When we moved into our new house, I was desperate to get the boxes gone as quickly as possible, so I just threw everything in cabinets. We’re finally getting around to organizing the kitchen and are making several different DIY kitchen organizing solutions, including this DIY cookie sheet organizer.
Don’t be fooled by the name, you can use it to organize way more than cookie sheets! We’re using ours to organize everything from baking sheets, to bread pans, to muffin tins. Heck, you can even make this as a paper organizer.
Alright, let’s start DIYing!
Recommended Tools:
- Circular Saw
- Miter Saw
- Kreg Jig
- Drill
New to DIY? Check out our post on beginner woodworking tools to determine which tools to get!
What You’ll Need:
- ½” plywood (we used a 4×8 sheet of maple for this, 2 pull-out drawers, and our DIY pots and pans organizer)
- ¼” plywood (we used a 4×8 sheet of maple)
- ¼” squares dowels (we used leftover from our DIY adjustable drawer organizer, but you should be able to get it out of 2 36” dowels if using 8 dividers or less)
- Gorilla super glue gel
- Wood glue
- 1” Kreg screws
- Spray polycrylic (we used the matte finish)
How to Make a DIY Cookie Sheet Organizer
STEP 1: DECIDE ON YOUR MEASUREMENTS
Our cookie sheet organizer ended up being 28.5” wide, 14” tall, and 20” deep. I will include the cut list below as a guide:
| For What? | Wood Size | Quantity | Length |
| Bottom | ½” plywood | 1 | 27.5 x 20 |
| Sides | ½” plywood | 1 | 20 x 14 |
| Back | ½” plywood | 1 | 13.5 x 27.5 |
| Dividers | ¼” plywood | 4 | 19.5 x 13.5 |
| Dowels | ¼” dowel | 32 | 2* |
A few things to note about this cut list. I know it looks wrong at first glance, but we will later be cutting the sides and dividers in half, so we’ll end up with double the quantity listed here.
You’ll see below that our side pieces did not go all the way to the front or all the way to the top of the back. Once it’s in the cabinet, it’s barely noticeable. If you want your side pieces to extend longer, cut yours to be about 3-4” large in both directions.
*For the dowels, you can cut them slightly shorter than 2” if needed to squeeze the most out of your dowels. You can also use the scrap pieces at the end that aren’t exactly 2” long. These don’t have to be precisely the same.
STEP 2: MAKE YOUR CUTS
Make your cuts according to the cut list you created in step 1. Once you have the sides and dividers cut, cut them in half to create two triangles.
This saves you plywood and makes it easier to see what’s all in your organizer. On top of that, it also makes things easier to grab!
If you prefer not to cut them in half, that’s okay too. It’ll look more similar to our DIY pots and pans organizer instead.
We used our Kreg Accu-Cut to cut the angles with ease. Just line it up on either corner and cut along the guide.
Once cut, we chopped off a couple of inches on the corners of our side pieces. This was just a design choice, you can always leave them as they are.
If you decided to cut your sides larger so that the angles would extend fully to the front and back, wait until after step 4 to cut off the excess. You can line the sides up with the structure we assemble in step 4 to get the exact measurement you need.
STEP 3: DRILL POCKET HOLES
Using the ½” settings, drill pocket holes around 3 edges of the back (one long edge won’t have any), and on either short end of the bottom.
Pocket holes are the foundation of most DIY furniture. Become a pocket hole pro in less than an hour in Pocket Holes: Explained.
STEP 4: ASSEMBLE
Using glue and 1.25” Kreg screws, secure the back to the bottom, making sure the side with the pocket holes are facing down so they are not visible.
Then attach the sides using glue and 1.25” Kreg screws. They are secured through pocket holes in both the bottom and the back.
STEP 5: ADD THE DOWELS
We chose to space our slots 2.5” apart and then have the last two slots be approximately 4” wide. The beauty of DIY is that you can customize it to be exactly what you want and need, so feel free to make adjustments!
We’ll first install the dowels on the bottom using our super glue. Grab a scrap piece of ¼” plywood or one of your dividers to use as a spacer.
Glue a dowel on either side of the ¼” spacer, leaving a small gap on either side so that the wood can slide in and out of the slot.
We used a scrap dowel that was 2.5” long to help us space out most of the slots.
Once you’ve added the dowels to the bottom, let them dry for about 10 minutes. Then slide the dividers in the slots at the bottom. These will help you confirm where to glue the dowels up top.
I’d recommend continuing to use a spacer and/or measuring to confirm your dividers are straight. Glue a dowel on either side of the dividers.
STEP 6: PROTECT
We used spray Polycrylic to protect our cookie sheet organizer. We used matte because that’s what we had on hand, but I would recommend a semi-gloss sheen. Either of those sheens make it easier to wipe down.
Before spraying your Polycrylic, sand everything with 220 grit sandpaper and remove any splinters in the plywood caused by cutting.
Sand with 220 grit between coats. We use this Krylon spray attachment to help save our finger from cramping up!
There you have it! Once you let the Polycrylic dry and air out for a few days, you can insert it into your cabinet and admire your new DIY cookie sheet organizer!
Slide the dividers between your slots and get to organizing. The great thing about this organizer is that the dividers are removable. You can always take some out if you need a little extra room.
If you’re interested in kitchen organization be sure to check out these posts:
- DIY Ziploc Organizer
- DIY Spice Rack Drawer Organizer
- DIY Adjustable Drawer Dividers
- DIY Pots and Pans Organizer
- DIY Pull-Out Drawers for Cabinets
- DIY Hanging Measuring Cups
