How to fix these misaligned drawers?

[allirae]

I painted these drawers and once they were painted it showed that the drawers were misaligned. Any suggestions for a quick fix ? 

 

 

[MikeTNZ]

Hi there Allirae,

Gee that does look strange, if you were to use some abrasive paper (say 100-120 grit)

on the right hand sides of the draw runners themselves only, do you reckon that would

even up the alignment?

Hopefully someone else has a better idea.

Cheers,

Mike T.

[EricL]

Hello @allirae

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us, and thank you for sharing your question about your misaligned drawers.

It's great that you've received excellent advice from @MikeTNZ. Sanding the bottom right-hand side of the drawer is a good idea. I would have suggested the same step. Did the drawer set originally have drawer runners in them or were they just plain slide on timber to timber? Would it be possible for you to post a picture of the drawer and drawer side to give us a better idea of its condition? This will allow our members to assess the drawer and provide you with solutions to straighten them out.

Let me tag our experienced members @JoeAzza and @TedBear for their recommendations.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric  

[TedBear]

Hi @allirae, as Eric has said, it would be good to see a pic with the drawers removed. 

If they have runners, then it's possible that the support wheels have missed going into the slots on one side. 

I would be surprised if they just run with the drawer bottoms sliding along the bottom of the opening.

If that is the case though, I would suggest the opposite to sanding down the right side because that will leave a gap showing between the drawer tops and the cabinet opening.

Instead I would buy some melamine edging strip (such as Bunnings item no 0290017, $11.10 for 10 metres) and add some of that along the bottom of the lower drawer side (ie the left side) to raise it up. (Use an iron to heat the pre-glued surface of the edging).

If it still isn't level then add another strip, which will raise that side further.  The melamine will slide easily over the existing melamine of the cabinet.

[MikeTNZ]

Hi TedBear,

What I was referring to with the "Draw Runners" was not any sort of track system.

Before any of this was a thing, the outer vertical timber sections of the draws to the sides would be called the "runners".

Back in the day, you size the runners to 3mm less either way vertically or horizontally, taking into account for swelling in poorly

heated bedrooms.

What used to happen, if the draws stuck, the runners would be treated with either parrafin oil or simply a bar of soap rubbed on the runners.

This would then free up the draw.

[fixitphill]

I would just switch the draws around and see how that goes.

[EricL]

Hi @fixitphill

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. Thank you so much for joining the discussion.

Your suggestion could be the easy solution we're looking for. What are the odds that everything is actually lined up and no adjustments are necessary. It just so happens that the drawers were built to fit a particular spot. Let me tag @allirae to make them aware of your suggested solution. If you have any projects ongoing yourself, please don't hesitate to share them.

Eric

[allirae]

Thanks everyone, melamine tape for the win! (Yes I did attempt to change all drawers around)

[MitchellMc]

Keep us updated @allirae.

I'd be keen to see what these drawers are running on as the advice really depends on it. If you can remove a draw and show us its side and take a picture inside the cabinet to show what the drawer slides on, we can show you where to put the edging strip on the timber runner to raise the left-hand side.

If it's a newer drawer slide system, then the runner on the left needs to be moved up a few millimetres.

Mitchell

[allirae]

just run on these little timber slats