Inside Consumer Reports Test Labs: Kitchen-cabinet organizers

“Top drawer” took on a new meaning when Bob Karpel (in the video right), a Tech/Appliance Program Leader for Consumer Reports, and his team put a wide array of pullout drawers, refuse/recycling containers, and rotating lazy Susans through a series of grueling tests as part of our August 2008 report on kitchen-cabinet organizers. At prices ranging from $20 to $220, these add-ons can be a cost-effective upgrade to kitchen cabinets.

Here’s how we tested the gear:

Ease of Installation
One of the heavily weighted factors in our Ratings is ease of installation. Each of the 28 organizers we tested was installed in a typical kitchen cabinet. Those models with clear instructions and modest tool requirements (typically a screwdriver, ruler, and cordless drill) earned higher marks.

In general, bottom-mounting slide-out drawers and refuse/recycling containers were easy to install, but those with side-mounting rails proved difficult as a one-person job. Three of the refuse/recycling containers mounted directly to a cabinet door, which entailed the extra step of shimming out the side-mounted rails with wood blocks.

With the lazy Susans, centering and leveling the center posts and fitting all the needed large parts into a restricted cabinet also proved difficult. Note that if you have stone or composite counters, you’ll need to add a spacing block inside the cabinet to attach the lazy Susan’s top spindle mount.

Pulling-Force and Spinning Usability Testing
Bob added weight to each drawer component, then measured the force needed to pull it open. An alarming surprise: After durability testing, the stop mechanism on one low-priced unit worked only when its front section was heavily weighted; otherwise it just slid free of the rails.

Bob loaded each lazy Susan with some common kitchen items and turned each unit a set number of times to test for smoothness, stability, and sagging. Considering the installation also, the least-expensive model was best overall. And one model had a nice feature: an internal spindle with special grooved threads to allow quick shelf-height adjustments.

Durability Testing
Bob’s “pièce de résistance” for this project was a “durability rig” (right) that used a pair of electric motors and a couple of crank arms to pull the drawer components in and out thousands of times; it also rotated the lazy Susans back and forth. Bob felt this setup would simulate five to 10 years of use, depending on a family’s size and lifestyle. The testing machine was set to push each drawer unit against its stop.

Long before the open/close testing milestone was reached, some of the pullout drawer units and refuse/recycling containers were already milling themselves into a fine powder (right). One drawer unit suffered excessive wear but completed the test. A refuse/recycling container failed after only 2,500 pulls; a second sample began audibly grinding at 7,500 pulls but did complete the test. The lazy Susans all passed with little deterioration.

Bob remounted the units in cabinets and repeated the pulling-force test. Some models required more force to open at this point, but others, perhaps broken in a bit, needed less force. Bob found that one particularly smooth, easy-to-install European refuse/recycling container performed excellently on the durability test, showing no perceivable wear. It was the only refuse/recycling container with a removable lid, a nice feature, and it would have received higher scores but for its meager installation instructions.

The Dropped-Mixer Test
Then the drawers themselves were subjected to Bob’s worst-case scenario test—a direct drop of heavy items into the center of the drawer (see photo at the top of this post). Bob felt this would simulate inadvertent use or a slip out of wet hands. All the units survived the test in serviceable condition, except for one unit (with nylon rollers on metal rails) that came off its track.

Read our full report on kitchen-cabinet organizers, from the August 2008 issue of Consumer Reports.—Gian Trotta

Essential information: See our appliance-buying and appliance-maintenance guides. And watch our video (right) on how we test kitchen cabinets themselves.

Comments

[Mr. Botwinik]

I really enjoyed reading this article. The information was helpful and easy to understand. When I decide to make these type of improvements, this is the type of information that I will need. Thank you "Consumers" for your years of great work.