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Shelf Genie???

paintme
13 years ago

A coupla questions:

Has anyone had pull-out shelves adapted to existing cabinets by this franchise (Shelf Genie)? How was the experienc?

They're not cheap and we're trying to contain costs, while getting most efficiency. Need the expert opinions on this forum!

If you've adapted exisiting cabinetry with sliding shelves, where is the most efficient placement (i.e. base cabinet/pots: two big sliding drawers or four smaller drawers? Tall - floor to ceiling - cabinets: eye level best or lower level best? Does anyone still use under sink for trash, in addition to a recyle center?

Thanks in advance for this - and after the fact for all of the words of experience and wisdom, and inspiring pics found here.

Comments (6)

  • plllog
    13 years ago

    I had some added ROTS (roll out tray shelves) that came with my old kitchen. The thing I didn't like about them is that they were significantly narrower than normal shelves would have been and held a lot less. They also didn't slide well. They were old, however, and not really comparable. I've seen some (don't know brands) that have much narrow hardware, and are really just the same as the ROTS one gets with new cabinets, where you only lose a little shelf space and gain a lot of utility. I figured I'd chime in since your message has sunk to the second page. You might want to try again with a title liike "Roll out shelf advice please", or something like that. I opened your thread because I'd never heard of Shelf Genie, and I thought it was some kind of can holder or something and was curious.

    On GW we like Blumotion hardware with soft close. We've had quite a number of members who've been unhappy with the knockoffs. It's worth the money. Really. You might do as well or better with a local cabinet maker or carpenter who can make the boxes to fit your cabinets exactly, and whose hardware you can inspect. You might find that it doesn't cost any more, or might even cost less, for the same or better quality.

    Definately yes for pots. If you already have the wide cabinet, get the sliding shelves as wide as the cabinets. Smaller drawers hold a lot less. You lose the area taken up by the sides as well as the little spaces in between, which when added together could hold something. They make heavy duty rails, and heavier duty rails (the really heavy ones don't have soft close). Just make sure that the bottoms are strong enough to hold everything.

    For pantry cupboards (floor to ceiling), they're mostly useful at chest height and below, unless the cupboard is very narrow. If you have to get up on a step the shelf is pretty much at eye level anyway if you can reach the back, and if it rolls you have an awkward reach across a moving surface. Kind of dangerous, and hard to place your ladder. If it's narrow, however, like 18" or less, so that you can't really see in even with your eye in the right position, and can't both see and reach at the same time, you can set your ladder to the side, pull out the shelf, and get at just about anything without leaning on it or moving your ladder.

    I keep my garbage pail under the sink when it's mostly empty and I'm not using it a lot. When it has garbage in it (rather than paper napkins and the like), or while I'm cooking, I keep it out. I have a trash pullout with two recycling bins, one for the city pickup, and one for deposit return items. I have a ROTS under the sink that the garbage pail sits on, along with other stuff, but I don't pull it out for using the pail. I either lean in and lift the lid, or take the whole pail out.

  • dickross
    13 years ago

    I added roll-outs to new cabinets after they were installed. Got them on line from "Drawer Depot" They will cutom make them to size. I got 8" high maple dovetail boxes with 1/2" plywood bottoms, tapered fronts. prefinished, with blume full extension undermount slides. Ran about $150 each for 30"+ wides drawers.
    Great quality. You can price the boxes online.
    For size get the biggest you can fit in. If your cabinets have a shelf, take it out, Mount the slides to the cabinet sides. If you have face frame, block out from the side to clear the frame. The shelf will just limit headroom for the bottom pullout.

  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    9 years ago

    Hmm, just created an account today to resurrect a four year old thread so you could sing their praises, eh?

  • joygreenwald
    9 years ago

    We priced out shelf genie, but my husband is handy and we made our own blind corner using Blum hardware and boxes like qwertyui describes. It cost orders of magnitude less. The hardware for pullout sleeves is really easy to install, and you can order Blum hardware online. So, if you know what you want and you are at all handy, I'm not sure what Shelf Genie has to offer that you can't get on your own. OTOH, it might be like hiring a professional organizer. You get the expertise of someone who can make recommendations on what to add where. I do hear good things about them.

    I love my Glideware racks for pots and pans. We have pull out trash and recycling and love that too. Fwiw, we were building new, not retrofitting. I'll link my reveal so you can peak at our built ins.

    Here is a link that might be useful: JoyGreenwald's kitchen

  • joygreenwald
    9 years ago

    Oops, totally missed that it was an old thread.