Up-Cycled Pantry Trolley

55 Comment

A *genuinely* fast and easy DIY project to use up that old Tallboy or chest of drawers, and make that ‘dead space’ (that many of us have in the bottom of our pantry cupboard) a viable and functioning component of your kitchen 🙂

Material

1 Old Tallboy Chest of drawers
1 Set of 4 Castor Wheels
1 Power Box on 2m lead (or 2 outlet power board on long cord)
Approx 5 Nail in Cable Clips
1 Large Cup Hook

Method

Decide how tall you want the finished trolley to be by measuring your space (where you're going to keep the trolley) and then deducting the height of the castors, and the largest appliance that you are going to sit on the top of the trolley.
Remove all drawers (bar the bottom one), and their runners. (These will not be reused for this project, but if you like the look of them they could be retained, possibly, for up-cycled shelves?)
Gently remove the top of the Tallboy and any internal framework that was attaching it to/supporting it on the cabinet- take care with this as you will be refitting it back on top of your resized Tallboy.
Carefully measure, FROM THE BASE of the Tallboy, the height that you need the finished trolley to be, less the height of the castors and the wooden too that you just removed. This will leave the amount that you need to remove from the height of the cabinet.
i.e. If your Tallboy top is 20mm deep, and your castors are 50mm high (total 70mm) and you want finished trolley to be 800mm high, you measure 730mm up from the base and that is how high you want the cabinet to be- because, 730mm + 20mm + 50mm= 800mm.
Using a square or a level, rule all the way around the cabinet and then with a handsaw or jigsaw or other suitable cutting tool, remove the excess.
If needed, lightly sand the edges to remove any splinters of wood.
Reattach the top (using the same framework that you removed along with the top previously) and using some of the screws from the runners that you removed earlier, fix the bottom drawer in place.
Stand cabinet upside down on a clean flat surface for the next couple of steps...
Using a hole saw (big enough for double the width of the widest part of the plug on the appliances that you want to sit on top of your trolley) cut a hole in the top, centre of the back panel of the cabinet.
Mount your power box or power board inside the cabinet and run the cord out of the hole that you just drilled out (nail clip the cord around the inside walls of the cabinet so that it doesn't dangle loosely).
Screw the cup hook into the back of the cabinet, near to where the cord comes out of the hole (when the trolley is finished, you will coil up the excess cord length and hang it on the hook, ready to use).
Attach the castors to each of the four corners of the base of the cabinet (If you have a very long or very heavy Tallboy, you may want to also use two castors in the middle of the cabinet base).
Turn your trolley back over onto its castors and you are ready to stock it!
I keep my Sunbeam Mixmaster, electronic scales and Vege Steamer on the top of mine (run the cords over the back of the trolley , through the hole and plug into your power box.
I have stored all of my baking 'stuff' cutters/measures/rolling pins/piping bags/scales etc, as well as my Slender Blender and mini chopper, beater mix and all of the various beater attachments (dough hooks etc etc).
The BEST part about this project is that you don't have to sand/prep/stain/second coat stain etc etc etc
You're basically working with a finished product and ours was finished within a couple of hours... And, since it was finished (3 days ago), I've used it about 5 times- that means 5 times less squatting or bending down to get my HEAVY mixmaster from the back of the only cupboard that I could fit it in to... YAY!!

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This project was posted by:

- LaninChris
- 06 Jul 2016
  12:09 am

55 Comments

- - Cookfromscratchmum said
  - 13 Nov 2018
    8:15 am
WHat a smart storage idea thanks for sharing

- - mggarner said
  - 25 Jul 2018
    12:05 pm
It great to find something useful to store items in dead space
- mggarner replied
  
  10 Aug 2018 , 11:31 pm
  You could make a shelf for all your spices etc.
- - kjgarner said
  - 22 Jun 2018
    1:17 pm
We all have those waste of spaces, great idea to fill it up
- kjgarner replied
  
  26 Jun 2018 , 10:36 am
  I have lots of ideas now
- - mom74005 said
  - 01 Jun 2018
    5:13 pm
This is a great idea thank you so much for sharing

- - serotonin said
  - 11 Nov 2017
    7:37 am
Great idea! I also love the baskets you use, my pantry looks nothing like yours, it’s a mess haha so thank you for the inspiration!

- - mom266216 said
  - 01 Nov 2017
    7:29 pm
I like your idea. Great way to use an old chest of drawers.

- - mom162203 said
  - 26 Sep 2017
    3:29 pm
Great idea! I have done something similar in our wardrobe.

- - mom201472 said
  - 05 May 2017
    11:02 pm
Nifty! Wish you could post more photos in the article!

- - mom19782016 said
  - 18 Oct 2016
    1:52 pm
Great idea and perfect for renters.

- - mom111059 said
  - 29 Sep 2016
    9:31 pm
Nice way to recycle in a very practical way.

- - Lori-Anne said
  - 04 Sep 2016
    7:01 pm
My pantry is not suitable for this project but I love the idea.

- - mom111059 said
  - 11 Aug 2016
    8:20 am
I like the concept just don’t have the right space. I’m sure it will transform many pantries to be more user friendly. Good idea.

- - Missey Grace said
  - 31 Jul 2016
    9:39 pm
What a great idea, and thanks for the steps to do ourselves 🙂

- - mom62624 said
  - 25 Jul 2016
    5:55 am
Brilliant and innovative thinking; thanks for sharing!.

- - youngoldlady said
  - 16 Jul 2016
    7:45 pm
Thinking of doing this even if means extra space in kitchen when pulled out for placing items on it. My pantry already has a powerboard in it as my little oven and microwave are used in there. Would make an interesting kitchen island as have power board in ceiling so no tripping.

- - mum4107 said
  - 13 Jul 2016
    6:01 am
What a great idea. Wish my pantry had that space
- LaninChris replied
  
  14 Jul 2016 , 10:36 am
  I feel your pain , mum4107- my last house had almost no pantry and most of my stuff (slow cooker etc) stayed in boxes 🙁
  Until I made my trolley I was HATING the dead space though… It’s like I’ve invested in some more kitchen cupboards, without the actual investment! 🙂
- - mom71820 said
  - 12 Jul 2016
    9:25 am
A great idea. My pantry is like that draw we all have where you just throw everything to get it out of the way ????????
- LaninChris replied
  
  14 Jul 2016 , 10:31 am
  That, unfortunately, is my kitchen bench top, mom71820! And not from my doing!! I can control what goes into the pantry and cupboards etc- but in a house full of boys/men I have absolutely ZERO control over any free bench tops, or tables, or the floor for that matter *sigh*
  The kitchen is my little place of peace in the house ha ha ha ha 😀
- - mom112217 said
  - 09 Jul 2016
    10:29 am
A ggod idea to keep the pantry neat and tidy!
- LaninChris replied
  
  14 Jul 2016 , 10:27 am
  Thank you mom112217! It’s a great back saver- I used to keep all of my baking/cooking stuff on the bottom shelf of one of my kitchen cupboards 🙂
- - mom70876 said
  - 08 Jul 2016
    2:15 pm
This doesn’t sound quick and easy at all. I am a bit dubious, and am not in a position to try it.
- LaninChris replied
  
  14 Jul 2016 , 10:24 am
  My apologies if the steps make it sound a little daunting mom70876 🙁
  
  If you’re even just a little bit ‘handy’, it really is easy- literally only a matter of-
  
  * Popping off the top of the Tallboy (some are only nailed down and others just have a couple of screws going up from underneath),
  
  *Taking out the extra drawers and runners (there are usually only two or three screws on each drawer runner) and fixing the bottom drawer in place so that it keeps your things secure,
  
  *Cutting it down to the right size to fit into your space (I actually used a small child’s handsaw- no power tools etc- for this part! I borrowed my sons, he got it in a DIY kids project from Bunnings the Christmas that he turned 10 ha ha ha),
  
  *Reattaching the top of the Tallboy (just use the same screws, in the same place as they were originally),
  
  *Screwing on some wheels (to make it easier to move around),
  
  ***You don’t have to cut a cord hole or even attach a power-board of you don’t want to- I only did that so that I didn’t have my appliances on extension cords (I couldn’t stand the thought of one of the kids coming through the kitchen and tripping over the cord and pulling the Mixmaster etc down onto the floor 😮 )…
  
  If you do decide to try it and get stuck or confused, I’m more than happy to help 😀
- - mom93821 said
  - 08 Jul 2016
    5:25 am
Good on you for sharing this super clever and creative idea. A good pantry solution.
- LaninChris replied
  
  14 Jul 2016 , 10:04 am
  Thanks so much mom93821 🙂 Now that the 2.5yo wants to make cakes and cookies etc every second day, I just got so tired of lugging the Mix Master out from the very back of the bottom of one of the cupboards… It’s honestly so much easier than I expected- we’re baking more often now and it’s awesome 🙂