Bin Storage Racks

The Problem

Storage totes stack, and a stack works right up until you want the bin at the bottom. Then it's four bins onto the floor, one bin out, four bins back. A rack that holds each tote on its own rails turns that into pulling a drawer — and the build is cheap enough that the reason people don't do it is usually not knowing the numbers rather than the cost.

What You'll Need

Five 8-foot 2x4s, four 8-foot 2x2s, and a box of 3" wood screws — around $30 of material. Six totes, 64 litre / 17 gallon size. Every dimension below is sized around that tote; a different bin means different numbers, and the rung spacing is the one to recheck first.

The Technique

The rack is two ladders standing parallel, joined by four rails. Totes span between the ladders, each one riding on its own pair of rungs.

1. Cut the rungs. Twelve pieces of 2x2 at 27" — six per ladder, one pair per tote.
2. Cut the uprights. Four pieces of 2x4 at 86", from four of the five 2x4s.
3. Mark the rung positions. Draw lines across each upright every 13½", all the way up. Six levels.
4. Build the two ladders. Lay two uprights out, set a 2x2 rung on each marked line, and screw through the upright into the end of the rung. Repeat for the second ladder.
5. Cut the connectors. From the fifth 2x4, four pieces at 18¾".
6. Join the ladders. Stand both ladders up facing each other and screw the four connectors between them — two at the top, two at the bottom — holding the ladders 18¾" apart.

The Problem

Plastic storage totes stack six high exactly once — then you need the bin on the bottom. A rack that holds each bin on its own rails fixes that, but a five-ladder rack means dozens of rungs, and measuring and marking every rung location is where the project bogs down and the errors creep in.

The Technique

The build is ladders connected by rails; the trick is that nothing gets measured after the first cuts:

1. Cut spacer blocks first: two at 10½", two at 12", two at 21", and two at 22" (dimensions sized for standard totes — adapt to your bins). These blocks replace the tape measure for the whole assembly.
2. Cut the parts: ten vertical uprights, four horizontal connector rails, and 48 short rung pieces.
3. Assemble each ladder: lay two uprights down, hold them at width with the 22" spacers at top and bottom, and screw a bottom board across — the reference everything else butts against.
4. Set the rungs by block, not by mark: butt the 10½" block against the bottom board, screw the first rung above it, then switch to the 12" block and repeat up the ladder — block, rung, block, rung. Keep screws toward the inside of the rungs so they don't split out the ends.
5. Build the two single-sided end ladders, then the three double-sided middle ones — same blocks, rungs on both faces.
6. Join the ladders: stand all five on their sides, hold them at spacing with the 21" block, and screw the top and bottom connector rails across, working block-first the whole way.
7. Sheet the back with plywood for rigidity and fasten the top of the rack to the wall so it can't tip.

Bins slide in on the rungs like drawers — any bin, any row, no unstacking.