Custom kitchen cabinet 'gadgets'

[Cochese]

I've seen some very neat ideas from companies like Rev-a-Shelf when it comes to kitchen organization. Especially the cookware racks, and drop-down storage from upper cabinets. The problem is, as it almost always is, that these things get to be a bit cost prohibitive.

I wanted to DIY something similar. For my own house I wanted to make the pull out cookware rack. I was wondering if I bought their door mount assembly would it work from other sourced slides. I'm also looking for thoughts of what design to make the pot holders out of. See the link for an idea of what I'm talking about.

http://www.amazon.com/Rev-Shelf-RS5C.../dp/B005CXEN08

For my sister, she wants something to help organize an 11x16 cabinet. She really liked the lazy susan I made for her for a square cabinet, but this one is too oblong for that to be effective. I was thinking about a few ideas, but one of them might be to construct my own version of the pull down shelf. Where I would be stuck is hardware, though.

http://www.amazon.com/Rev---Shelf-5P...2119628&sr=1-1

Or do I just need to bite the bullet and pay up?

[eezlock]

kitchen cabinet gadgets

A couple of years back I was in the same situation about cabinet mods as you are now. My wife wanted an easy way to get to her pots and pans without
having to get down on her hands and knees to reach the ones in the back of the cabinets...so I devised a plan and this is what I did.

I decided to make roll-out shelves basically some well constructed, heavy duty
boxes out of 3/4" baltic birch plywood and mounted them on ball bearing glides.
They work so smooth that it takes very little effort to pull them out or push them back in. They are large enough to hold several pots stacked one inside the other with their lids and still easy to roll in and out. I made all of the
lower cabinets this way for her and she really likes it. She has told me numerous times that this is the best thing she has ever had in the kitchen
no bending,stooping and straining to get to what she wants...it saves her back
every day! The older we get, the more we have to think of these type of things if you know what I mean and she will too! Hope this helps. eezlock

[cabinetman]

Some of those accessories have been engineered to do specific movements. Configuring hardware to do similar functions isn't impossible, but would be a PITA. You could give it a shot though.

Drawer slides can be used for various applications, but it's just an in and out solution. In the kitchen below, (and I apologize for the photo), which I did in the 70's, in the base cabinets, used pull outs for lids (far left) and pots and pans (under the cook top), and general use pull outs. They do beat leaning down and reaching in a base cabinet.
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[Cochese]

Both of you have given me ideas, mainly to make sliding boxes and add some sort of dividing system in them. That will work for all of the lower cabinets.

The upper cabinet for my sister is still a problem though.