Produce Bin Made Easy

So, one of the first things you learn re: Living Thrifty is eat out less, cook at home more. As a result of this, I've found myself overrun by Cub Foods' buy one get one on five pound bags of potatoes. I never thought this would be a problem, but Russets, Reds, Bakers, Sweet Potatoes, these things all need to be stored somewhere, and they can hang out for weeks and weeks, even at room temperature, before they go bad. I had so many bags on my countertop that it was starting to impinge on my culinary workspace. So I built a bin.




It was ridiculously easy, and remarkably cheap. I bought Red Oak, because I could stain it to almost match the existing counters and table top in my kitchen. One three foot 1"X18" board and two three foot 1"X12" boards later, I had all the materials I needed and they even fit in the back seat of my tiny mid-nineties compact car. I cut the front and back to exactly 18", and the two sides (notched on the bottom with stucco lattice stapled in for ventilation) to 16.5", with the 1X18 cut in half for the 18" square top and bottom of the box.
The bottom was screwed on, and the sides held together with wood glue and finishing nails, I painted the sides to match the kitchen walls and stained the top to match (as closely as possible) the nearby table top:



I went around the top with a simple router bit, but lacking a router one could leave it square, sand it down, or even carve something into the top. With cheap hardware (hinges and handle that match the kitchen drawers and cupboards totaling $5 or so), I now have a bin for potatoes and squash from my garden that keeps room-temp produce out of sight and out of the way, and it cost me all of $30.00.