Under-A-Table Pull-Out Trash Cabinet

With limited kitchen cabinet space and nowhere to conceal the trash and recycling cans, we got creative and made a pull-out trash cabinet to go under a table. Yes, a table!

We have a partially unfitted kitchen, meaning not everything is fixed in place. We use furniture to supplement our lack of kitchen cabinets and counter space.

In particular, we have a rustic table pushed against one wall that serves as a counter, coffee station, and eating area. That’s where we decided to tuck our pull-out trash cabinet.

Here’s that rustic table before we started this project.

And, ahem, here’s how that table has looked on any given weekday with two bins full of trash and recycling.

Actually, it was usually worse than what you see because we never stacked the cans neatly like this.

The evidence that we live here is definitely something we need to hide. Haha!

The plan was to build a box with a pull-out drawer to conceal the trash and recycling cans.

We took off the table legs on the left side of the table and slid our fancy box new pull-out trash cabinet right underneath the table.

The table frame is beefy, so we had plenty of spots to secure the top of the trash cabinet to the bottom of the table. To be clear, the pull-out trash cabinet is freestanding, but since it now acts as half the legs for this table, it needed to be secured to the table.

In addition, we need to be able to slide the table away from the wall to access an outlet, so the cabinet couldn’t be affixed anywhere that would prevent the table from being moved.

While I am giving you a high level explanation of how we built our pull-out trash cabinet, I’m not publishing a proper tutorial or sharing the cabinet dimensions because it is all so specific to our particular project that it wouldn’t be helpful.

It would be like publishing a recipe and then you’d have to change every single ingredient and write to tell me that the recipe sucked. Haha!

I do have a hot tip for you though.

I will advise you to not make the mistake we did when testing the height of our box or cabinet. We originally planned to make the trash cabinet look like a regular kitchen cabinet by building the bottom of the cabinet 3 inches off the ground to make room for a toe kick.

The cans DID fit in the box. However, they were almost kissing the top of the cabinet when pushed in and we ultimately decided this was too close for comfort. You saw how we had that recycling can stacked high! We needed more wiggle room for our trashy selves to operate.

We did a bit of redesigning on the fly to adjust for this miscalculation, so now our cabinet sits flush on the ground. It’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

Something that was not a miscalculation was the cabinet hardware.

Did you notice the hardware I selected has a backing plate?

I love how it looks, and hope springs eternal that it will also help protect the cabinet from getting dinged up. All of our most-used kitchen cabinets always get dinged up right behind or around the cabinet pull.

I’m not sure what we’re doing with our hands to cause this, but this could be why my fingernail polish doesn’t last long.

I realize that the idea of an under-the-table pull-out trash cabinet is very specific to our kitchen.

We have spent our fair share of time lamenting the quirks of our old house, but the quirks are also why we love it here. Crikey, we’re difficult to please!

However, when we stop complaining and finally start problem-solving, it’s amazing what we can create that not only solves a problem but looks pretty fantastic too. (Not that I’m biased or anything.)

If you can’t convert an existing kitchen cabinet into a spot that holds your trash and recycling cans, this idea could be adapted to incorporate into a pantry closet or kitchen island.

There are also so many fantastic free-standing trash cabinets that you can buy online that look like gorgeous console tables. Usually the cans tip out, instead of sliding out though. We use one of these for a laundry hamper in our bathroom and it functions so well.

Here’s one more for the road because I’m just so tickled with how this solution turned out.

We had folks over for dinner last weekend and someone asked, “Where’s the trash?”

Do you know how giddy I was to get this question? G-I-DOUBLE-D-Y. GIDDY.

I played it cool, of course.

“It’s under the table in that really pretty cabinet that we built with our own two hands and a lot of power tools that we keep in our garage, which we have to walk both ways uphill in the snow to reach.”

Kidding…about the garage part.

What do you think about our new pull-out trash cabinet? Did we do a good job of hiding the evidence that we live here? Haha! 

Let me know. You can always comment on this blog post, email me here, or reach out via Instagram or Facebook.

Happy DIYing!

Room Sources:

Wall Color: Behr Arcade White in satin

Trim Color: Behr Bit of Sugar in semi gloss

Wainscoting Color: Behr Khaki Shade in semi gloss

Cabinet Color: Behr Confident White in semi gloss (cabinet enamel paint)

Stain color: Rustoleum Honey

Brass Cabinet Pull: Amazon

Braided Rug: NuLoom

Table: Handmade by Handy Husband

Fridge: Oldie but a goodie and tricked out by us (details here)

Art and Decor: Thrifted

Wood Stools: Amazon

Thanks for hanging out with me today. I hope something in this blog post either inspired you or made you smile. If you liked this post, you might also like one or all of these. There’s no limit on how many you can read. Promise.

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