DIY Custom Wooden Drawer Organizers

6 Materials
$40
2 Hours
Easy
Hi, I'm Christene from the blog Keys to Inspiration. My blog is all about helping you discover creative, simple, and affordable ways to design a home you love!

Today I want to share my latest home DIY project - our custom wooden drawer organizers. One of my passions is DIYing things for our home and teaching others how to DIY too! Even if you don't think you're a DIY person, I can show you how easy it is to create amazing things for your home on a budget.

Custom drawer organizers for you home can be extremely expensive. I've wanted to get some of our kitchen drawers organized for a while now, but I was never comfortable paying the crazy prices for some of those really nice organizers.

The solution -- DIY ones ourselves! Let me show you how to make these amazing organizers using just a few materials.

First, empty out your drawer and start organizing the items. Figure out which items actually belong in the drawer and start grouping them by type.
Once you have an idea of what will go into the drawer, start placing the items by type into the drawer to get an idea of how you want them to be organized. This will give you an outline of the compartments for your item and will help you figure out where your wooden dividers will go.
Next, measure around all of the items you placed in the drawer to figure out how big each compartment will be. We found that the best way to do this was to measure the largest item in that compartment and add some additional space around that item. We also took into account the thickness of the boards that we would be using for the dividers (1/4"). Use a piece of paper to draw the dividers and write down your measurements as you go. Use a piece of paper to draw the dividers and write down your measurements as you go.
Once you have a plan sketched out on a piece of paper for your dividers, it's time to cut out all of the pieces.


Before we started cutting, we first made a cut list. A cut list is basically just what it sounds like - a list of all the sized pieces that you need to cut. When making a cut list, be sure to write down the largest pieces first and then the small pieces after. That way when you are cutting, you don't run out of wood.


To cut our wood pieces, we used our miter saw. But since the wood for this project is relatively thin, you could also just use a handsaw. This is a great, and more budget-friendly option if you don't have a miter saw. We use ours all the time for smaller projects.


To see exactly how we cut and measured the pieces, read the full blog post by clicking on the link at the end of this post.
After all of the pieces were cut out, we brought everything into the kitchen and dry-fit them into the drawer.


We used a pencil to mark all of the places where a board intersected another board. That way we could assemble the pieces outside of the drawer and would know where to put the glue.


Here's the dry fit of the silverware drawer:
Once we had a layout we liked and all the pencil marks where the boards intersected each other, we started creating the compartments.


Using our sketch from before and the pencil markings as a reference, we started attaching the boards together using {affiliate} Loctite glue.
This {affiliate} square tool was perfect for keeping the pieces at right angles while gluing them together.
We let each piece dry for a few minutes so that it wouldn’t fall apart. Then we moved the compartments into the drawer and used the Loctite glue again to attach the compartments to the sides of each drawer.
Some of the pieces had to be glued individually once the main compartment structure was in place.


Every drawer layout will be different, so the best way to assemble the dividers is to place the largest component first and then build onto the structure from there.
After everything was dried, we were finished!
Below you can see our finished silverware wooden drawer dividers.
And here's the drawer filled with all of our silverware.
And finally, our cooking utensils drawer!
These wooden drawer organizers turned out exactly how I imagined! Perfectly fit for each drawer.
 
Now there is a compartment for everything and each item has a designated place. We decided to keep the wood unfinished because it makes the dividers look like they came with the drawers, just like a custom design.


These custom drawer organizers are perfect for kitchen drawers, but can also be used in so many different places in your home. I’ve got so many ideas for where I could use them in the future. And, because you create the layout, the options are limitless.


You can see the full DIY tutorial for the DIY Custom Wooden Drawer Organizers on the blog. Just click on the link at the end of this post.


>> Christene


Connect with me on Facebook -- [facebook.com/keystoinspiration]
I also love Instagram! -- @keystoinspiration
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Christene @ Keys to Inspiration
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
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3 of 17 questions
  • MADI MADI on Dec 18, 2017

    Can I borrow that man and his saw? Forget a husband.

  • Daisyq Daisyq on Dec 18, 2017

    Wouldnt it be a bit easier if you start with a piece of cardboard or posterboard cut the size of the drawer and put that in before laying everything out...draw the lines around it and then measure?

  • Jsc4564048 Jsc4564048 on Dec 28, 2017

    Yes I would like to try it. Where did Marsgreen7 find the dividers already made that fit her drawers?

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2 of 142 comments
  • Joanie Joanie on May 26, 2020

    Great idea and it looks neat and organized. I like that!

    I used a few paint sticks in a couple areas for paring knives. Worked out like yours.

  • Ray Devore Ray Devore on May 30, 2020

    I tried, but I had too many items for every slot. It may be the hoarder in me.

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