really was helpful to have an extra set of hands to hold the panel in place.) Finally, we got them all tightened up. The result? Two shiny new storage trays just begging to be filled with crap!



Now I had a place to put the aforementioned, unsightly crap that normally clutters up the sink area (scrubber, scraper, drain plugs, water softener monitor that we never use, etc.)




The whole project probably took about an hour and a half, which I think was well worth it. Our sink/counter looks much less cluttered (except for the wand scrubber, which wouldn't fit), and you'd never know the sink panels are secret organizers now. Genius!


So tell me, did you know these sink tray kits existed? Have you already turned your fake panels into functional panels?


NOTE: Little House on the Corner is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.


4 comments:

Kim @ NewlyWoodwards said...

So smart! I've seen these at the store, but don't have them myself. Great use of space.

Kate said...

I have those at my house! They're great!

RD said...

They're great--you'll find them very handy. They've been around a long time. We used them on our first kitchen remodel in 1993.

Oona Johnson said...

My parents had these in their original kitchen, but I guess I never realized it was something you could actually do to inoperable "drawers" to make them functional! Awesome. I think I know what project I am going to ask J to help me with next.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails