Lay Down to Stand Up...

The cabinet area over our double oven is as shown here... One horizontal shelf divides the whole area; so cutting boards, baking lids, cookie sheets, etc., are just stacked up on top of each other. It makes for a real pain to dig out what you need sometimes. Reconfiguring this cabinet area is another one of those things that has been on my "to do" list for quite some time. Our prior home had vertical dividers in the area above the ovens, so this is what needed to be done here. With Nancy gone to Searcy and then Memphis this long weekend, I decided to surprise her by tackling this project while she was away...

The first order of business (after emptying everything, of course) was to cut out the existing horizontal shelf. I just ran my hand jigsaw along the edge of the inside cabinet walls on either side. Once that was done, it was a simple matter to lift up and down on the front of the cut-out piece to disconnect it from the ledge it rested on along the back wall of the cabinet.

The 1" or so strip of the original horizontal shelf which remained on the sides was easy to work away from the walls by clamping on some channel-lock pliers and rocking it up and down. This pulled the remaining side strips out of the nails which were nailed into the horizontal shelf's edge from the outside of the cabinet by the manufacturer. Using some cutting pliers, I just clipped the nails along the right side (I couldn't just pull them through, because that side was visible on the other side of the cabinet wall...) and then used a grinding wheel in my drill to smooth off the sharp little point that was left. Here's how things looked once I completely removed the horizontal shelf, including the 1"x2" board which had spanned the back and supported the shelf.

All I had to do then was to cut some 3/4" MDF to fit in the bottom of the cabinet, and one for the top of the opening - and then cut grooves to receive the 3/16" hardboard which served as the vertical dividers. Since this wood all is set back in the cabinet, I went "cheap" on the paint step and just found a can of spray paint near the color of the stained cabinet doors. Here is one of the two pieces that will receive the vertical dividers which I painted out in the garage. I also did a good bit of taping around the cabinet itself so I could carefully cover up the unpainted areas showing where the edges of the original horizontal shelf had been...

At this point, I stopped for a while to get some lunch and to cool off - giving the paint time enough to dry to the point that I could nail up the two pieces with the grooves cut in them. Once they were in their place, then I could measure the finished length required for the vertical pieces and cut them out in the garage. Here's the finished product. I'll probably let Nancy put away all the various items that go here when she returns from out of town. The paint will be completely dry by then, too...

As most of the projects I tackle seem to do - this took a little longer than I expected. I think I got started around 8AM and completed around 4PM (with and hour or so break in the middle) - so it was awhile getting done. But, the area will be much more effective now, and getting out that cutting board or cookie sheet you want will be much easier!
Tom