Ideas and Peregrinations

IDEAS for APPLIANCE GARAGE for your KITCHEN If you have lots of little appliances cluttering your countertops: food processor coffeemaker stand mixer toaster and would like to keep them out of sight, the solution is an Appliance Garage In my case I wanted to fit it under a corner wall cabinet, as that is a portion of the countertop that's difficult to use during prep.  I hadn't realized how difficult an undertaking that could be, especially if the clearance between countertop and bottom of wall cabinet is shallow (mine is 16 3/4"). Here are some options to consider. Hinged sides and doors. Not acceptable because monopolizes too much counter area during opening   Flipper door (right) and pocket door (left)   The flipper would not work because it eats height under wall cabinet. The pocket door (½ on either side) would be great with a corner cabinet, as the side rails don’t need to be perpendicular to cabinet front!...

Problem We wanted to place the garbage cans in the driveway rather than in the back yard – but the path from the kitchen to the driveway to throw out the garbage goes through the garage. We were afraid that operating the garage door much more often, each time we took out the garbage, would eat into its lifetime. So, how do you go through the door without opening it fully? A pass-through door within a door. Solution At first I was sure I could buy such a door-in-a-door without a problem, but that was not the case. First problem: all standard doors you can buy are taller than our one-piece garage door, so they would not fit.  You can buy custom-made garage doors with built-in walk-throughs but they cost a  fortune . Here's the principle (click to see a video): So I made my own for about $50 in materials and a few hours of work, following these steps. Here's what my door looked like before I started – it is a one-piece door made out of 7" slats held together...