Kitchen Makeover: DIY Trash Bin

One of the problems with the layout of my kitchen is that there is no out-of-sight place for the trash. The only place trash and recycling cans will fit is at the end of the peninsula, where they are clearly visible from the living room.

I wanted to make them less obvious, maybe with a wooden bin of some sort. Rather than making a bin from scratch, I upcycled one of the cabinets that I'd taken off the wall. I began by taking out the interior shelf, removing the doors and hinges, and filling the screw holes on the doors and cabinet face with wood filler. I primed the cabinet face, cabinet interior, and doors.

Next, I covered the center panels of the doors and the entire back and sides of the cabinet with beadboard wallpaper, and painted it all black to match my base cabinets. I also painted the interior and put down adhesive shelf paper to make sure the bin is easy to keep clean. Then I reattached the doors, placing the hinges at the bottom. I attached magnetic catches at the top of the doors to ensure they stay closed.

To make this thing look more intentional and less like a cabinet just sitting on the floor, I added feet. With the cabinet turned upside down, I repurposed the interior shelf to create a base. I then attached the feet which had been cut from the same balusters that created my cabinet toekick feet.

To cover the shelf/base, which is just ugly particleboard, I attached some narrow wood trim and painted it black. To make a top for the bin, I used a piece of MDF cut to size and, of course, painted black. I still plan to add pulls or handles to all the cabinet doors, including those on the bin. Other than that, the bin is complete!

It holds two cans - one for trash and one for recycling.

Total cost of this project was about $8. I spent $3 on the trim, $3 on the MDF and $2 on the magnetic catches. The feet, wallpaper and paint were left over from other kitchen projects.