Storage Idea - How about a drawer within a drawer

[lilscorpion]

I really like having a lot of drawers for tool storage but I've come to loath deep drawers. What always seems to happen is that "stuff" ends up in piles at the bottom of the drawer and, for the most part, most of it is as good as lost unless I completely empty the drawer or go diving. So I've been playing with this multi-drawer concept for some time now. Another post I mistakenly put in the "General Tools" section reminded me that I never did post up about it. The idea was to add an internal drawer somehow so that the bigger drawer would be able to hold more tools without piles - easier to access each tool without having to move one to get to another. Since I was in the middle of building all my own cabinets anyway, I figured what the heck, I could lose an entire day messing with something that will never work (my wife thought I was busy building the assemblies), or I could really be on to something. I had just finished a group of drawers so I simply made an internal drawer for allowing better access to my drill bits, hex bits, and hole saws. I lost a little space but I could easily get at any individual bit almost instantly.

I used the drawer for a couple of weeks and really liked it. What I didn't like was that I lost storage because everything at the bottom of the drawer had to be shorter than the lowest point of the drawer. Back in the day I had medic kit that opened like old tackle boxes opened. I recalled how easy it was to get into the box and go directly for what I needed when I needed it. That's when I decided to have the internal drawer actually open outside of the main drawer assembly. This is what I came up with for my "electrical drawer". Every tool in the drawer can be accessed almost instantly. I left the back section full depth for those bigger tools.

And then I went all in on my "hardware drawer". Hardware seems to be the term I use to group together all of the **** that I need for inside the house, for honey-do lists, and other projects I'd rather not have to spend the bulk of my time on. Anyway, both drawers slide out and I can access internal compartments easily. This drawer hasn't been organized yet. I've been going through moving boxes and when I find something that should be grouped with this stuff, it gets wedged/tossed/or forced in. I'll re-org once I get there.

I've now implemented the idea in many different cabinets throughout the shop and they all work equally well. The best part is I'm no longer digging for a tool. It's either in the drawer as soon as I open it or it's not.

 

[Kevin54]

That is just too cool!!! You had better Patent that idea. More drawers need to be made that way. I am filing this idea away for future use.

 

[BigGMC]

very nice cabinets. I like the pulls, are they something you made? How about the sub-drawer sliders, info?

 

[raross]

Funny I was just thinking about this today! Never thought of making the upper drawer 1/2 size so it slides out of the way I think it's great! Same question as the earlier post what slides did you use? LOOKS Great call Snap-On or MAC they might buy it!! LoL

 

[E.T.Privott]

BOY HOWDY, now that's just cool as hell.... now that's a great idea. gos to show you just what we can do if we just stop and put the old gray matter to work on a problem, that's just out and out cool !!!!! snappy and mac did something like that for there high $$ tool box (metal) to help add some room but it didn't look no where near as nice as this........ damn good job !!!!

 

[Jack Olsen]

I've seen it done in kitchens, before. I thought about a front-rear sliding section in one of my bench drawers, but was too lazy to implement it. I like the sideways approach you use for those drawers. Very nicely done.

 

[Zeke]

awesomely clever!

 

[nine4gmc]

excellent idea man, great execution!

 

[RVDan]

At first look, it's "wow that's really cool"

On second thought, wouldn't a bunch of shorter drawers be better?

 

[PassnThru]

Most clever and the execution is excellent.

However - if you're building them to begin with why not just build more shallow drawers? You're still buying extra slides and you are still limited on how much you can put under the parts that slide. And you're still building extra drawers. I certainly don't want to take away from what you've done - just not sure why you wouldn't build more shallow drawers to begin with?

Edit - RVDan got his post in while I was typing.

 

[lilscorpion]

very nice cabinets. I like the pulls, are they something you made? How about the sub-drawer sliders, info?

Thanks, I'm very proud of how they turned out. I've been dreaming of going big on my garage for years but didn't decide to bite the bullet until we moved into this new house. Even though it took me nearly a year, I'm very proud of how they turned out.

The pulls are the cheap powder coated pulls from Lowes. The long ones there are $6? I can't remember. I do know I couldn't find anything close to them online. I was thinking about making them until I found these. Them coming coated like they are is far better than anything I could have done with rattle can or paint gun.

I didn't want to go all in on the drawer slides so I used the cheapie bloom ones from Home Depot. The dimensions just worked out to use the 12" ones. The only downside to them is that they're not full extension (3/4 I think) so they do leave a shadow below. The up side is they're way cheaper than a full extension slides and still handle quite a bit of weight.

 

[lilscorpion]

At first look, it's "wow that's really cool"

On second thought, wouldn't a bunch of shorter drawers be better?

Funny you should mention that. When I first started assembling the main drawer base (picture below) I originally planned on having most of the drawers half the height. I even built about 12 of them and didn't change my mind until I loaded the first section with tools. What I found out was that some of the tools (pliers, calipers, clamps, etc) all laid very nice in a 3" to 3.5" high drawer. What caused me to go to the uniform deeper drawer (base) was [1] I didn't exactly know how I'd want my drawers to be over time. I didn't want to have my needs change only to require I build an entirely new assembly. Instead, I could make specific function drawers today and, if my needs change, just rebuild a drawer at a time as they do. [2] Good drawer slides are probably the most expensive part of building cabinets. Cheapies are $8 to 12$ per drawer and the good ones can be in the $40's. Doubling the drawers doubles the drawer slides and massively increases the initial expense. I think my setup has 40 or so pairs of drawer slides they way it ended up.

 

[lilscorpion]

You're still buying extra slides...

The 24" 100lb drawer slides I got were about $12 per pair at the time I built the cabinets. I actually purchased them before I even cut the first sheet.

The 12" blumes are $5 or so per pair and were added 5 months into the project when I decided I didn't like having deeper drawers for some tools, I couldn't see buying another $400 in drawer slides (my initial plan was for 1/3 again more drawers that were much shorter and I had planned on buying the additional slides when I got closer to needing them), and the project was feeling like it was drawing on forever (are we supposed to share that part? LOL). I cut the drawer openings into finished drawers as an adaptation to my needs as I started finding a home for everything. I think I failed to mention that - the drawers within drawers was the only part of the project that "happened", everything else was planned. I will say though, when my friends are over, I get much more oohs and aahhs when I go looking for something. A little that on top of feeling like I'd created something kinda neat caused me to pursue the idea as far as I did. I think I have 4 or 5 of them in the shop out of maybe 40-some drawers. One I chose not to share, which I store all of my measuring devises in, was an epic fail.

 

[HOTFR8]

Noted a great idea. Now how can I implement that idea into my works ?

 

[ihredo4]

Awesome idea. Now that we have seen these here do we have grandfathered rights to use this before the patent is granted. LOL. Now to see how I can impliment this. HMMM

 

[dumper]

front-to-back, side-to-side, makes it easy to find stuff in my Knaack tool box.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I like your idea and it's well executed.

More shallow drawers ? Off the top of my head without sitting down and figuring it out, wouldn't you lose more storage space between the drawers on the front rails ?

 

[dumper]

arithmetically, more shallow drawers would probably provide more square footage, but then you would be opening and closing drawers all day to get your stuff. With my Knaack box, I figured once I have opened the box, I have access to the equivalent of 4 large roller cabinet drawers all at once...without moving any drawers or trays. I like that convenience, but it is a trade off.

 

[kngkong]

Yeah, that's pretty cool. Nice idea!

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Jack, you missed the opportunity to point out you've ALREADY got a cabinet within a cabinet....the little black door covering your spray cans in your wall mounted tool cabinet.

 

[lilscorpion]

I like your idea and it's well executed.

More shallow drawers ? Off the top of my head without sitting down and figuring it out, wouldn't you lose more storage space between the drawers on the front rails ?

Yes, that was also part of the problem. 1" for the spreader and then whatever I had for gap - think it was 1/4" at the bottom and 3/8" at the top...expanding on that, it also would have meant more work for the cabinet faces, more sanding and finishing, more drawer liners, more pulls. I was making so many, I needed to simplify the project, downsize the labor and reduce the final cost. Decreasing the number of drawers helped big time.

 

[WhoWhatNow]

Your cabinets look really nice. Got a Garage Gallery thread yet?

 

[Aussie damo]

Looks great. I have done a similar thing with my tool cab cause the draws were too deep for my purpose. Your looks much better.

 

[lilscorpion]

Your cabinets look really nice. Got a Garage Gallery thread yet?

I haven't yet. I have a group of cabinets I'm having troubles getting around to spraying. Instead of finishing the shop, I went and tore my truck all apart and now it's in the way. Once it's mobile in a couple weeks I'll get back to the shop and the do a thread. Sharing a little has helped get me excited to finish.

 

[lilscorpion]

Looks great. I have done a similar thing with my tool cab cause the draws were too deep for my purpose. Your looks much better.

I've thought about doing something like that in my toolbox too but haven't figured out how to attach slides and make it work without drilling the face (ugly). Funny you should show your wrench drawer, mine irritates me the most out of all of them in my box. I can only use 1/3rd of the drawer because of it. That's a drawer I'm going to figure out someday because currently I cant fit all of my wrenches and it bugs me every time I open it.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Looks great. I have done a similar thing with my tool cab cause the draws were too deep for my purpose. Your looks much better.

How about a few more pictures of how you did your drawer in the box ?