Pull-Out Trash Drawer

Ashley and I have wanted a pull out trash drawer for quite some time now, even back when we lived in our townhouse. The problem has always been room. When we moved into our new home, we thought we could get away with an external trash can and even considered getting one of those stainless steel can’s. Little did we know, our toddler son has a keen knack to play with everything and the trash can was no exception. So we set out to find a pull out trash drawer that would fit out needs and the space available.

My first stop was to Home Depot to see what they had to offer. They had exactly what I wanted but at a price a lot higher than I was willing to pay. Plus their offerings didnt attach to the door so I would have had to open the door, then reach down and slide out the trash drawer. Uhmm….no thanks.

It was at that point I decided to build my own. I purchased some heavy-duty ball bearing drawer slides for $18 and found some scrap wood in the garage to use for the box. I went with the ball bearing slides because I wanted something that I knew could support the load of a heavy trash can and could also handle the constant open/close action that my trash can seems to be subject too.

Scrap Wood

I set out to make the box at the same dimensions of the inside of the door frame on the cabinet. Easy enough I thought. I then set the trash can on top, traced around it, and subtracted about a 1/2″ from the lines to account for the lip of the trash can. As great as that all sounds, it didn’t work. The trash can was very sloppy in the hole and I ended up putting a new board on the top and cutting the hole smaller than the trash can and gradually cutting away pieces until I had a snug fit.

1st attempt at drawer

After the box was made I brought it into the house to dry fit it to the cabinet. Low and behold, the box fit perfectly! Except….I didn’t take into account the room needed for the drawer slides! The box was too wide.  All was not lost though. I decided to swap out the cut top with a thicker piece of plywood and then I put the box on the bottom of the cabinet with the drawer slides underneath.

Although this wasn’t the ideal solution and I was worried the trash can would wobble around inside the box, it has actually worked out really good. Plus we now have a place to store the large trash bag box. Winner winner chicken dinner!

The box inserted into the cabinet

After the box was attached to the bottom of the cabinet, I proceeded to attach the door to the box with about 6 wood screws. This took both Ashley and I to accomplish. She held the door in place at the proper height and level, and I did attached the screws.

It’s been about a week now and so far everything is holding up great. When we redo the kitchen cabinets, I will replace the handle with an new one and then move it to the top center of the door.

Trash drawer complete

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