Reinforcing Kitchen Drawer Bottoms

Reinforcing Kitchen Drawers

What to do when your drawers give out. Over time we all put on a little weight and put strain on the seams. My kitchen drawers are no exception! Fortunately, for a few dollars and in fewer than 30 minutes, reinforcing kitchen drawer bottoms can happen in a flash. If only other bottoms were so easy to fix…

Over the last couple of years I have been upgrading my kitchen pots and pans with nice enameled cast iron ones (in blue, of course). This cast iron cookware is heavy! Not once did it occur to me that the extra weight would strain my pull out pot and pan drawers. Well, one day when I pulled out the drawer, it came off track.

“Holy moly, that drawer is heavy!” I thought as I caught it and quickly called out desperately for immediate reinforcements. The following is a guide for how to reinforce and repair the drawer bottoms that are starting to separate due to heavy contents.

Worth Noting: Due to the construction of these particular drawers, I chose to use corner braces instead of wood strips. Since the drawers don’t have any type of framing to attach the wood strips to, it made more sense to use this technique. In addition, the side drawer glides allow me to add brackets to the lower back of each drawer because there are no bottom guides to deal with.

Supply List

1 ½ inch Corner Braces
Screws if not included with brackets
Power Drill
Rubber Mallet (Dollar Tree)
Wood Glue (optional)

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Instructions

Step 1:

Remove all contents of drawer(s). Remove drawer(s) from frame and glides. Place on top of carpet, rug, towels, or a tarp to protect drawer front from scratches.

Step 2:

Gently, but with force, tap the drawer bottom back into place with a rubber mallet. If you don’t have a rubber mallet, use a block of wood as a buffer when striking with a hammer.

The wood pieces did not stay butted up together, but this definitely helped.

reinforcing kitchen drawer bottoms — While pounding the drawer bottom back in place helped, it was not a permanent solution.

Step 3:

Add a little wood glue in between the pieces and wipe away any extra with a rag.

Step 4:

Use screws shorter than the thickness of the wood to attach the corner braces (also called L brackets, or angled brackets).

Use the power drill to screw on two brackets onto the outside and two onto the inside of each drawer, alternating the placement. (More tips in the following steps.) This will brace the wood pieces in two ways instead of all on one side. I feel like it will be stronger this way.

Step 5:

When adding each bracket, attach one side with the screws and then -get additional help- push the two pieces flush while attaching the other half of the bracket. I attempted to do this by myself but gave in and asked for help. Using your legs as clamps while attempting to power drill is more difficult than you would think. And I can pat my head and rub my belly with no problems, so that’s saying something. 😉

how to fix broken drawers — I alternated the placement of brackets with two on the inside and two on the outside.

TIP:

Place the inside brackets in the voids between pans so when pots and pans are returned to the drawer(s), they sit level.

Step 6:

Once brackets are attached, and any glue is wiped up, replace drawer(s) in cabinet.

broken drawer bottom — Once brackets are in place, replace the drawer and store your items.

To be on the safe side, I interspersed cast iron cookware with some lighter cookware in each drawer. Cast iron is heavy stuff. The less commonly used cast iron is now in the cupboard next to the stove keeping the Instant Pot company. The more frequently used cast iron resides in the drawers.

There always seems to be something that needs attention or fixing when it comes to the house. That’s the joy and hardship of owning a home. Although I wouldn’t have it any other way. Home maintenance and repairs are all part of making a house a home.