DIY Pull-out Trash Drawer

It's been too long!!  Arrrgh, life has been so so busy.  I know... <hanging head>.  Excuses.  I will do my best to keep my projects posted on a regular basis.

Where do I start!?  Just yesterday, we finished our first PULL-OUT TRASH BIN DRAWER!  It was actually an easy project, if time consuming.  Here are my instructions!

MATERIALS NEEDED:

• hardwood plywood: we bought a 2 x 4 ft sheet for one medium sized drawer.
• drawer slides: we used 14" to fit our 14" deep drawer
• 14-18 wood screws: various lengths to fit plywood/drawer
• spacing wood: we used pressboard, 3/4" thick
• drill
• screwdriver
• tape measure
• Gorilla Glue

NOTE: WE STARTED OUT USING THE SOFT-CLOSE BALL BEARING DRAWER SLIDES, but were unable to line up the slides properly for SMOOTH opening and closing.  We removed them, and bought the "bottom drawer slides", and they work fantastic!

STEP 1: CUT DRAWER PIECES.

Using a table saw (or have the lumber store cut for you), rip the hardwood plywood down to 4 sides + bottom of your drawer.  Our drawer measurements were:

WIDTH: 13"

DEPTH: 14.25"

HEIGHT: 4.5"

So the wood pieces measured 4.5 x 14.25" (x2), 4 x 13" (x2), and 13 x 14.25.

STEP 2: ASSEMBLE DRAWER.

I assembled the pieces of the drawer together and GLUED everything using Gorilla Glue.  So attach the four sides of the drawer to the bottom piece, and glue.  Allow to dry at least an hour.  Using wood screws, we screwed the pieces together, and screwed the sides to the bottom piece.  Overkill?  Probably, but we're thorough.

REMOVE THE CABINET DOOR AT THIS POINT, also removing any hinges on door.

STEP 3: INSTALL SPACERS IN CABINET.

There was a 3/4" lip (space) between the inside WALL OF THE CABINET, and the SIDE OPENINGS of the cabinet door.  Your drawer slides need to be FLUSH with the cabinet opening.  We used a 3/4" thick piece of pressboard, cut to the length of the drawer slides (14") and slightly wider.  The spacers are set on the floor of the cabinet, and need to RAISE UP THE DRAWER SLIDES to be flush with the BOTTOM opening of your cabinet.

STEP 4: DRILL HOLES FOR DRAWER SLIDES.

Brian drilled holes for the slides, to make later installation easier, once the slides are installed on the drawer.

STEP 5: ATTACH DRAWER SLIDES TO DRAWER.

Install the drawer slides to be FLUSH with the bottom of your drawer.  Mark the holes for drilling, pre-drill holes, and screw in provided screws with drawer slide kit.

STEP 6: ATTACH CABINET DOOR TO DRAWER.

Using wood screws, pre-drill 4 holes, to attach your cabinet door to the drawer.  We off-set our screws, so that the screws went through the thickest part of the door.  We also have to add a 1/2" thick piece of plywood to the FRONT of the drawer, inside, to take up more space, as our screws would have drilled all the way through our door.

STEP 7:  INSTALL DRAWER INSIDE CABINET.
With the "soft close" slides, you can release the last member of the slide, making it easier to install the slide inside the cabinet.  Simply re-screw where you pre-drilled your holes.

For the white bottom-mount slides, install the right side interior slide in your cabinet, and the left side interior slide.

STEP 8: SLIDE IN YOUR NEW DRAWER!