DIY Kitchen Drawer Dividers

Once I determined the layout of each drawer, I wrote down all my measurements and headed out to the garage.

I had a piece of hardboard that came off the back of an old bookcase in my scrap pile and decided this would make great dividers – not too thick and not too thin (kind of like me).

The depth of the drawer boxes is 2.5”, so I started by cutting out strips from the hardboard at that width. Then I cut those strips to the length I needed for each divider. I used a jigsaw to make the cuts using the smallest blade I have, which was 2 ¾”.

Then I had to decide how to keep the dividers standing upright inside the drawers. They were obviously not thick enough to screw together. I pondered a few different options (to the point they actually infiltrated my dreams), but ended up using a piece of outside corner trim to create brackets.

I cut the 8 foot trim into 2.5” pieces (the same height as the dividers). Then I brought all my pieces inside to finish the project.

I had a roll of contact paper that I had bought at a thrift store a couple years ago and decided to cover the hardboard with that. I was concerned it wouldn’t stick to the porous side of the boards. And I was right, after a few minutes it started to peel off. Bugger!

I used my heat gun to see if that would help it seal…and that worked out fantastic! I could clearly see the vinyl paper shrink and suction right onto the boards. Heat gun for the win!

Although as an aside, due to my excitement at seeing how well it worked, I turned off the gun and stupidly laid it down on the rug. So yeah, now I have a scorch mark on my rug. (Tip: never place a hot heat gun on your rug!)

The last step was to glue the brackets into place, to hold up the dividers. I used a tube of PL Premium Construction Adhesive and glued the wood trim to the edges of the drawers and to each other, depending on their layout. In some cases, where I felt extra strength was needed (like with the flatware) I used two pieces of wood, one on each side of the divider to ‘sandwich’ them in place. On the pieces that seemed sturdy enough, I just used one corner piece to glue the dividers in place.

The glue was slippery until it dried (like snot on a doorknob, as my mamma used to say), so I had to use the measuring tape and adjust them a few times to make sure they were perfectly spaced out and straight. But they were easy to slide around and I simply wiped off any glue trails with a paper towel before it dried.

Once everything was set up the way I wanted it, I placed the drawers under the ceiling fan to let the glue fully dry overnight.

The following morning, I gave the dividers a few good tugs to make sure they would hold up to wear and tear and they were nice and strong!

Then I placed all my stuff back inside. A great way to keep kitchen cabinets organized!

This was a very easy and inexpensive solution to a common issue I’ve dealt with since I was old enough to have my own kitchen (which is far longer than I’d like to admit to myself).

So other than the scorch mark on my rug, I’m calling this project a success!

PS If anyone is wondering why we have soooo much flatware, it’s because I asked my mom for an extra set for Christmas a couple years ago. I explained to her that sometimes we only have enough dirty dishes to run the dishwasher every other day and often ran out of clean flatware by the second day.

But what my mom actually heard was…they need enough flatware to avoid running the dishwasher for a week! Why waste hydro and water, if you don’t have to! My mom is so sweet and practical. I’ll probably use my left over project materials to make some drawer dividers for her too.