Smart Storage: A DIY Rack for Room-Temperature Produce
Gardeners with bountiful harvests know the storage struggles of fresh fruit and vegetables, especially produce that doesn’t require refrigeration and thrives at room temperature to ripen properly. No longer do windowsills need to be overtaken by ripening tomatoes, or laundry rooms cluttered with overflowing baskets of onions and squash. A well-designed fruit and veggie storage rack is a real space-saver and a simple solution that blends function with form.
This DIY rack is adaptable enough to slide beneath a kitchen counter or tuck neatly under a workbench in the garage. With five sliding trays featuring handy lips to prevent spills, your produce stays visible, accessible, and neatly stacked, providing much needed airflow. It’s a compact system that can grow with the season.
Chalkboard-painted tray fronts add a layer of charm and practicality, allowing you to label each shelf with the week’s harvest, jot down storage tips, or keep track of recipes in progress.
It’s worth noting that refrigeration can dull the flavors and textures of many fruits and vegetables. Produce that benefits from cool or room-temperature storage includes garlic, winter squash, pumpkins, potatoes and onions (stored separately in paper bags), stone fruit, citrus (avoid overcrowding to prevent molding), and tomatoes.
Because fresh food will come in direct contact with the rack, consider sealing the wood with a food-safe oil such as walnut or tung oil. Alternatively, line the trays with breathable cotton tea towels or use baking racks to promote airflow beneath your produce.
When harvest season slows down, this rack transitions effortlessly into a storage solution for preserving jars, canning equipment, or seed-saving supplies—making it a useful addition year-round.
A Note on Upcycling and Storage Best Practice
While upcycled materials like old apple or beer crates have a charming, rustic appeal and are easy to find, they are not always ideal for storing fresh produce. These crates often encourage stacking fruit and vegetables in multiple layers (yes, all bundled on top of each other), which can restrict airflow and increase the chance of bruising or spoilage, especially for delicate or ripening items. The benefit of this DIY storage rack design is that it allows produce to sit in a single layer trays.
How to build a Fruit & Vegetable Storage Rack
This project requires
- 30mm screws (for trays)
- 40mm screws (for frame)
- 4 x 42x42x930mm baluster H3.2
- 7 x 1.8m lengths of 18x18mm clear pine
- 2 x 450x18x1800mm laminate pine panels
- 8 x 2.4m lengths of 60x10mm clear pine
How to
Step 1: Measure and cut 18x18mm pine into 20 equal x 470mm lengths. Sand any burrs from cut edges. Predrill pilot holes for screws 22mm from each end.
Step 2: Position 2 x 930mm baluster rails parallel on a flat surface. From the bottom up mark with a pencil 150mm, 300mm, 450mm, 600mm and 750mm on each length. Screw 5 rails at these heights, joining the two balusters like a ladder (these become the bottom rails on which the trays will slide).
Step 3: Once bottom rails are in place, measure 65mm above each and screw on 5 more rails (these become the top rails so the tray won’t tip up once partially pulled out).
TIP: cut a 65mm block from spare wood to use as a gauge so there is no need for constant measuring and marking.
Step 4: Repeat steps 2-3 with the remaining balusters and 18x18mm lengths to create an identical side.
Step 5: Measure and cut 4 x 60x10mm pine at 470mm lengths. Position one snuggly above the top rail, and one snuggly beneath the bottom rail (these are stabilizers to help strengthen the sides). Repeat on the identical side created in step 4.
Step 6: To make the trays: Measure and cut 5 x 18x450x1800mm pine to 580mm lengths (these become the base of the trays).
Measure and cut 60x10mm pine into 10 x 450mm and 10 x 600mm lengths (these become the sides of the 5 trays). Screw sides generously to the base trays.
Step 7: Partially assemble the two completed verticals sides by inserting a completed tray at the top and bottom tracks. Measure the overall width (allowing a few extra millimetres for wriggle room) and cut lengths of 4 x 60x10mm – in this instance at 690mm (these become braces to adjoin the two sides together horizontally at the front and back of the structure, below the bottom tray and above the top tray). Screw in place.
Step 8: Further measure and cut lengths of 2 x 60x10mm at 700mm. Position vertically to the back legs, partially covering the back of the trays, and screw in place (these become back-stops to inhibit the trays extending further than they need to).
Step 9: Stain the rack structure (excluding trays) with two coats of Resene Colorwood natural wood stain interior tinted to Oregon for a rich finish, and two coats of Resene Blackboard Paint on the front facing surface of the trays.
As seen in NZ Lifestyle Block Magazine, written by me!
