ottawa foodies

Hey folks,

Has anybody had any experience in getting outdoor cabinetry set up?

I've come to the realization that I could free up a lot of space in our kitchen cabinets if we had a storage space outside where I could keep all of the BBQ-related objects.

A lot of the products I've found on-line are huge back-yard-sized installations. I don't need something like that. I just need something weatherproof that I can hide on my balcony to keep cast iron skillets and grill racks and what-have-you.

Just get a cheap chest of drawers from StV d P. We've got one on the side step that has held up well for the last 5 years

Ooh, that's something I should check out. Wooden? Do you move it inside for the winter or anything?

Anther option would be a plastic deck box (or even a large rubbermaid box with a good lid) just remember not to put anything hot on the lid (we learned from our mistake ...). Often stores like Canadian Tire, Superstore, Costco, Home Depot or Rona will get a special shipment of these and sell them quite reasonably - our first one was less than $50 (more like $40 even, but that was a few years ago). They last about 3-5 years before the sun fades the plastic and wears it down/animals chew through the plastic, etc.

Yeah, wooden. We leave it there all year. Might want to paint it with a good outdoor paint or something, that's about it.

you could throw together a storage box from 2x4 pretty easily. It would even be waterproof if you did "board and batten" style. Then paint it with a good exterior paint. Even non-pressure treated, non-painted wood will last a surprisingly long time outdoors.

You could also go with some regular (60L) plastic tote boxes, put them under a picnic table or something like that. The deck box is good too, but it's bigger so things tend to get buried at the bottom and hard to find - a big jumble. If you use the smaller 60L totes you can label them (buy different colors for different items) and keep things tidy. Most of them are also weather proof (though you could also pick up a plastic tarp for $10 to throw over the lot). I stored some unused cement in one and 3 years later I opened it up, expecting it to be hardened. It was powder dry.

Tote boxes are also a good way to store books in place like a basement. Books can go mouldy in cardboard boxes, but they are fine in tote boxes.