*This DIY Tilt Out Laundry Hamper Cabinet post was sponsored by Build Something.
A while back my mom wanted me to help her figure out a way to add some storage to her tiny laundry room. (Remember the washer and dryer pedestals with the storage drawer I made her last year??) Because it’s a really small space (like 7′ x 7′), I had to get a little creative.
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She needed somewhere to actually put her dirty clothes hamper, but also a place to store cleaning supplies and rags…and dog treats for her little Yorkie, Bubba. (Speaking of pets, check out some of my fun pet projects here.) AND she wanted a surface to be able to fold her clothes on when they come out of the dryer.
So I built her this laundry hamper storage cabinet and I’m excited to be partnering with my friends at Kreg Tool and Build Something to bring you the free plans for it. Watch the video here to see how it was built, and be sure to check out the details and tips I have for you below, then head over here for these plans and hundreds of other awesome free building plans on BuildSomething.com.
Now let’s get some materials and head to the shop 😉 This post contains affiliate links. See policies for details.
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For this build, you will need:
Bandsaw (optional)
Wood Screws (various lengths)
Now, while I have the free plans over on Build Something, I wanted to highlight a few things here about this build as some extra info, tips, and backstory.
The feet:
You could definitely buy your own feet for this cabinet, but since I had a scrap 4×4 board lying around, I decided to make my own simple tapered feet. It saved me a few bucks, but did require a lot of sanding haha. Pros and cons, I guess.
To make my feet, I measured out the taper I wanted on the end of my 4×4 on two sides and cut it out on the band saw.
If you don’t have a bandsaw, I recommend purchasing tapered feet because a jig saw probably won’t be able to cut all the way through.
The Frame:
I made the frame of the cabinet from 2x2s and assembled using my Kreg pocket hole jig with pocket holes and screws.
BUT, I haven’t had much luck using 2 screws on my pocket holes on 2x2s and 1x2s. I’ve found that my wood likes to crack if I get too close to a corner. So when I’m working with these small boards, I only drill one pocket hole on the ends instead of two and add some glue to help hold it in place when I screw it together. That’s just a free helpful hint 🙂
Middle Storage Section:
This cabinet had three sections–two for tilt out laundry hampers and one for storage in the middle. I chose to use this storage space for adjustable shelves and I made easy work of this by using my Kreg shelf pin jig to drill shelf pin holes down the sides of the middle cabinet dividers.
When you don’t know where you will want your shelves, using a shelf pin jig to have them adjustable is life changing–especially when you are as indecisive as me and my mom haha.
Door Trim:
I added half round molding to my doors to fancy them up a little. You can do without the half round OR use a totally different piece of molding, but I really like half round for a simple design and I had some leftover from doing our door trim on the garage apartment.
To install this trim on these doors, or any other doors I’m doing, I measure out from the edges how far in I want the molding to start, then cut my pieces to fit within that area. To attach, I found it easiest to apply a little wood glue (not too much to avoid squeeze out), and tape in place using painters tape like shown.
This allows you to hold the pieces in place without having to use nails or screws and that saves putty and sandpaper and lots of time later 😉
The Hinges:
I really love using European concealed hinges, so I used my Kreg concealed hinge jig to drill the cups for the hinges. This jig makes them super easy to install.
One thing I wanted to note about the doors are that since two of the doors are tilt outs, those hinges went on the BOTTOM edge of the door vs the side. This allowed these doors to pivot at the bottom instead of opening up like normal like the middle section door.
Adjustment Blocks:
Because with inset European concealed hinges, the doors have a tendency to pull in further than you’d like, (notice below how the tilt out doors tilt in a little too far?) I added an adjustment block.
After I added the tilt outs to the back of the doors, I screwed a 2×2 block into the bottom of the cabinet, then added a screw in the top for fine tuning. The bottom of the tilt out will rest on this screw, so screw it in to allow it to tilt in more, screw it out to allow less tilt in. Simple as that.
Door Stops:
I also needed to create a positive stop for the tilt out so that my mom isn’t opening her door and it open all the way out and spill laundry everywhere.
For this, I used another small scrap plywood block and opened the door about as much as I thought it needed to open, then screwed the block into the side of the cabinet so that the door would catch it when it opens.
Hamper Baskets:
And finally, one last thing…If you want to build one of these DIY tilt out laundry cabinets, but don’t already have hampers, I got these kind of stiff laundry hampers from Amazon and they’re a little bigger than you need for these tilt outs, but they hold their shape really well so they stand on their own in these doors and you can shape them enough to fit.
I really like how unexpected this cabinet is with the middle section being storage and the outside sections being laundry hampers. If you wanted to skip the tilt outs and just use regular doors as well, this could also be a really cute entry way cabinet or console cabinet for a dining room. Or even a TV stand.
FYI, if you are wondering about the stain color, it’s Rustoleum Summer Oak and you can find the super cute handles here.
Let your imagination run wild haha. A huge thank you to Kreg and Build Something for sponsoring this post and allowing the plans for this project to be free on their site here.
If you’re looking for more laundry room projects, be sure to check out one of these:
And be sure to pin this for later 🙂
Until next time, happy building 🙂
