Help with pan drawers....

[Bill Huber]

Up until now I have been building stuff for the shop and things like that but now I have a real job to do...:mad:

My daughter got married last month and they have a house they just bought the problem is there are 2 pan drawers under the counter top stove that are gone, they are still there but in really bad shape.
So I said I would take a look at them.

The current drawers are made of a fairly tight grained particle board, not MDF. The sides and back are 1/2 inch with a 7/32 Masonite bottom. They had a particle board brace on the bottom that was about 6 inches wide and its gone. The bottoms look like the top of the AstroDome, they are so bad that the bottom of one will rub on the face frame when you pull it out. They are 22 inches deep and 29 inches wide and the sides are 7 inches. The fronts are fine and I can take them off and put them on the new drawer.

These are pan drawers, hold heavy pots, pans and skillets so my plan.

I plan to use 1/2 plywood all around with good locking miters on the corners. I was thinking of using 3/8 plywood for the bottoms.

Now the question do you think I need to have a brace under the 3/8 plywood on a 29 inch wide drawer?

[David DeCristoforo]

Probably not but why not just use some of the 1/2" ply for the bottoms as well? No harm in playing it safe....

[frank shic]

david's absolutely right and you can either just butt joint the edgebanded 1/2" ply to the bottom of the sides with screws with cover caps or pocket screw/dado them so that the bottom is not seen. congrats BTW! maybe you can tempt your son-in-law to take up woodworking too...:p

[Gilbert Vega]

I recently build a pots and pan drawer that was 33" wide and 22" deep. I used solid 5/8" Maple and dovetailed at each corner to ensure durability. The bottom was 1/2" Baltic Birch.

1/2" Baltic Birch (or similar) for the sides and bottom should be sufficiently strong.

[Lee Schierer]

Particle board sags over time when it has weight on it. So does MDF. I agree with the others, rebuild the drawers with solid wood sides and a plywood bottom. 3/8-1/2" minimum for the bottom.

[Ken Werner]

I'll go out on a limb here. I've repaired pull out kitchen shelves and built large drawers. I've used 1/4" Baltic Birch. This isn't your usual 3 ply 1/4" stuff at the Borg. But I think 5 layers or so. It has lasted years and has not failed. I would recommend against 1/2" BB ply. Why? If these are pull out shelves holding heavy pots, you don't want any more weight than you need. And it's less expensive, and in my opinion, better esthetically. Just one guy's opinion.

Ken

[Steve Clardy]

I always use 1/2" ply for bottoms, if knowing its going to be a pot and pan drawer. I just feel safer doing it that way ;)

[Bill Huber]

Thanks guys, that is what I needed to know.

I used 3/8 on some pull outs I made for my kitchen but they were only 22 x 20 and the 3/8 worked just fine.
On these I am going to go with the house and do 1/2...

Again thanks for all the replies.

[David DeCristoforo]

...and built large drawers. I've used 1/4" Baltic Birch....these are pull out shelves holding heavy pots, you don't want any more weight than you need.
Ken

I have too. Lots of drawers with "good quality" 1/4" ply bottoms. My "cutoff" point was always 20" in width and/or 8" in depth. Over that I'd bump it up to 1/2" bottoms. But I always used 1/2" bottoms on drawers intended for cookware and for all my roll out trays simply because I have seen people drop a big old Le Creuset five quart cast iron pot onto one of those 1/4" bottoms and I really hate callbacks!

[Von Bickley]

For pans, I would use 1/2" Baltic Birch. If the other drawers are made out of particle board, it would be a good time to replace all of them.

Gotta hate particle board....:( :( :(