Even though I have LOTS of cardboard boxes in my apartment, only a couple of them would unfold to form a single large-enough piece that I could use, and even these left large pieces that were too big to throw away but not really big enough to do anything else with them. In addition, I could not get the cardboard to fold properly, meaning none of the pieces really fit well together. If I used thinner cardboard, things might be different, but I was using what I had on hand.

When putting the scrap pieces on my recycle pile, though, I realized I had TONS of another material: chipboard. That's the type of cardboard that's used to make cereal boxes, Kleenex boxes, etc. It's all been building up over winter, because I haven't been able to haul them off to the recycling center with all the snow. (I don't have enough dogs to pull the sled, and the cats just glare at me when I try to harness them.) I have successfully made four racks out of old cereal boxes. Here are some tips (you can use any kind of chipboard; I'm making one out of all the Kleenex boxes I saved over the winter; I'm just saying “cereal box” for simplicity):

1. Start by making templates. Tracing the patterns onto the cardboard goes a lot faster than measuring with a ruler and hoping everything is square.

2. When you unfold the cereal boxes, you'll find a lot of folds and a lot of end pieces that aren't really square. Not to worry. This is what will make the cardboard stronger. For example, when I placed my “side” template on the unfolded cereal box, I placed it so it included the bottom and side flap, the fold for those flaps, and the gap between the two. After cutting the piece out, I took some of the chipboard left over from making the template; placed it over the can rack side so it covered the space between the flaps and as much of the fold as possible, and hot glued the piece to the can rack side. This stiffened the can rack side as well as covered that space between the flaps. This patched side will become the outside of your can rack.

3. Hot glue large pieces to the other elements that you cut out in order to strengthen them and keep them from “flapping”.

4. Mark the places on both insides of the can rack sides, where you will be gluding shelves. This will make the gluing process MUCH easier and faster.

5. I found it easier to start by gluing the lower shelf to one of the sides first. Next, glue the middle shelf, then the back, then the other side. My apartment's built-in pantry shelves are too short to allow me to put in the upper shelf; however, that is something easily added later.

6. Make sure the front part of the lower shelf (as well as the front part of the center shelf) meets up to the front of the assembly. This will make it easier to glue the shelves to the fronts covers (the “Upper Front” and “Lower Front”), increasing the stability of the unit.

7. Painting the assembled can racks with a latex paint will both increase the strength of the unit significantly, and will also cover all the logos and things you might not want people to see about your eating habits, esp. when you're bringing a new girlfriend to your place for the first time. Sure, the fact that you're sensible enough to be prepping and organized enough to be rotating your canned goods are both pluses (”Hey, maybe I WON'T have to do his checkbook for him!”), but do you really want her to see how many “Count Chocula” boxes you've accquired? (”Those? No, no,… those came from … the neighbor. Yeah. They're from the neighbor's kids. It's a crime what she lets them eat, really.”)

8. A correction to the sizes I put in my earlier post: Lower Shelf — 4 5/8 x 10 1/8.

9. Also, to make the “Can Pull Out Notch”, at the front of the side measure 1.5″ and 3.5″; mark. Measure and make a line 1″ in from the front, and then measure and mark 2″ and 3″ along that line. Mark the angled lines from 1.5″ to 2″; then from 3.5″ to 3″, and cut out along those lines.

Now that I'm practiced, and using the templates, from start to finish takes a little over two hours to assemble a can rack. Painting takes about 45 minutes per coat; two coats minimum. I'm slowly but surely getting rid of all the chipboard that I've been accumulating, as well as using up those cans of latex paint that I've been meaning to throw out all these years.

Sides — 10 x 10 (2 needed)
Back — 6 1/8 x 10 (1) (I made this an inch larger to give more area for gluing to the sides)
Upper and Center Shelves — 4 5/8 x 6 3/4
Lower Shelf — 4 5/8 x 10
Upper Front — 3 3/4 x 6 7/8
Lower Front — 1 1/4 x 6 7/8
Angle (”wood block” — I used a strip of cardboard) — 1 1/2 x 4 5/8

All the lengths A through E are the same. All the construction instructions are the same. Here are a few caveats when working with hot glue:

1. Keep your cats away from the hot melted glue. It's hard to get out of their fur, the fur clogs up the nozzle, and you'll get dirty looks and demands for extra treats and petting (once they're over being p*ssed at you…)

2. Mark **everything** out ahead of time. When I was using the white glue, I could move things like the shelves around to get things lined up. Hot glue sets within 30 seconds. You need to get it right the first time. I had to rip out one side of a shelf because I put in one side higher than the other. If I had marked BOTH sides, that wouldn't have happened.

3. Did I mention the cats?

4. My glue gun is a “mini” kind. It still wasn't small enough to get inside the box easily. And when I had to put in a new glue stick, forget it. I used those times to seal up the exterior exposed edges, as noted in the instructions.

5. Be careful of “glopping”. I had some problems where the cans wouldn't always roll through. Turns out a spot of glue was in the way.

6. From starting to cut the cardboard to final gluing (not counting dinner breaks and cat emergencies) it took about 3 hours. I'll paint them tomorrow, and start putting them to use. The small one will hold 9 cans. All it cost is time and a bunch of glue sticks. And a number of cat treats.

7. Be careful using hot glue around your cats. Did I mention that already?

So I'll be making another one in a couple of days, using the hot melt glue. I'll LYK how it works.

I would suggest drawing a mockup of the placement on the inside of the carboard, to make sure you get the placement right.

Another suggestion would be to insert toothpicks through the sides and into the cardboard shelves to hold it in position as it dries.

dicity

I wonder if instead of just gluing the shelves inside, you could cut slots into the sides, make the shelves just slightly wider, and slide the shelves into the slots in the sides. Hmmm…. I have enough cardboard, I should try it that way.

Thanks again!

This rack holds 12 soup cans. My pantry can actually fit a little longer of a rack so my husband is going to make more for me that are a little longer and would hold one more can per row so up to 15 soup cans. Obviously the racks for bigger cans would hold less. He’s going to make me those too so I’ll update as we get them done (he is going to be a busy man, lol, but he’s been being really sweet about it)

I know – just breathe…talking this out helps, so thanks all for listening. ……

know I will put my husband to do that for me jajaj!!! love it love it!!!!!

All I can say is you made a video at 2 am. I am so too old for that!