Don,

We are DIYing a total house reno, so time has become a precious commodity- and that is just not reiterating a cliche, we literally have begun to look at how much the time it takes to do something is worth to have someone else to do it.

So, in this case, you can calculate the time/gas/energy to go buy the plywood, sliders, glue, nails, screws, etc. The time to design/cut/assemble shelves. Time to finish the exposed sides/edges. Time to clean up...

Then, once you figure out how much each shelf will cost, with cost of all above, and sliders, compare to a couple of sources. I am adding a link from my bookmarks- I have never dealt with them, so I'm sorry I have no personal experience with the quality, etc.

Our kitchen place hired a carpenter to build our pullout shelves- the first batch he made were from plywood and stapled instead of solid maple and dove-tailed- so they were sent back, and we're still waiting. WE kept the trash pullout, since it was 11" tall, I figured plywood was the better option anyways... it took my DH half a day to rout out the sides for the gliders - carpenter had made the pullout too big- as it turns out, it works better for us, the plywood was thick enough, that we had room, and it gave us no wasted space in cupboard. But,... that was just one pullout, the pullout was already made, and it still took half a day to tweak it. So, my point is, these pullout shelves, unless you're making them everyday, could take up a LOT of your time- I have been surprised at how reasonable the costs of some of the internet suppliers have been. I would definitely look into them if I were you.

Here is a link that might be useful: one source for pullout shelves

Thanks raehelen, I think you've confirmed my gut feeling. Even something simple like this ends up taking me way longer than I think at the outset.
And that site is one I'd found too, at $35-$40 a shelf it's going to be tough to beat.

Thanks!

- D

Also checkout shelvesthatslide.com. I think you're right that once you get the parts and the time put in, you'll feel like you invested more than $40 trying to diy it.

I had 2 floor to soffit custom pullouts built for me. In one of them, we used Lynk shelving pullouts that I had found and bought online - My lead carpenter, who is excellent, liked their sturdiness and told me that it would cost less for him to install these shelves than for him to build them out of wood. I'm very happy with them so far, but it is important to note they are not full extension.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lynk shelving link

That said, if you make them yourselves, you can use the hardware you like (I want this one, which lets you adjust the positions of the drawer slides easily, to within 1/2 inch)
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=1497&filter=drawer%20slides

And I have fantasies of making pullouts using 1/2" ply for the shelf, and 2" lattice for the sides. That would be fast enough--faster than actual drawers, w/ sides, and rabbetted bottom, etc.

Also, there's the volume idea: once you made one, the sixth and seventh go faster (and cheaper), in ways that you can capitalize on for DIY.

Only you know whether you've got some 1/2" or 3/4" particleboard or plywood already on hand for the shelves (cheapest solution of all), and how easily you can round up whatever else you need.

Of course, you'd have to buy full-extension slides (you could get 3/4 extension for $16 each pair, but what a waste of space & time, since self-closing full-ext is $23/pair and they'll fit those brackets; give up on the brackets, and it's $19/pair). (and standards, of you get the clips I linked to) So factor those in.

I was looking at those Rockler sliders too! It did occur to me that I have a fair amount of stuff lying around already, even some basic drawer sliders. So I'll have to give it a closer think over the long weekend.

Thanks everyone!

- David