Shelf apparatus for a refrigerator

A shelf apparatus in a refrigerator having a rear wall and opposing side walls, comprising:

• a pair of vertically extending rails, each of said rails situated generally at the intersection of a side wall and the rear wall and having a vertically extending slide groove with opposed slide surfaces;
• a pair of racks, each of said racks formed on one of said slide grooves and having a vertically extending row of teeth;
• at least one horizontally-oriented shelf having a rear edge and opposed side edges abutting said rear wall and said side walls respectively, each said shelf having a support assembly at the intersection of each side edge and rear edge including an engaging gear, an upper sliding member and a lower sliding member, each of said engaging gears engaging a portion of said row of teeth in one of said racks, each of said upper sliding members disposed above said engaging gear and sliding on one of said slide surfaces in said slide groove, each of said lower sliding members disposed below said engaging gear and sliding on one of said slide surfaces in said slide groove, so that said shelf is vertically moved when said support assembly moves upwardly and downwardly along said rails;
• and
• a drive means mounted to said shelf for rotating said engaging gears to move said shelf.