$5000? Not even done? Regardless, tell them to go pound sand. No, it is not worth it. You do not need to spend that kind of money for functional pantry shelving.

Five shelves, $5,000... A thousand dollars per shelf. you can easily search for the cost of the individual items on the Internet and I think that you will find even at full retail it's about $100-$200 per shelf so they are making about $800-$900 profit per shelf. The cost of the triangular shelves is not worth it under any circumstance as the edges of the triangle can hold nothing. I think that this is exceedingly poor design. You would be better off installing heavy-duty wooden shelves in a U-shape and adding pullouts and Corner Susan's on top of them yourself, as they will hold much more weight.

P.s. The shelving in your drawing is not separated enough to hold a stand mixer. And I question whether you really want a stand mixer to be in the pantry. I would think that you would want it to pop up from below the counter in your kitchen in a convenient location. Not in your pantry where you have to pick it up and move it to a location. They have not given you what you requested, nor have they suggested anything worthwhile. I would not do any further business with this company. This appears to be a franchise operation and some of them are much better than others. See the attached picture with homemade susans. You only need to pull out shelving when your cabinets are deep enough to justify it.

For your consideration

Here is a link that might be useful: Example of a mixer lift

Thank you, guys.

To clarify - the drawings as seen definitely do not accommodate the height of appliances. it just shows that there would be a column of five pull outs - height to be determined later at installation

HOWEVER, i am so glad that others didn't think this was "so worth while." the susan image shown above is exactly what I want, but don't know how to achieve. and I want the two center columns of pull outs

the frequency with which I use my stand mixer is really rare. so I wouldn't dedicate under counter space. the pantry is fine for me to go and retrieve, but I want to get to it and lift it out easily. same with my processor, which is used much more frequently.

does anyone have a suggestion for systems or companies to look at/or to help me design something that can then be executed by someone other than me/DH. we are really, really, REALLY not handy people. no DIY here. but we could have the contractor do it, if we give very explicit instructions and provide all materials.

Lol, I wasn't even looking at the design. Yikes! That is not only insane but its sole purpose seems to be to maximize profit not function. I agree with practigal, don't even discuss further with this company.

Give us the dimensions of the pantry and your friends at GW will help you figure something out. Pictures would help, too.

Oh, thanks so much, HomeChef!

I've attached an earlier version of the floor plan, but it will give you the sense of the pantry and where it's going

I actually had measured the stud framing earlier today. I got about 86" long by 36"/37" deep. Ceilings are 9'

As for appliances I'd like to store on pull-outs, I would like to put my stand mixer, my food processor, my vitamix, my ice cream maker, my panini press/griddle, and my slow cooker.

I'd also like the very lower portion to be for storage of larger bulky items like paper towels, cases of water, etc

I believe I am going to have a separate narrow broom closet, so I won't need to worry about broom or dustpan storage.

I am not even sure what else I would want to keep in here. I just want it to be efficient! and easily used - not having to dig for things, which is why I love(d) the pull out idea

Why not just install shelving all around your U? I can't see the benefit of pull outs on shelving under 18" (or more) deep. I'd do fixed (or adjustable, simple) shelving. You don't need pull outs to take something off a not-too-deep shelf.

This is what I'd do . . .

One one short side, do a 24" deep counter with deep shelving under it (oversize item storage) and an actual countertop at 36" with an 18" clear area above. This is your landing area for bags of groceries, appliances needing to be shelved, etc. Above that clear area, do 15" deep shelves for oversized deep items (appliances, platters, etc.)

On the long side, do 12" deep shelving floor to ceiling.

On the other short side, either leave the remaining 24" wall open (for hanging mops, etc.) or wrap that 12" deep shelving all the way around (or extend it to 15 or MAX 18" " if you have lots of large items to store . . . but I wouldn't want food storage on anything deeper than 12")

If you're in love with lazy susans, you could easily instal inexpensive simple lazy susans on the corners where your U wraps around. I have one spare one sitting in my pantry with liquor on it at the moment, lol.

FWIW, my new pantry has a landing area/counter similar to what I described above (actually I did the 24" deep counter on the short wall with 15" upper shelves, and went ahead and have a 15" deep counter on the longer 12" shelf longer wall . . . LOVE having all that landing space, and I even put in some counter height outlets for possible coffee pot, etc. . . .)

FWIW, my carpenter built all the pantry shelving (7' x 5' pantry, two walls - one long and one short) . . . all the way to the 10' ceilings, out of 3/4" plywood, and built a simple laminate counters for it . . . and all caulked and ready to paint . . . in one day's work for one carpenter with about half a day's work from a helper. About $300 in materials (5 sheets of plywood + one of MDF, a sheet of laminate, and some glue and nails . . . and scrap wood we had plenty of) and about $220 in labor (8x20 + 4x15). So, it was all done and ready to paint for about $520. (Half a day's painting by me and my super fast painter and it was painted, too!) And, it looks great. I put in $50k in custom kitchen cabinets, so I'm not cheap, but $5k for that shelving in your pantry seems bonkers.

I would have pullouts on all of the cabinets that you would have to get on your knees to read the labels, whether or not the shelf was shallow....

All shelves should be adjustable so you can minimize waste vertical space. I would want the side shelves and back shelving separate so they could be adjusted vertically as you wished.

I have my processor, coffee roaster, and such on shelves without pullouts. No problem because they are at a height I can easily reach. Deep shelves below 24" above the floor or so really should have pullouts. More accessible shelves should have pullouts if they are to hold small items like canned goods and will be close together vertically, since it is very difficult to see and reach between such shelves. No problem at all IMO to locate reach FP, coffee roaster, and such.

Narrow shelves (the ones along the sides) don't need pullouts, of course.

The corner susans are very easy to make yourself if you are handy or of course you can have them made for you. I can post more info about the bearings if you need it. They cost about $8 each on Amazon and hold up to 700 lbs.

Just cut plywood circles the size you want, attach the bearings, and screw them down on the corner shelves. Do be aware that if you want corner susans you need space on both corner walls for them.
Below is a link to GW post that shows a closeup of D-cut susans in a pantry.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mock up of D-cut susans in a pantry.

It should be easy enough to replicate the pictures shown above. Start by building shelves that are 12" deep or so.

For the corners, you could just buy the spinny circles at Container Store or Bed Bath & Beyond or the like. And place them on the shelves' corners.

If you want pull-outs in a portion of the pantry, look into Blum's metabox line. Technically they are drawers, but they can attach to either the pantry's sides or back. And they're very sturdy. Ana White has a great tutorial - google should find it easily.

I like the pantry in the photo posted by practigal. Just a FYI, last month I purchased nine custom. fully assembled, pull out drawers for three 33" wide base cabinets from quikdrawers.com. They were well constructed, all wood, with 1/2"bottoms; all drawers can be easily adjusted to different heights. Total cost, including full extension hardware was around $750. They have a lot of other custom kitchen options and were very nice to deal with, quick and professional.

thank you, Texasgal!!

Have you checked out Rev-A-Shelf options -- you can even buy them from Amazon! LOVE them in my old original kitchen -- smooth running and really strong! :)

I had ShelfGenie of Massachusetts install a drawer for cookie sheets and such, three new glide-out trays, and replace 12 existing drawer glide sets as well as refurbish a corner carousel. Total cost was just north of $3000. They were very professional and efficient and the hardware they use is brand-name and of first quality. If you bought new trays and all the hardware and fittings yourself you could probably do a lot better, but from my experience you'd need to be pretty dedicated to search out a source for the boxes and all the specialized hardware you'd need. Then you'd need an installer. ShelfGenie took a day to measure everything and another working day for the installation. Everything works great. If you check Angie's List you'll find that most are happy with the product but do think that it's pricey. Most are satisfied, however, as I am.

I agree that is expensive. my pantry was priced at $2400 for a smaller version of yours and my jaw dropped when salesperson told me price. He suggested look up simply shelf or simple shelf for the pantry. I did and much reasonable prices though you need to install yourself. However just recently they been out of stock on everything and assuming they are out of business. Looking into shelves that slide.com and may take that route. This site may have what you need.

I agree with everyone else: That's crazy expensive for a pantry.

If I understand correctly, the goal is to store small appliances ... the easiest option would be to simply keep them on shelves; those shelves don't look all that deep, so I don't see pull-outs as all that useful. Lightweight appliances (I use a rice cooker and a steamer frequently) could "live" on large lazy susans in the corners. Things like bread machines and juicers also aren't heavy.

Another option: Get a metal kitchen cart on wheels -- choose a good, sturdy model. Store all your appliances on it, and build your shelves around it. That is, leave an empty space so that this cart can scoot up against the wall /under the shelve. This would work for the stand mixer too -- since it's the heaviest item, it could "live" on the top shelf of the metal cart, and you could even pull the cart out to the kitchen and use the mixer ON the cart (assuming your wheels have locks).

One last thought: Practigal's pantry picture shows lazy susans sitting on solid shelves. The expensive company's picture shows lazy susans perched on a single pole. Ignoring the cost, I think the homemade version looks considerably more sturdy. I have a couple large pantry lazy susans that I bought at Bed, Bath & Beyond, and I think they were in the $20 range (but I've had them a long time); I vote for building strong shelves sized appropriately for store-bought lazy susans -- seems like the best bang for the buck.

Today was installation day for my Shelf Genie drawers. It took the gentleman 6 hours because everything is custom fit. We moved into our home 2 months ago and having come from a new kitchen with drawers on the bottom, I was having a hard time adjusting. Within two weeks I made the decision that the kitchen was fine and $7,000.00 dollars worth of pull out drawers was way cheaper than getting a new kitchen within the next two years. I now have 20 drawers and two cabinets that were converted to pull outs for garbage and recycling. The difference is amazing and I will no longer consider redoing the kitchen especially since the turmoil it causes is not worth it.

McMurtrien, where are you located? Could you post pictures of your pull-outs?

lmgch - did you come up with a solution for your pantry?

It's easy to look at a design on paper and not understand all that goes into designing, building, installing and offering a lifetime warranty. Not everyone is DIY capable and many love having someone else take care of the project for them. Shelf Genie brings a customized solution for you and your kitchen. As for the height requirements, those are determined with the customized installation. The products that are used are excellent and built to last. They will hold up to 100 pounds per rail set and offer quality woods and craftsmanship. The installers are trained by Shelf Genie and insured. Also, there are different price points depending on the choice of woods used . Please consider Shelf Genie for your next project as we have thousands of very happy clients in many places all over the USA and Canada. Yes, I am a Designer and have helped many people. One last thing, we work with people and their budgets by doing things in stages as needed. The end result is extra storage and easy access and happy clients!!

Before our total reno, I got a Shelf Genie quote to replace my builder grade p&p rollouts in the island. It was almost cheaper to buy a whole new island. Just sayin' . . .

I recently moved and I'm looking to install pullout shelves in my kitchen. This article is very helpful!!! Thanks to everyone for your input. I have some more investigating to do.

Typical costs are $135 to $210 per shelf, installed. In an average-sized kitchen with 12 base cabinets and 24 shelves, expect to pay $3,240 to $5,040 for custom-made pull-out shelves.

We used Shelves that Slide, & the cost was reasonable, however I didn't like that they were installed onto the existing shelves making for less vertical space.

We got estimate for $18,000.00 lower kitchen cabinetry and lower bathroom vanities. This can't be so... slide drawers.

That’s a pretty harsh and inaccurate assessment. While I don’t think they provide a very good value, their hardware is ok, they make their boxes in the states, and they are an established, professional company.

I met with Shelf Genie's rep concerning my pantry cabinet, a two door 24" wide cabinet and a smaller cabinet. The pantry was to include 4 shelves, 2 at standard depth, 2 at double. The 24" wide cabinet - 2 standard depth and the smaller cabinet, a rack for cutting boards and cookie sheets. Total price $ 3800. I was taken aback by the price. We eliminated the 24" cabinet and the rack. Price was reduced to $2200. We changed to standard box, price dropped to $1700. That's approximately $400 a shelf. There has to be better options. I'm not a DIYer when it comes to cabinetry. I need someone to install. Any suggestions. All are appreciated.

ShelfGenie is way overpriced and the quality is not good. I own and operate a custom cabinetry shop, I was absolutely floored when I first saw their products and then found out they were starting at $400. $400 for a 1/2" plywood drawer with basic side-mounted slides. I guess I'm just old school and believe in fair value for a fair price, which I'm not seeing here in any way shape or form. To give you an idea, the material cost for their drawers would be ~$10, labor's hard to say but I'm guessing their high production so maybe ~$20. So, selling a drawer for $400+ that costs ~$30 to make, well that's just plain wrong.

"So how do they sell them and stay in business", one might ask. Well, they've positioned themselves as a solutions provider and distanced themselves as a commodity seller of drawer products. Pretty decent business approach. I'd venture to guess that they will not even give you a ball-park price up front because you'd be turning on a dime and running away as fast as possible. Their high price point will have them hiding the price behind showy marketing, exposing that only after they're in your house and can crank up the pressure sales. At the end of your free consultation, you'll be told that you have a few options: very expensive, stupid expensive, and oh my god I can't tell anyone how much I paid for these expensive.

One thing I do like about them though, it's smart to position yourself as a solutions provider. It's a business risk to be so expensive though. Someone who positions themselves as a solutions provider and has a lower price point will beat them hands down in their local market.

Well, I can possibly offer some perspective on this if you're so inclined. I've been in business for a very long time, and like to think of myself as savvy to business strategy. Credit where credit is due, they do sell drawers for $400+. That's quite a feat. Achieving markups of 1000% is no easy task. The question remains, how do they do it? I will give you my perspective on how they do it. You can see from their website, they are positioning themselves as a solutions provider. This is an important point. Drawers are generally considered by most to be a commodity item. A Drawer Solution on the other hand enters into the realm of a being a custom item, which people accept as being of higher value and subsequently will pay more for. Yes their prices are absurd, but their business approach is sound: sell cheap items for a lot of money by positioning them as custom items in your clients eyes. It's sketchy to say the least, bordering unethical if you ask me, but that's what they're doing and it's working for them.

If I may provide some unsolicited advice. You're clearly competing with them, but it seems you don't understand how they're doing what they're doing. Clearly you have your clients best interests at heart and want to provide a valuable service at a fair price, which I would consider to be a noble venture. I am of the same mind. Considering ShelfGenie's success, people clearly see great value in their Drawer Solutions and are willing to pay a lot for them. If I were competing with ShelfGenie, I'd attempt to beat them at their own game. Give the client what they want: a Drawer Solution, but give it to them at half the cost. ShelfGenie clearly has a lot of money - most likely coming from the pockets of their franchisees - so they can market themselves to a broad audience. It's tough no doubt, but you'll need to find a way to market yourself to a broad audience, provide Drawer Solutions, at half the price. Add a pinch or two of client education, you'll have them beat. Get creative, roll up your sleeves and I have no doubt you'll come out on top.

Good Luck!!!

The worst thing about this company is their unethical behavior in the time of covid. The worker they sent to my home for an entire day was unvaccinated, and wore an inadequate mask under his nose, I found out when I went downstairs. ( I work from home). People before profits? Not true for shelf genie, obviously! And they are NOT cheap, as others note above. All glitter, no gold, and worse, virus in your house!