When we first looked at our house, I seem to recall the trash being in the cupboard at left, on a pull-out track or something.  The cupboard was empty when we moved in, so I put a shelf in and stuffed it with baking sheets and miscellaneous kitchen crap – our trash ended up under the sink, with the composting.

My mom and I tackled a little kitchen organizing when she was out here, and one of the things I wanted to do was get the trash out from under the sink.  For whatever reason there’s a heat register under the bottom deck of the sink area and it gets pretty warm in the winter.  Gross, if you don’t get your trash out often enough…

I looked at several pre-built options and nothing seemed to be right – the cupboard is shallow, only 18" deep, and almost all the pull-out options needed 22" of space.  Plus, they attached to the bottom of the cupboard, and that would waste a ton of space up top since the trash can isn’t super tall.  So I decided to order some 18" drawer glides and build a pull-out trash bin.

Above right I’m measuring the board to make sure it will hold what I want, plus you can see one of the glides.  Above left I’ve got the board mounted on the glides and going in and out with 2x4s as the inner mounting surface.  I mis-estimated the width of the trash bin when in place and had to chisel out a chunk of wood to make it clear, but that part won’t be seen…

Finally I’m attaching the angle braces to the cupboard face.  Despite measuring twice and screwing once, I still ended up with a slightly cocked angle, but apparently no one else can see it.  Perfect.

I’m planning to put a new tub on the same surface behind the trash which will be for compost, and also to paint that surface glossy white so it’s easy to clean.  But for now it’s super nice to have the trash where I need it – plus lots of extra storage now that I’m using the space under the sink better.

(PS We know there’s lots of catching up to do…  Don’t hold your breath – we might post about the holidays before we leave, but chances are we won’t blog til February!)