Let’s Repair then Replace the Silverware Drawer!

That’s right, I had to repair our silverware drawer…not once, but THREE times because the front of the drawer would get loose from, well, being used. Plus, our cabinets in the kitchen are made from particle board. Our silverware drawer is the most used drawer in our kitchen. I’m sure yours gets a lot of use as well. When the front of the drawer became loose the first time, I was really surprised. I’ve never had a kitchen drawer do that before. Below is the pic of when the drawer front actually broke off! How did it get to that point? I’m glad you asked….

Why is the drawer front loose?!

Can it be fixed?

If we had any other drawer in the kitchen that we could use for our silverware, I probably would have just started using that instead of trying to repair this one. However, we only have 5 drawers in the kitchen, 1 of which is only 5″ wide. The drawer we use for our silverware is the only one that is wide enough. Since the faceplate to the drawer had just started to loosen, I decided to use wood glue to repair the damage. I applied the glue by squirting some between the faceplate and drawer box, then smearing it between the two pieces using a putty knife. Once the glue was in place, I used a clamp to hold them together. I removed the clamp after a few hours and, voila, the drawer front was secure!

What do you mean it’s loose again?!

After I had glued the faceplate to the box, the silverware drawer worked well again. I was no longer worried that the front would just fall off. I actually didn’t expect it to ever fall off. I’m not quite sure how long it was before the front became loose again…maybe a year? THIS time, I thought it best to secure it better, so I took it to the garage for some additional repair.

I removed the faceplate & front of the drawer box. This gave me easy access to work on it. I glued and clamped faceplate to the front of the box, like last time, but I also inserted three screws into the faceplate from the inside of the box. The screws would help hold the faceplate to the box. I added a bead of glue in the groove that attached to the drawer box and slid it into place. Then using my nail gun, secured it on the sides of the box. While I felt better about this repair job, I had a feeling it wouldn’t last forever with the damage that the front of the box had. But for now, it was fixed!

Here we go AGAIN!

Where to get a drawer?

When I got home and slid the drawer into place, I was SO thrilled that it actually fit! Was it real wood? Nope. Particle board. BUT, it was in new condition.

Replace the faceplate

After confirming that the drawer actually fit, the only step I needed was to take off the faceplate and replace it with mine. I DID love the woodgrain on the new faceplate, but it didn’t match the rest of the cabinets. I removed the faceplate from the new drawer, unscrewed my faceplate from the damaged drawer and attached it to the new drawer.

Adding a little reinforcement

While it probably isn’t wise, I decided to continue using the wooden silverware holder. It fits perfectly in the drawer, and we really like it. To help prevent future damage, I added a metal corner bracket on each side of the front of the drawer. Now I was done! Or was I?

Thoughts on this project

I’m so glad we have a solid silverware drawer again! When I look back on it, I fell more confident that I could have repaired the old drawer or built one from scratch. Who knows, maybe I’ll do that in the future?!

Silverware drawer: Before, during, after

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