Doubling Our Usable Kitchen Drawer Space

I borrowed this idea from my father. My dad added several pull-out storage areas in their kitchen pantries as well as interior drawers similar to this project. This additional pull-out storage made much better use of the space, making the contents neater and easier to access.

Our utensil drawer is definitely in need of a space utilization improvement project. The standard silverware organizer does do the job, but the drawer itself was never more than half full.

View of the utensil drawer before the project to add an interior drawer started

I measured the drawer and found a bamboo drawer organizer that would fit the width plus space for the drawer slides. This particular organizer comes with expandable sides, which I removed to allow space for the slides.

View of the drawer insert and slides

Allowing for the depth of the slides and organizer, I cut down the rear of the drawer to allow the organizer to slide past.

view of the drawer with the rear wall cut down

The slides are aligned with the top of the drawer and the rear cutout.

view of the drawer with the inner drawer slides installed

Once the inner drawer was installed, I reinstalled the new double-drawer into the cabinet.

view of the drawer insert installed and in the closed position View of the drawer insert in the open position

The inner drawer allows for better use of the drawer space. When someone opens the drawer to access utensils, the upper drawer can slide back into the cabinet space to allow access to the lower level.

View of the drawer full of utensils view of the inner drawer full retracted and full of utensils

9 thoughts on “Doubling Our Usable Kitchen Drawer Space”

  1. Clever. Bet you’re constantly looking for ways to increase storage. This should be incorporated into every drawer if the items don’t restrict is because of height.

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