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Get those drawers organized with the best drawer divider hack ever! Using off the shelf C-Channel and hobby boards, it's easy to customize and create high end looking drawer dividers with limited budget. Free tutorial by Ana-White.com
Making your own drawer dividers doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. And you don't have to use bulky wood or commit with nails and glue. In this tutorial, I'll show you how to build your own drawer dividers for about $5 (for the drawer shown). It's easy, fast, and I'd say foolproof!
1. The Hardware
Aluminum C-Channel is available at all the hardware stores in different lengths. It's inexpensive, about 10 cents per inch - so per divider, you are looking at right at 50 cents in c-channel (I round up to 60 when counting screws). It's also easy to cut with a jigsaw and a metal blade, since aluminum is such a soft metal. I am using this 1/2" C-Channel.
Per divider, cut two pieces of C-Channel slightly less than the overall height of your drawer dividers, using a jigsaw with a metal blade. Make sure the C-Channel is well clamped and wear safety glasses and hearing protection.
Then drill two holes in each cut piece with a multipurpose or metal drill bit. The holes should be just slightly smaller than your screw heads.
Attach the C-Channel pieces to the inside of your drawer using 1/2" wood screws (similar to ones you might use for attaching hinges on a cabinet). I used screws like these.
You'll need two per divider, on each side.
The Wood Dividers
For the dividers, I used (and recommend) 1/2" thick hobby boards. I choose a 2-1/2" width for this drawer, but you can use other widths. Just make sure you don't create a super tight cavity that is hard to reach into.
Simply measure in between your c-channel pieces, subtract a little to allow for the screws, and cut the wood piece to fit.
The wood piece will slide into the c-channels and stay secure.
You can also add dividers to dividers (as shown below) in the same method.
This gives you infinite possibilities to customize your drawers with dividers.
DIY Drawer Divider Video Tutorial
Want to see this project done in a video? We also created a video tutorial:
Thank you for using our tutorials. We hope this works out awesome for you and helps you improve your home. Please share a photo of your completed project as a brag post or you can tag me @anawhitediy or #anawhite on Instagram.
As someone who hasn't done anything remotely handy in ages, this is a great idea that I feel like I can actually see to fruition. Thanks for sharing this.
This tutorial came at just the perfect time. I repurposed my old kitchen cabinets into cabinets for my garage and last week I was trying to figure out the best way to make drawer dividers for all my hand tools. I have a lot of material left over from my kitchen remodel which would be perfect for this project. I’m going to head down to Home Depot to get the c channel. Thank you so much!
I am wondering if instead of screwing these directly into the drawers if you could put some kind of a rubber grip on the C Channel and connect them to the wood divider itself? I feel something like this would be a way for people to make them who maybe don't want to or can't drill into their drawers. Any thoughts on this?
This is a wonderful idea! Sometimes I am reluctant to make "permanent" changes out of fear of not knowing is I will like to later. However, thinking too much is also silly. Maybe we should try a couple of drawers and I think we will love it. Thank you again! By the way, how long does this take?
Comments
TwoWithNature
Tue, 01/26/2021 - 06:31
As someone who hasn't done…
As someone who hasn't done anything remotely handy in ages, this is a great idea that I feel like I can actually see to fruition. Thanks for sharing this.
Drspear98
Tue, 01/26/2021 - 07:02
This tutorial came at just…
This tutorial came at just the perfect time. I repurposed my old kitchen cabinets into cabinets for my garage and last week I was trying to figure out the best way to make drawer dividers for all my hand tools. I have a lot of material left over from my kitchen remodel which would be perfect for this project. I’m going to head down to Home Depot to get the c channel. Thank you so much!
mandyolivar
Wed, 01/27/2021 - 05:08
Could these be made reposition-able
I am wondering if instead of screwing these directly into the drawers if you could put some kind of a rubber grip on the C Channel and connect them to the wood divider itself? I feel something like this would be a way for people to make them who maybe don't want to or can't drill into their drawers. Any thoughts on this?
tritip
Sat, 01/30/2021 - 05:23
I used double sided foam…
I used double sided foam tape to attach the c channels in case I wanted to move them. You might try that.
In reply to I used double sided foam… by tritip
irongirl2b
Tue, 02/02/2021 - 15:41
Was just wondering how the…
Was just wondering how the double side foam was holding up? Is it sticking to the sides of the drawers well? Thanks in advance.
Julie
diyprojectsbydave
Fri, 02/05/2021 - 09:08
How long does this project take?
This is a wonderful idea! Sometimes I am reluctant to make "permanent" changes out of fear of not knowing is I will like to later. However, thinking too much is also silly. Maybe we should try a couple of drawers and I think we will love it. Thank you again! By the way, how long does this take?