Give New Life To An Old Dishwasher By Using It For Functional Cabinet Storage

It's easy to underestimate the sheer number of items that can be reused around your house and the new, creative functions they can take on. Even large appliances can be worth keeping, thanks to all the clever ways people have found to repurpose old refrigerators, microwaves, and even dishwashers. It's a great way to solve one of the biggest problems you'll face when your dishwasher closes out its 10-year average lifespan: getting rid of it. You can't easily donate or sell a non-functioning dishwasher. If you don't have recycling services in your area, reusing it is one responsible way to keep it from taking up space. And surprisingly enough, using your old dishwasher for functional cabinet storage could be just the solution you've been looking for.

At its core, your dishwasher is just a pair of pull-out drawers, so it isn't hard to see how it could translate to a storage cabinet–perhaps putting it in a walk-in pantry to hold food and spices. If you don't want to use the shell of the dishwasher as a stand-in cabinet, find an underused base cupboard where you can install the slotted racks as pull-out drawers to store pot lids, cutting boards, and container tops in a tidy arrangement. In the home, you can look for other smart ways to repurpose dish racks to find inspiration for this DIY, such as creating a shoe overflow bin in the bedroom, an office drawer organizer, or a linen holder in a hall cabinet.

Installing your dishwasher racks as cabinet drawers is similar to how you might DIY drawers and pull-out shelves for a cabinet. With the bottom rack on rollers, you can simply install guides on the cabinet floor as a track. If needed, you can work up DIY stoppers to keep the drawer from falling when extended. A simple fix is to attach lengths of cord to the back of the rack and back of the cabinet, making the rack stop when it pulls out and the lines go taut.

The top dishwasher rack, meanwhile, can sit above. Measure the width of the cabinet cavity and compare it to the distance between the top rack's drawer slides. Full-size dishwashers measure roughly 24 inches wide and deep. The racks are a few inches smaller, which doesn't quite align with standard cabinet dimensions. Typically, that means you should install side supports to hold the rack.

Cut two 2-by-4s to span from the cabinet's floor to ceiling and act as side supports for the dishwasher rack slide, one for the front and one in the back. Hold the dishwasher rack where you want it to sit when the drawer is closed as a guide to show you where to install the supports. Mark the position of the slides on the supports on both sides of the drawer. Take the slides off the rack, and screw them into the side supports, using your markings as guides. Reinstall the rack, and you're ready to load it up!