Our GC had a wonderful exercise for us. His assignment even before we met was to have DH & me write out our top 20 items/ideas for the house (in order of importance). We did this seperarately w/o knowing each other's top 20. We then brought this list to GC on our first meeting. This enabled him to get the big picture. We also took these lists to the architect. Along with this list, was a photo of what we desired & a layout we thought we liked. As the process has developed, all of our smaller, nitpicky items have come out. GC has appreciated the thought process that I've put into it all. He said it has made everything move smoothly. In the end, I will have less daily choices to make. Although I did SO much research prior to all of our meetings, I have welcomed GC's ideas & knowledge, as well. Afterall, we are hiring him for his skills, knowledge, & expertise. He has been doing this 30+ years & I have only just recently begun this process. I definitely would not go into this seeming like a total know-it-all or you will make GC's life quite unpleasant. Also, in all honesty, about 90% of our desires for our home, GC had already planned for, so I would really be looking for the best GC you can find.

Why not simply have a tall gray plastic trash bin on casters, that lives behind a cabinet door. When you have a big messy task, open the door, roll the bin out and work away. Then roll it outside to dump the trash if desired. The only downside I see is that when in use, the bin is kind of unsightly. But at that point you've got a big messy cooking task spilling over your counters, and are yourself probably blotched with flour, spattered with frosting, or flecked with crab shell. It is unlikely to be your most Winsome Moment. So who's going to notice a gray bin amidst the chaos? The upside is you don't need to build a rolling cart with a face panel that fits into the cabinetry snugly enough to look integral, yet loosely enough to be easily moved, that doesn't get all banged up around the edges from being kicked into place, and doesn't get all scuffed up from being upended over the outside trash bin or soggy from being hosed down in the driveway. No matter how carefully you match that cart's panel to the surrounding cabinetry, it is not going to look just like another cabinet door. The gaps will be wide, the hinge missing, and there will be limp spinach hanging over the edge.

At ShelvesThatSlide.com, they don't suggest you need a fixed shelf to mount the pullouts to--you mount the pullouts to the side of the cabinet, not to a shelf! Oh, wait, I do see this: "We do not recommend no shelf installations for locations where a significant amount of weight is involved such as pantries." I guess if your back end of the slide is going to be attached to the wimpy outer panels that framed cabinets have, this might be a problem. The thing is, regular drawers are attached to the back of the framed cabinets all the time. You'd use the same sort of drawer slides, but you'd use "face frame brackets" or a "face frame conversion kit." Those brackets are MUCH less bulky than the ones that the Sliding Shelves place used--look at the link below. The key: "Secure a 3/4" x 2" vertical mounting strip to the rear wall or cabinet back for each slide." You might ask this over at the Kitchens forum; I know folks over there have added pullouts to their cabinets after-market, so they'd have some help for you. You can also mount to the side of the cabinet, depending on how far out the face frame sticks; you use spacers to fill in the gap between the wood of the cabinet side itself, and the spot where the drawer slide would be (sinc eit can't go flush against the wall). Are the sides of the cabinets visible? Are they very thick? If they're not visible, and you're willing to drive screws through them from the inside, that would work. If they are visible, or if you aren't willing to make holes in them, then maybe you could line the side of the cabinet w/a thick sheet of plywood. Or, you could build a frame to set into the side of the cabinet, w/ vertical pieces where the holes on the slides are, and then glue that wood to the cabinet itself (stain it to match, to make it look pretty!); it'll hold everything. You might want to keep it from tipping by using an L bracket to attach it to the inside of the face frame in the front, and to the back of the cabinet in the back. http://www.runnerduck.com/pmbench.htm Scroll about halfway down This one will show you the spacer in the back, plus the angled bracket that attached the slide to the back of the cabinet. I suppose if you really wanted to, you could install fixed shelves in the cabinet, but that seems silly. Here is a link that might be useful: Instructions for an Accuride-brand face-frame conversion kit

webe--You can install stationary shelves from inside the cabinet. You screw in a U-shaped arrangement of three wood strips called "ledger boards" (I may be wrong about the spelling!) to the sides and back; then, set the shelf on top of the ledger boards and screw through the shelf into the ledger boards. If you were going to do that, then the heck w/ the stationery shelves. Just install the ledger boards or cleats (leave off the rear piece), and then attach the drawer slides to THOSE. (that's part of what I meant by my comments about "lining the side of the cabinet" or installing a filler strip--those would be the same thing, just called by a different name!) I don't know what they're smoking at shelvesthatslide--the fixed shelf itself is attached to the cabinet sides! OK, maybe it's attached by using a cleat or ledger board, which would distribute the load more evently--but then, all you need to do is install a cleat or ledger board, and since you have framed cabinets and would need a filler strip anyway, that's all you need.