DIY Pull-Out Under Stairs Storage Drawers

The small cupboard under our stairs had become a dumping ground for shoes, and I was tired of digging through it every morning to find a pair. In this build I turned it into two full-depth pull-out storage drawers that slide out from under the stairs into the hallway, so everything is easy to reach.

Building the frame and fitting the runners

The first job was a frame to carry everything. I made it from 4x2 timber and fixed it to the floor and walls with steel L-brackets, since neither the wall nor the floor was square. Then I opened up the wall, drilling a starter hole and finishing the cut with a hand saw.

Each drawer runs on a pair of heavy-duty full-extension runners, rated to 80 kg with 800 mm of travel. I screwed pine strips to the runners to give a flat platform for the drawers to sit on, and added cross members to stop things wobbling. The runners have quick-release catches, which made it much easier to fit the heavy drawer boxes later: I could unclip them, clamp the base on and screw it down.

Planning the cuts and matching the stair angle

Before buying anything I drew the cupboard as a 3D model to work out the drawer sizes, the number of plywood sheets I needed and where every cut would go. The local DIY store cut the big sheets down so they'd fit in the car, and I finished the cuts at home on the table saw. The drawer tops follow the slope of the staircase, so I measured the stair angle with an angle finder and set up a sled on the table saw to match.

Drawer boxes, fronts and finish

The drawer boxes are plywood, glued and screwed, with a white MDF front panel. The MDF was too big for my table saw so I broke it down with a circular saw against a straight edge, then cut the two fronts and chamfered the edges. To position the fronts, I pushed each drawer forward with a block, tacked the front on with hot glue and then screwed it from behind. The fronts got primer and a water-based paint applied with a roller, the plywood edges got edge banding, and I used a tinted varnish so the wood matched our flooring. A PVC angle trim covers the rough edge of the cut-out.

Handle-free, push-to-open drawers

Push-to-open latches keep the drawers closed without handles. I positioned them with double-sided tape first and screwed them down once the alignment was right.

The whole project took two full weekends plus a few evenings of painting and varnishing. Short on wall space too? The forward-facing bookshelves and easy floating shelves are quicker storage wins.