I recently DIY’ed a $2,774 designer desk for $250!! (check out that project HERE) In order for this desk to feel super high end, I needed to have functioning drawers. I will admit, this is the first time I’ve made drawers.. I’ve always been too afraid to take on the challenge. To my surprise though, these drawers turned out amazing, they weren’t that hard to make AND they slide nice and smooth!! Check out these 9 detailed steps on how to make inset drawers. Below you will also find a video tutorial for this project!
TOOLS
| Miter Saw |
| Circle Saw |
| Tape Measure |
| Speed Square |
| Kreg Jig w/ drill bit |
| 1″ Pocket screws |
| Cordless Drill |
| Clamps |
| Wood Glue |
| Wood Filler |
| Hand Sander |
| Sanding Paper |
| Duct tape |
| Screw driver |
| Drawer pulls / knobs |
| Drawer slides |
| Staining / Painting supplies |
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LUMBER LIST
| (#) | DIMENSION |
| (TBD) | 1/2″ Plywood (Bottom of drawers & drawer fronts) |
| (TBD) | 3/4″ Plywood (Sides of drawers) |
| (TBD) | 8′ Pine trim detail |
There are INSET and OVERLAY type drawers. Inset is when the face of the drawer is set within the frame of the cabinet, so the drawers are flush with the frame. Overlay is when the drawer front sits over top of the frame. I’ll be showing you a tutorial on INSET drawers.
STEP 1: Measure and cut drawer pieces
You can use whatever thickness plywood you prefer for your drawers. I had scrap 1/2″ and 3/4″ plywood in my garage so that’s what I used. I used 1/2″ birch plywood for my drawer fronts because that’s what I used for the rest of my desk and I wanted it all to match. I used the 1/2″ birch for the bottom of my drawers as well. For the sides of my drawers I used 3/4″ scrap poplar plywood.
To get the width dimension for your drawers, you need to measure the frame opening for your drawer and subtract an 1″. This will allow 1/2″ for each of your drawer slides. Check the instructions on your drawer slide because yours may be different.
You can make the depth of your drawer whatever you want. The depth of my desk is 32″ but I didn’t want my drawers to be that deep so I just made my drawers 20″ deep.
You can also make the drawer height whatever you want. Give at least a 1/2″ of space between the top and bottom of your drawer frame opening. For my drawers on the sides, the opening height was 10 1/2″ but I only wanted my drawers to be 8 1/2″ high. The middle drawer opening was 5″ but I made my drawer 3 1/2″ to allow some good wiggle room.
Once you figure out what you want your overall drawer dimensions to be, you can start to calculate the dimensions for each of your individual drawer pieces. Check out the graph below on how I calculated my drawer size/pieces (These are my exact drawer dimensions accounting for 3/4″ plywood sides and 1/2″ plywood bottom).
| Drawer | DRAWER OPENING |
| Left & Right Drawer | 14″ (W) x 10 1/2″ (H) |
| Middle Drawer | 29″ (W) x 5″ (H) |
| Drawer | DRAWER FRONTS |
| Left & Right Drawer | 13 3/4″ (W) x 10 1/4″ (H) |
| Middle Drawer | 28 3/4″ (W) x 4 3/4″ (H) |
| Drawer | OVERALL DRAWER SIZE |
| Left & Right Drawer | 13″ (W) x 8 1/2″ (H) x 20″ (D) |
| Middle Drawer | 28″ (W) x 3 1/2″ (H) x 20″ (D) |
| Drawer | Drawer Piece | DRAWER CUTS |
| Left & Right Drawer | Side pieces (4) | 20″ x 8″ |
| Left & Right Drawer | Front / back pieces (4) | 11.5″ x 8″ |
| Left & Right Drawer | Bottom piece (2) | 20″ x 13″ |
| Middle Drawer | Side pieces (2) | 20″ x 3″ |
| Middle Drawer | Front / back pieces (2) | 26.5″ x 3″ |
| Middle Drawer | Bottom piece (1) | 20″ x 28″ |
Measure, mark and label your plywood and cut them down using a circular saw.
STEP 2: Drill pocket holes
Organize and layout all of your drawer pieces. I used a kreg jig to drill pocket holes in all of my 3/4″ plywood pieces. Check out the pictures below on how I laid out my pocket holes.
STEP 3: Sand
Sand all of your drawer pieces starting with a rough grit and finish with a fine grit sand paper.
STEP 4: Assemble drawers
Use wood glue and 1″ pocket screws to assemble each of your drawers. Make sure to have all of your pocket holes face the outside. You can fill in the pocket holes with plugs or wood filler, I just left mine alone.
STEP 5: Make face frame for drawers
To figure the dimension of your drawer fronts, measure the frame opening for your drawers then subtract 1/4″ from the height and width. This will allow a 1/8″ gap around the entire drawer front so that your drawer opens and closes easily.
For the trim detail on the face of the drawers I used this pine detail trim. I mitered the corners at a 45 degree angle then glued them to the 1/2″ plywood face. Use tape and clamps to keep your detail trim in place. Make sure to wipe up any extra wood glue. I also added a paint bucket for some extra weight.
STEP 6: Install drawer slides
I used these 18″ full extension side mount ball bearing drawer slides by Everbilt and they slide sooo smooth. You’ll want to get drawer slides that are the same depth or a tiny bit shorter than your drawers. The depth of my desk was 32″ but I didn’t want drawers that deep. So I made my drawers 20″ deep and bought 18″ drawer slides. I would’ve used 20″ drawer slides to match my drawer depth but they didn’t have any in stock at my store.
Measure the depth of your drawer front. Mark that same measurement on the inside of you drawer opening. My drawers fronts were 1″ thick so I drew a line in my drawer opening 1″ back. Make sure that the end of your drawer slide is sitting exactly on this line.
In order to give your drawer some space to slide open and close, position your drawer slide up a bit. It doesn’t make a difference how high you place these type of drawer slides as long as they’re not at the very bottom or set too high for your drawer. I used a scrap 1″ x 2″ as a spacer for my drawer slide to sit on while I screw it into my desk.
Use a screw driver or drill to secure the screws. With these drawer slides, you’ll need to extend the slide out so you can access the holes for the screws. Make sure the end of your drawer slide stays on that line though.
STEP 7: Attach drawer slide to drawer
Use a spacer for the bottom of your drawer so that your drawer doesn’t scrape the bottom when you open and close it. I used some scrap 3/4″ plywood blocks as a spacer.
Carefully set your drawer in the opening and on top of your spacers.
Extend the drawer slides so that they’re flush with the front of your drawer. Use a screw driver or drill to screw the slide into your drawer.
Extend the drawer out a little further and place more screws.
In order to attach the very back of your drawer slide you may need to take our your drawer completely. Secure some screws into the very end of your drawer slide.
Place your drawer back on the track
Now once the drawer is pushed all the way in, I have a perfect 1″ gap where my drawer front will sit. The drawer front will be flush with the frame of my drawers.
STEP 8: Attach face of drawer
This part is a bit tricky. I started this step by partially screwing in 1″ pocket screws from the back so that they come out the other side.
Close your drawer completely and draw on the tip of these screws with a permanent marker.
Position the face of the drawer exactly how you want it with the gap even on all sides. Once it’s positioned where you want it push on the drawer front so that the screws leave holes/black marks on the back of your drawer front.
Open the drawer and match up the holes/marks with your screws.
Once your holes are matched up, drill the screws in all the way so that your drawer face is fully secured!
STEP 9: Install drawer hardware
I bought this 4 pack of knobs from Home Depot and they were the perfect final touch to finish off the desk drawers. Make sure to drill holes for your hardware going in from the front of the drawer. If you drill in from the back side you may split/splinter the front of your nice drawer face.
