How to Make Shelves for a Pantry Door

Shelves for a pantry door can be built as a single unit with a plywood or Luan backing and then mounted against the inside of the door with screws. This method allows for simple construction as well as a straightforward task of mounting the wooden shelves to the door.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 1-by-4 pine or fir boards (clear)
• Miter box (power or hand saw)
• Orbital sander
• Sandpaper (medium grade)
• Finish nails (#4 bright)
• Carpenter's glue
• Electric drill
• Drill bits
• 1/4-inch dowel
• 1/4-inch speed bore bit
• Countersink bit
• 16-ounce hammer
• Piece of 1/4-inch Luan
• Framing square
• Pencil
• Flat head wood screws (8 guage 1 1/2 inches)
• Round head wood screws (10 guage 3/4 inch )
• Utility knife
• Pencil
• Framing square
• Carpenter's square

How to Make Shelves for a Pantry Door

1. Decide on a height and width for the set of shelves. For most pantry doors a set of shelves that are two feet wide and four feet high will work fine. That set of numbers will be used for this description.

2. Cut the 1-by-4's to size. For this particular project, that means you will cut two pieces at exactly four feet and six pieces will be cut at 21 inches. Go ahead and cut these eight pieces from the clear 1-by-4 and make sure each end is perfectly square. Sand each piece carefully with medium grade sandpaper after they are cut.

3. Lay the two side pieces face down and next to each other on a table top or other work surface. Take a carpenter's square and make a square mark with a pencil across the width of the board. Do this at precisely one inch from the bottom of each board. and make sure both pencil lines are perpendicular to the edge of the board. Now make five more lines across each board at the height of 12, 20, 28, 34 and 40 inches.

4. Drill three holes in each line. Put one one hole in the center of the board and then a pair of holes with each one inch in from the outside edge. Once all the pilot holes are drilled, follow each hole with a countersink depression.

5. Mark a short perpendicular edge line from the inside edge of each board that is at least two inches long. if the boards are lying on the table next to each other the two edges in the center of the pair of boards will be the inside edges. Along these two edges make a perpendicular mark using a carpenter's square and pencil at the heights of 3, 14, 22, 30, 36 and 42 inches. Now make a crosshatch mark on the line exactly 1/2 inch in from the edge. These marks will be the location for the dowel inserts.

6. Drill a hole using a 1/4 inch speed bore bit at the crosshatch mark. Make sure the drill bit is perpendicular to the wood before you start drilling and go slowly with the drilling once the tip breaks through the other side. Drill a 1/4 inch hole at each mark. You will have to drill twelve holes total. These holes are being made to accommodate six pieces of dowel.

7. Put the boards together using the 1 1/2 inch flat head screws. Each horizontal piece (21 inches long) gets placed between the two vertical side pieces and three flat head screws are inserted from each side using an electric screw gun.

8. Cut six pieces of 1/4 inch dowel to the exact length of 24 inches. Do this with the miter saw and make sure each end is square. Each piece of dowel will be pushed through one of the holes made by the 1/4 speed bore bit in step 6. The piece of dowel is needed as a guard to keep objects from falling off the shelf.

9. Put some carpenter's glue at each end of a piece of dowel and then slide the dowel through one hole until it crosses the width of the set of shelves and enters the the other hole on the opposite side. Each end of the dowel should be flush with the outside of the two vertical side pieces of the set of shelves. Once the dowel is in place, then wipe any excess glue off the dowels and the outside of the box.

10. Cut a piece of 1/4 inch Luan that is 2 feet by 4 feet and square. You can use a utility knife with a sharp blade and a straight edge to do the cutting.

11. Attach the Luan to the back of the shelf unit with a small amount of carpenter's glue and some #4 bright finish nails.

12. Fill the screw holes on the outside of the box with wood putty that matches the color of the wood and let the putty dry. Then sand the putty and the ends of the dowel if necessary.

13. Apply a coat of Danish Finish Oil to the set of shelves.

14. Attach the set of shelves to the back of the door with the round head screws. You will probably have to drill pilot holes first.

Tips & Warnings

• You can vary the height and number of shelves if you like.
• Do not make the shelves wider than the door. Make sure that there is clearance on the inside of the pantry to accommodate the shelves after they are built.