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My wife's wardrobe needed an overhaul so I went through the process of looking at prefab/flatpack solutions, but none of them were particularly well suited to the space as the drawers were all 400ish deep which would encroach too much into the narrow wardrobe space. Some of the narrower options only came with cheap short throw drawer slides. They were also all generally very expensive.
I also really wanted the drawers to have dividers which makes a massive difference to being able to keep the drawers tidy.
So, I set about making my own by finding the most efficient way to utilise the stock size sheets of ply I can get from Bunnings. I settled on the 896x1200x7mm ply which was readily available and have good face quality should I decide to paint them.
Materials
Melamine Draw Faces (1200 x 295)
Melamine for Top & Sides (2400 x 445)
Tools
- Panel/Table/Track/Circular saw
- Measuring tools
- Yellow glue (I used Titebond II)
- Bar/Sash/Parallel Clamps
- Strap Clamp
- Framing square
Steps
Step 1
Using the cutlist shown here, you can get 7 draws for every 3 sheets of thick and 3 sheets of thin stock.
You can also opt to do a double height draws for more bulky items by cutting 297mm strips instead of 147mm (I opted for 6 standard height and 3 double height drawers).
Once everything is cut out, half of the smaller panels need to be trimmed from 147 to 140 to allow for the base. These will form the centre dividers.
I used a dado stack to in my table saw to cut the slot in all the front and back pieces for the dividers and sides.
The same dado setup was then used on the front, back and sides to cut a grove for the base to sit in (on the long sides).
*Note: The cutlist is laid out with a blade kerf of 2.5mm, but should work with blades up to 2.8mm. If your blade is thicker than that, you can just knock 1mm off every dimension to have it work from a single sheet of ply.
Step 2
Then its just a matter of gluing everything together. I did one at a time with about 2 hours in between to give the glue time to take.
Note: 6 of the bases are in one piece (892 x 296mm), the other 1 need to use the 2 odd size base pieces which should meet under one of the dividers.
I made sure I assembled each draw all at once including the base as the base helped keep the drawer square. I also used a framing square to check before letting the glue go too far.
Everything was then left for a few days to let the glue completely cure (and for it to be the weekend again).
Step 3
I decided to build these into the wardrobe using melamine sheets attached to the wall with metal angle brackets for the surround rather than having it freestanding. I used 300mm full extension 'push to open' drawer slides so I didn't need handles you can walk into in the narrow space.
The drawer fronts are optional too, I could have just painted the ply, but I opted to make some melamine fronts with a little oiled timber accent.
This has added an enormous amount of storage to the space and was completed for quite a bit less than the equivalent flatpack sets would have cost.
Hello @ksd050
Thank you very much for sharing your wardrobe drawer project. Your cut list looks highly organized and maximized full use of the panels. I love that you took the time to add the top trim for the drawers giving it such a nice profile. I will definitely add this to my bookmark list.
Eric
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