I agree with you. I don't line most of my cabinets but I do line my undersink cabinet. We typically caulk around the edges, put down contact paper, and then put down a dish-drainer mat. One of those rubber ones with raised walls on all sides but one which slopes for draining. If we have a leak, it drains toward the front so you see that it's wet. We have had a few small leaks and we've never had any damage to our cabinet.

" If we have a leak, it drains toward the front so you see that it's wet."

Great thinking! We too have had some smallish (and a couple not so small) leaks here and some of them sat for awhile because it wasn't enough to run out right away.

I currently have a plastic container sitting under the pipes inside my sink cabinet "just in case". Don't really want to put contact paper in the new cabinets we're getting, so I'm curious to see all the ideas.

We also had a plastic container under the sink, not because we had a leak, just because it was a plastic basin I used to put in the sink to wash the dishes. I stopped using it but kept it there, no reason really other than I didn't get to the task of cleaning out the cabinets of all junk I don't use. But - thank goodness I did keep it there, the sink had a leak and it all went right into the basin. Now I keep a plastic basin in there "just in case". It can save headaches if you do have a leak.

I have an old cafeteria tray under my sink for catching any small leaks and it seems to work well for me.

In our new build, still in progress, the sink base comes with a heavy plastic custom made liner. That was a pleasant surprise when the KD showed us a sample sink base liner. A small plastic dishpan is a good to use also.

I am curious why no contact paper? It has saved me from spills so many times. It feels so fresh and clean

i don't want the peel-n-never-comes-back-off kind, and not sure that contact paper just lying in there is going to do much good.

Plastic lined cabinet sounds like an amazing idea. Smart for them to come up with it.

Why no contact paper? Have you ever seen thirty year old contact paper? Not fresh and clean. Impossible to get up. And always installed with little wrinkles and such that catch crumbs and dirt and would make it nearly impossible to put down new neatly.

I'm undoubtedly very biased by having only encountered contact paper in rentals where it likely wasn't wiped down regularly and so on. I'm sure GWers keep theirs nice and clean and have some great tricks to pull up old and/or put down new.

@crl I've been using contact paper for years and replace them about every 5 yrs for a different pattern. Mine have peeled up easily with no residue.

They're not glue like but more like lightly sticky thin vinyl sheets.

I also use the clear over beautiful wrapping paper so the only area attached are at the edge of the cabinets. I like looking at beautiful things so it makes me feel good to open a lower sink cabinet and get a dose of flowers or color.

FunkyCamper, I don't think I've ever seen the type of liner you describe (well, not for a cabinet -- it actually sounds quite like the liner in my car trunk), but I think I'd like to have one. Does it have a name? Where'd you buy it?

In my upper cabinets I have a plastic liner with "ribs". I like that it holds my glassware ever-so-slightly off the cabinet surface.

We have a metal fabricator to make a liner with 1/2 inch sides for the area under the sink. This is the 3rd kitchen we've done this with. Don't recall the price but not outrageous.

I bought a marmoleum remnant from the habitat for humanity store that I'm going to use to line my bathroom cabinets. I may try to cove it up the sides of the sink cabinet if I can figure out how to deal with the corners.

@MrsPete - I happened to be shopping where I got it today (Bi-Mart) so I wrote down the info. It's a Ready2Go Kitchen Care Under Cabinet Spill Tray. 17"L x 12.7"W x 0.83"H. I was mistaken about the sloping front end. I don't know where I got that idea. It's simply a tray. I should have paid attention to the price better. I think it's around $4-5. Hope that helps.

@gulfmermaid - We had something similar made for our washing machine in our previous home as it was in the upstairs bath directly over the kitchen. The sides were about 4-5" with a drain connected to a hole cut in the bottom. It gave us a lot of peace of mind if ever a leak developed. Probably should do something similar in current home but the laundry room is over the garage so it's not quite as big of a worry for leaks through the ceiling but if the worst happened, it would help protect our floors.