Better drawer storage

[Pahaska]

The big drawer, right underneath the silverware drawer in my GT leaves much to be desired. The drawer box is only 8" high, while the drawer front is 15" high. That leaves a lot of vertical space free and largely unusable.

I already had a set of full extension slides in the shop. I built a box of 1/2" x 4" hardwood for the sides. I rabbited the inside bottom 5/16" x 1/4" to inset a floor of 1/4" plywood. I got that much done today.

Tomorrow, I'll glue and staple the bottom in place and spray the assembly with clear poly. I'll laminate the face and install the slide parts. I have a matching drawer pull that I removed from the host drawer when I installed a positive latch. I'll install a drop-down arm on the back of the new drawer that will pull the new drawer closed when the host drawer is closed.

By Monday, I'll be ready to install the slides in the AI. That will give me an extra 3 3/4" deep drawer that will hold all of the awkward kitchen tools that don't fit well in the 2 3/4" deep silverware drawer.

Not my original idea. This idea has popped up several places on the web, including these forums.

[Lineolated]

Please post pictures when you’re done!

[Lily&Me]

Everywhere we look in our rigs, there is unused vertical space just waiting for a clever solution.

Looking forward to the pictures.

Maggie

[Pahaska]

This morning, I glued and stapled in the plywood bottom, sprayed the whole with clear enamel, laminated the front face, installed the slides, and installed a pull that I had removed from another drawer when I installed a positive locking knob.

The slides are gross overkill, but they were gathering dust in my shop.

Not shown is an arm that goes down behind the main drawer so that when that main drawer closes, it also closes the piggy-back drawer.

I'll install the drawer later today. It should go in easily since I double-checked all of my measurements with the dimensions in the Interstate Parts Manual.

[Pahaska]

Here are the photos that were asked for.

I installed the new piggy-back drawer this afternoon. Dimensions were perfect. I slid it in with both parts of the slides and it went in like butter. I based the measurements on the Airstream parts manual.

I pulled out the silverware drawer to get access to mount the new drawer. I had made a wood block the height I wanted the bottom of the outer slide parts to be above the top edge of the host drawer box. I placed this block on the top edge of the host drawer box and used double-sided tape to temporarily stick this measuring block to the sides of the cabinet recess. I then removed the host drawer, placed the slides on top of the measuring block, and screwed the outer slides to the cabinet walls. It worked perfectly! The piggy-back drawer cleared everything quite nicely.

There is just enough friction that the piggy-back drawer doesn't come out when I open the host drawer. I have to pop out the knob or grasp under the face of the new drawer to pull it out. That was what I intended.

I put a patch of sticky Velcro on the back of the host drawer knob. That softly pushes the Piggy-back drawer back when I close the host drawer.

Contents of the drawers are in a mess. Plenty of time to arrange everything later.

[Lily&Me]

Very nice!

Maggie

[Pahaska]

My two long kitchen knives have been a pain to safely store. In the new piggy-back drawer, I built a "garage" for them. The partitions are slotted to the correct depth to allow the knives to store horizontally with the sharp edges well protected.

With the piggy-back drawer in place, there was not enough height for my shorter knives to store vertically. I cut down the plastic knife holder to a V-shape so that it could mount in a corner with the four knives at a 45-degree angle. That takes care of the clearance and still makes the knives accessible. I accidentally left the knives at home, so that photo is just the bare knife holder.

[Lineolated]

These are great ideas! Thanks for sharing. And the drawer turned out very well.

[Pahaska]

I still had an unused set of drawer slides in the shop, plenty of wood, and time on my hands.

I built a 2 1/2"-deep piggy-back drawer for the lowest drawer under the silverware drawer. We will use this drawer to store dishtowels, sponges, and the like. These items formerly lived in the rear overhead cabinet.

I think I'm now satisfied with our galley storage. Three drawers with positive locks replacing the knobs and two piggy-back drawers.

[rowiebowie]

Once again, nice work.

Keep it up and you'll have the storage of a "c" in a "b".