Halloween is coming up so I thought today I'd focus on the scariest place in everyone's home. Not the basement, no. Or the attic. That's so cliche. No, I'm talking about the ACTUAL scariest place in your house. The cabinet under your sink.
The one thing you never hear in realtor home listings is a glowing description of the cabinet under the sink. They can get away with calling a dilapidated shack "a charming blank canvas waiting for your special touch in Olde town." But it's hard to talk up the torture chamber of death under the sink.
A crispy J cloth in the original crumpled up shape shoved in the back corner, musty sponges, sticky soap drips, crumbs and guck all laid out like an adventure park with buffet for rats, mice, and centipedes.
As such, I like to avoid reaching into the cabinet under my sink which commonly houses things that crawl and sometimes bite me. Or *could* bite me. Nothing has actually bitten me while reaching under there but that's probably only because I always give my sink cupboards a few warning roundhouse kicks accompanied by a throaty devil sound before opening them.
Just to let 'em know I'm coming and am bigger than them.
Because of this aversion of mine (either to sink cabinets or cleaning under there depending on which way you look at it) I installed a tip out shelf.
That little spot underneath the front of your sink is the holy space. A clean, scare free, UNUSED space for keeping your counter tidy and your hands out of the sink cabinet.
Sure it can't hold a lot but it can hold a cloth, a scrubbie pad, a pot scraper and a little vial of dish soap. Those are 4 things that we use all the time but don't really want to leave sitting on the counter.
Table of Contents
How to Install a Tip Out Tray (Rev-A-Shelf)
I know DIYers like myself always say things are easy when really they're only easy for us and everyone else thinks a) it's hard and b) bloggers are assholes.
So. I would like to reiterate this really IS easy if you're comfortable with a screwdriver and bending under the sink.
Materials
- Tip out Tray - will include all necessary hardware
- Screwdriver
- Pencil
- Drill
- 7/64th drill bit
- Ruler or tape measure
Instructions
- The first step is to take your false front off. There will either just be plastic clips holding it on (like mine) or screws. Either way it's easy to remove.
2. Once you remove the screws or clips pull it off.
3. Clear out under your sink EEP a bit so you have room to move under there.
4. The tip out tray will come with very elaborate looking hardware. Don't worry. They're easy to install.
5. Centre your tray on the back of the false drawer face and screw it in place.
6. Test it by placing the panel back into position at the sink to make sure the tray doesn't interfere with the opening and closing of the tip out.
7. Place the right hinge against the right side of your opening so it is centred in the space and flush with the front edge.
8. Pull the hinge away and mark with a pencil where you want to screw it in. Pre-drill your hole. Screw the hinge in. Repeat for left side.
TIP: Pay attention. The hinges will be marked Left and Right.
9. While holding your front panel in place with one hand, slide under the cabinet and mark where the holes that attach the hinge to the drawer front are.
10. Pre-drill those marked holes.
11. Hold the panel in place with one hand like you did before and then from underneath the cabinet, screw the hinge into the drawer front. You will be contorted and squished but it shouldn’t be too difficult.
And you're done.
You'll soon be inviting friends and neighbours over for the sheer joy of making them jealous. Then you'll bonk them on the head to induce a little harmless short term memory loss, so you can show them all over again.
You can get the exact ones I have here online but most hardware stores carry some variation of it. This particular tip out tray is by Rev-A-Shelf.
TIP: If you buy a kit make sure it comes with the tray AND the hinges. The trays are also sold separately sometimes.
Any time you see me in my kitchen about to wash dishes I will be pleasantly using my tip out tray and avoiding all things under my sink.
As proof, here is an action shot of me pretending to casually reach for a plant to water it. That plant is now dead.
How to Install a Tip Out Tray
Turn your sink's false front into a useable storage space with a tip out tray kit.
Materials
- Rev-a-Shelf Tip out Tray kit (or similar)
Tools
- pencil
- screwdriver
- ruler
- drill
- drill bit
Instructions
- Remove the face of the false drawer. Most false drawers are easy to remove and are just attached with clips so you can pop it right off. Others might be attached with screws.
- Centre your tray on the back of the false drawer face and screw it in place. Test it by placing the panel back into position at the sink to make sure the tray doesn't interfere with the opening and closing of the tip out.
- If your panel originally had clips to hold it into place, remove those.
- Place the right hinge against the right side of your opening so it is centred in the space and flush with the front edge. Mark your screw holes with a pencil. Pre-drill your holes.
- Install your screws. Repeat these steps with the left hinge on the left side.
- While holding your front panel in place with one hand, slide under the cabinet and mark where the holes that attach the hinge to the drawer front are.
- Pre-drill those marked holes.
- Hold the panel in place with one hand like you did before and then from underneath the cabinet screw the hinge into the drawer front. You will be contorted and squished but it shouldn’t be too difficult.
- You're done!
That's all there is to installing a tip down tray. No mystery. No real effort. No real explanation as to why cabinet makers don't just make them standard other than to anger me. And you. All of us really.
As for those mice under the sink - this mouse catching post will help you out with that. In the very near future I'm going to do what I should have done when I first renovated my kitchen - I'm going to install LED strip lights in that sink cabinet.
Because if you can SEE the scary stuff at least you know which direction to kick in.
→Follow me on Instagram where I often make a fool of myself←
Carla
Hmm. Don't think the nail is photo shopped because in other photos you can see the Polish starting to chip (just a little). Sorry Karen.
Tigersmom
Oh, and how much do you love your egg shaped (or oval, I suppose) cabinet knobs? When we did our reno, I only did a few cosmetic things in our Jack and Jill bath and one of them was replacing the cabinet knobs with the same knobs (in chrome) but I used them vertically. They feel so wonderful in your hand when you use them. Such a natural fit.
We also replaced all the doorknobs throughout the house with oval ones oriented vertically. My husband just commented last night on how they feel good in your hand.
Tigersmom
Hmmm. I have a farmhouse sink, so no tip out shelf for me, but I'm ok with it. I just use it as an excuse to put a pretty little tray out to hold my scrubber for the dishes. I have an aversion to sponges. In the master bath, I just had the cabinets made to go all the way up to the countertop under the sinks and put a bank of drawers in between them. I have an issue with false drawer fronts in front of sinks. They're not fooling anyone and I have issues with fake things. I do thoroughly respect the idea of making a false drawer front useful and thereby no longer false, however. Good on ya.
I, too, noticed your photo shopped thumbnail and wonder if its not one of those things you said you would start putting in your pics to see if we noticed. And did your pink screwdriver come in a breast cancer awareness tool kit from Target, too? That's where mine came from and your looks like it.
And I was just beginning to wonder how you were loving your kitchen reno and if there was anything you'd change. Should have known that you'd be proactive and change it and let us know.
PS - I'm beginning to be haunted by the fact that I choose to restrain myself from buying those stacked piggies when I had the chance. I think they are gone now : /.
Robin Siegerman
At the risk of sounding like a know-it-all (but I HAVE been designing kitchens for 21 years and DID write a best selling book about it ;-) ), the reason that not all cabinet makers put the drop down drawers in front of the sink is that most clients ask for the biggest honkin' sink they can stuff into the sink cabinet and there is no room for that cunning little tray. If you try to install it, the tray hits the front of the sink bowl under the counter and the drawer front won't close. I found this out the hard way when I was a very new designer and also thought those drop down trays should be in Every. Single. Kitchen. Now, I can barely remember the last time I specified one. But I SHUUUUR do specify big honkin' sinks in Every. Single. Kitchen. I hope you will now stop giving my cabinet maker friends a hard time. They are people too.
Diana
Great idea...!!!
I wish on my my front would be handles. But no Problem, i`m working in a furniture-store. They will freak out, when i`m telling them about this great and easy way of using hidden space...
I bought a lifehack for my kitchen a few weeks ago.
A door-opener. (Ikea)
because under my sink is the trashcan. and with hands full of potato peel i can dip my knee against the door and
TADA--- it magicaly opens...
Karen
Love those! ~ karen
mimiindublin
I had to scroll back over all the pictures to spot the things in comments: what you're wearing, your thumbnail etc that I never would see as I read a post. Your readers are so observant (and not slow to remark!).
But I'm totally in awe that you got a new kitchen, professionally installed, and improved on it! Kitchen designers should pay you!
Claire
Sadly macaroon and chip anger can only be cured by 'hair of the dog' *sighs*
Pam'a
I intalled two of these a few years back, and still feel very smug every time I see one of those gorgeous, apron-front farmer's sinks that can't have them. Neener.
Cathy
My big ol Kohler Hartland sink is too big for this to work in my kitchen. Since I can't have a tippy drawer, can I have your toned guns?
Karen
Sure. I'll get to chopping those off immediately. I didn't think this would fit with my sink either, but I bought it anyway to bring home and try it. And it does fit. Just barely. But it does. So you could always go that route! ~ karen
victoria
You are so clever!!! And pretty!!!! Did you Photoshop your thumb nail? It looks unreal. I don't blame you if you did, i mean all that work could have totally ruined your manicure. ...I would have photoshopped 'cause I'm anal about photos... . So not pointing a finger (or a thumb. .) Just wondering. ...
Stephbo
I got too distracted by the pink drill/screwdriver. WANT!!
Jane
A kickout step would be awesome! I pull an old footstool around my kitchen with my foot so I don't have to bend over...it has sliders on the little legs so it moves easily. Yeah, women could definitely design anything better than men. I always think the inside of cars should be designed by women so we would have lots of places to put our stuff!! And I have those little trays on the inside of my cabinet doors under the sink...that works, too....not as handy as your little drawer tho! I won't invite my neighbors to come see mine:)
Maria
I'm convinced those companies don't have one single woman (or married one either :) on their design staff, otherwise, that drawer would be standard. When I had my kitchen redo, I had one put in, without the handles, so it's a stealth drawer where one can hide, you know, stealthy things, like a pocket gun. No. Really. For now, I'm just storing the same stuff you are Karen.
Karen, I've got a great idea for those of us height challenged. How about a 'kick-out' step (spring loaded) in the unused space beneath the cabinet drawers? Ages ago I saw that as a diy, but have not seen anything like that since. And I definitely need one under every kitchen cabinet ::sigh::
You ROCK!
Patti
OH MY GOD MARIA!!! You rock!!!!!! I would LOOOOVE a kick out step!!! I feel faint...yes..yes1 YES!!!
At 4 foot 10 ..I would KILL for a kick out step!!!
Joanne
One of my neighbors has not only a kick-out step under almost every base cabinet (she's short). She also has one that hold her cat food/water bowls.
I think my animails would get very peeved and noisy if I closed up their food/water area... but I love the idea of the step.
Karen
THat kick out step is a great idea! This Martha Stewart cabinet line comes with a stool that pulls out and is hidden the same way this tip down drawer is, but you still have to pull it out. (there didn't seem to be anywhere in my kitchen it would fit or I would have had it) ~ karen
Grammy
I know how you feel about the tip-down drawer. Over 20 years ago we had our kitchen remodeled and the cabinet maker hisownself actually just included that feature without mentioning it and you would have thought somebody gave me a bucket of gold.
I'd never seen anything like it, and neither had any of my friends, and we all spent an inordinate amount of time playing with it, like next time I open this maybe there will be some other magic thing in there and not the scrubby pad and old toothbrush and sponge I put in there.
If only more men knew what it really takes to please a woman. But since they don't, I'm glad we've got Karen to tell everyone how to please themselves...
Patti
ok...how many likes can I put in here?
Becky
I've lived in this house for 13 years, and NOW you tell me its this easy???
I love the idea of putting one in the bathroom too.
Patti
the hinges have changed in the last 25 years! I don't remember them being like that in the last kitchen I had redone...BUT!...I must say, it was one of the BEST things I choose for that kitchen! and one of the things I will have for the next reno!! coming soon!(I hope!)
Agnes
A turtle neck in this weather? Really?? By the way, I think there are some pythons loose in your kitchen! Love the drawer!
Laura
You look so great! So muscular and also stylish. I was distracted and barely paid attention to the drawer tutorial and I mean that in the least creepy way possible.
Karen
Oh creepy is fine Laura. I'll take compliments and adoration any way I can get it these days, where the only other place I get it is from my cats and chickens. And frankly they just do it because I feed them. Now I have to go relook at the picture to see what you're talking about , lol. ~ karen!
Ruth Vallejos
Yep. Cabinet making companies act sometimes like they don't use their products. And some of them tout lazy susans as if they are new fangled thinkin'. Hah!
calliek
Love it! I think I might have to do one for the bathroom too.