Most chests of drawers and kitchen units fail in the same place. The base panel is a thin sheet of hardboard or MDF sitting in a shallow groove, and it is holding a load it was never really specified for. Over time it bows in the middle, drops out of the groove at one edge, and then the drawer either scrapes or will not close.
Replacing the unit is almost never necessary. The base is the weak part, not the carcass.
Work out which failure you have
Empty the drawer and take it out. Then look at it from underneath.
- The base is bowed but still in its groove all the way round. It needs support from underneath. Easiest case.
- The base has dropped out of the groove on one or more sides. It needs pushing back and then holding there.
- The drawer front has pulled away from the sides. The joint has failed, not the base. Different fix, same kit.
- A side panel is split along its length. This is the one case where the drawer may genuinely be finished, though a bracket across the split often buys years.
What you need
A drawer repair kit covers all of the fixable cases above. It contains brackets, wedges, screws and strengtheners, which is what the job actually needs. Beyond that, a screwdriver, and a pencil. No specialist tools, no glue, no clamps.
The kit works with MDF, chipboard and solid wood. Chipboard is the one to be careful with, because it strips easily if you overtighten.
Fixing a bowed base
- Take the drawer out and empty it completely. Turn it upside down on a flat surface.
- Press the base back up so it sits flat. If it springs back down, that is fine, it just tells you where the support has to go.
- Mark a line across the middle of the base, at right angles to the longest side. That is where the sag is deepest.
- Fit a strengthener along that line, screwing into the drawer sides at each end rather than into the base itself. The base is too thin to hold a screw. The sides are not.
- For a wide drawer, or one that carries real weight, fit a second strengthener so you have the base supported in thirds rather than halves.
- Turn the drawer over and load it. If the base still moves, add support rather than tightening further.
Putting a dropped base back in its groove
- Work out which side has come out. Usually it is the back, because that is where the load ends up.
- Ease the base back into the groove. If it will not go, the panel has swollen or the groove has closed. Do not force it, because you will split the side. Use the wedges to open the groove slightly instead.
- Once it is seated, fit a bracket at each corner where it dropped, screwing into the side and the back panel to stop the joint spreading again.
- Add a strengthener across the base as above, because a base that has dropped once is already weakened.
Reattaching a drawer front
- Clear out any broken fixings and old screw stubs.
- Hold the front back in position and check the gap against the drawers above and below before you fix anything. It is much easier to get the alignment right now than to redo it.
- Fit brackets on the inside face, across the joint between front and side, so the bracket carries the load rather than the original screw holes.
- Use new screw positions. Going back into a stripped hole gives you the same failure again in a month.
Getting it to last
Do not overtighten in chipboard. Stop as soon as the bracket is firm. If you feel the screw suddenly go loose, it has stripped. Move along and use a fresh position.
Support in thirds, not halves, on wide drawers. One strengthener in the middle of a very wide base just moves the bow either side of it.
Screw into the sides, never the base. A 3mm hardboard base will not hold a screw under load, and a screw through it becomes the next failure point.
Reload heavy things low and even. The classic cause is a deep drawer of tools or crockery with everything stacked in the middle.
When to stop and replace
If a drawer side is split through its full thickness along most of its length, or the carcass runners themselves are broken, a repair kit is holding together something that has already gone. The same is true if the unit is chipboard and has been wet, because swollen chipboard will not hold a fixing at all. In those cases you are better off replacing the drawer or the unit.
Everything short of that is worth fixing, and it is usually twenty minutes of work.