Shoe Storage Cabinet with Trays

A while ago I turned our back hallway into a dream mudroom. Or at least, our dream mudroom. Of course a huge part of any closet or mudroom is shoe storage. 

This shoe cab is designed to utilize the depth of the mudroom. It’s a simple design that is easily customizable for your space and makes it simple for little people to store their shoes (read: put their daggone shoes away themselves). The countertop space makes it duel purpose (in our case as a mail drop/junk drop/family command center type area. You can get the plans here, and the tutorial is below. 

I’m partnering up with some incredibly talented building bloggers today to share some rocking organization projects. Seriously, there are enough projects here for you to organize every room of your home, so bookmark this or something, because it’s an absolute treasure trove of plans. Links to all of their projects are at the end of this post. 

Materials and Tools

*I use affiliate links to help fund my kids’ rapidly growing need to participate in 15 sports-type activities and my Easter season addiction to black jelly beans. If you want to know more about affiliate links check out my disclosure statement here.

build plans
plywood
1×2 lumber
1×3 lumber
22″ full extension drawer slides
paint or stain
drill 
miter saw
table saw
router (totally optional, actually)
wood glue
pocket hole jig

Building the Shoe Cabinet

The cabinet is basically a box…with trays. So helpful, right? It is built to a standard counter depth of 24″, with a toe kick height of 3 1/2″.

Okay, I know this picture sucks. It’s actually a shot of the templating process I used to make the countertop…which is neither here nor there.

But this is what it looks like going together. The plans detail how the wall thickness is doubled to allow the face frame to sit flush with the walls. That makes for a pretty heavy cabinet, but allows for the tray slides. You could conceivably install runners instead, but the full inner wrap looks great. 

The box is assembled using pocket holes and is composed of plywood, with the exception of the face frame. 

Building the Trays

The trays are constructed from a base of plywood. I used Purebond rough sawn panels to create these. The sides are made from reclaimed wood, and I wanted the base to blend in without having to join wood pieces. 

I used a router to cut “handles” in the front of the trays…to make them look more like trays, see? They basically don’t do anything but look fantastic. 

The trays hold about 5 pairs of little kid shoes, 4 pairs of women’s shoes, and really only a couple pairs of men’s shoes…which is kind of perfect, if you really think about it. Also, you should take those measurements as completely approximate, at best. 

One further note – you’ll need full extension slides. Because, well:

Oops, actually, one more note. The point of all of this, really. With the construction of the mudroom and addition of shoe storage we implemented a full ban on shoes in the house (past the mudroom). The biggest enforcers? The kids. They immediately put their shoes away upon entering the house, and police their father and I to do the same. 

And if you are anything like me, that may well qualify this as THE SINGLE GREATEST DIY BUILD OF ALL TIME.

More or less. 

Check out the plans if you want to build one for yourself. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a final few photos and a link to all of the other great organization projects I told you about at the beginning. 

Happy building!

The House of Wood – DIY Shoe Organizer
House Becoming Home – Simply DIY Closet Organization
Anika’s DIY Life – DIY Corner Vegetable Storage Bin
100Things2Do.ca – Organize This Small Parts Bins
Addicted 2 DIY – French Cleat Wall Organizer
RemodelaCasa – Organization
Jaime Costiglio – Easy Closet Shelves
Woodshop Diaries – DIY Closet Cabinets
The Inspired Workshop – DIY Ziploc Bag Storage Organizer
Her Tool Belt – Backpack Storage Bench Plans
Reality Daydream – Cleaning Closet Organization
My Love 2 Create – Between Studs Workshop Organization
My Repurposed Life – Between Studs Broom Closet
Ugly Duckling House – DIY Jewelry Organizer
Hazel and Gold Designs – DIY Bathroom Drawer Organizer
Place of My Taste – Easy DIY Wine Rack
Joyful Derivatives – DIY Spice Rack