Repairing a Kitchen Drawer: Patience and Prayers May Be the Best Tools

Homeowners justifiably dread having to fix a drawer which becomes jammed or, even worse, has fallen off its rail. Indeed, that dread may become a nightmare if the drawer must be fixed within a tight-fitting kitchen.

Trying to remove a jammed drawer often takes the patience of a saint as you pull, push, prod and, if you are lucky, finally maneuver the drawer from its bent runner.

Next, if there is little room to work in, it takes the agility of a ballerina to reach in and position your arms and hands to unscrew the bent metal runner which the drawer once rolled on.

So what's the good news? Not much! However, if you still insist you are going to fix the drawer yourself, here are a few tips which might help.

First, nothing can be done until the broken drawer has been removed. Experts agree, the best way to begin this procedure is to clear your loved ones from the room you are working in so you might struggle alone and remain free to encourage the drawer with those special words you punish your children for using.

Once the drawer has been removed, you will need to remove the bent runner which has caused the drawer to jam. (Oh, you ask in agony, how did the runner become bent? As we are sure no child would ever stand on the drawer to reach cookies in the cabinet, let's then assume from 'over-use.')

If you do not have a set of smaller screwdrivers, you will need them. You will be working within very confined spaces and normal length screwdrivers will often not fit into the space.

Once you have the small screwdrivers, take a deep breath, reach in and remove the screws from the runner. Often, however, it is impossible to reach (or even see) that last screw sitting farthest from the front of the drawer. Rather than slamming your fist through a wall, (wall repair is covered in a different home repair story) gently use a putty knife or flat knife and pry the runner away from the wall and force the small screw out of the wall. When, later, you put in a new runner, there are other holes available for the new screws to be tightly secured through.

The absolute simplest, no-brainer, way to continue is to take the runner you have removed to a hardware store in which someone can offer you assistance to exactly match your old bent runner.

With the exact-sized new runner, return to your home, use those small screwdrivers, screw the new runner in place and replace the drawer.

Of course, the above scenario is mostly a fairy tale. For most of us, we will gash our arm inside the confined space we are working, pull out part of the wood framing as we force the runner from its wooden frame, be unable to match the runner at the hardware store, and guarantee a trickle of blood follows us along the kitchen floor and onto the living room carpet. (Removing blood from carpeting is also covered in a different home repair story.)

Typically, we members of the 'know-we-shouldn't-do-this-but-will-try-anyways tribe' will return from the hardware store with the wrong, but closest match, runner available. We now must figure out how to make it correctly fit.

Often, the new runner will be thinner than the original. By using washers between the screws and the runner, we can extend it out until the drawer wheel is running properly. In the event the runner is too long, we can use a hacksaw to cut it down to size. (More on repairing that counter you accidentally cut into during yet a different home repair story.)

In any event, if you are able to remain half-sane throughout this repair, and maybe even have a stiff drink, you will find if you move slowly, keep all family members and their advice far away from you, and accept that it is possible you might have to install the new runner more than once to get it to work, you will be able to fix that drawer.

And never mind the hours it took to do the job, the four trips to the hardware store, the gash on your hand which is still bleeding, and the wife who is mad as hell because you have not been able to help with the children. The good news is you fixed that drawer yourself; all by yourself! That is good news, isn't it?