How to Design a Silverware Drawer

Lift and gently pull out your current silverware drawer to remove it from its runners. Place it on a flat work surface. Remove the silverware and any tray that holds the pieces and set them aside.

Measure the drawer’s interior dimensions. Use these measurements to draw an outline on butcher or craft paper using a pencil and a ruler. Cut out the drawer outline.

Unroll an additional length of paper. Select a single piece of silverware from each type of cutlery, such as a teaspoon, a salad fork or butter knife, and set it on the paper. Draw a rectangle around each silverware piece using a ruler to make straight lines.

Remove each piece of silverware from the paper. Write the name of the corresponding cutlery piece on the rectangle. Cut out each of the shapes.

Arrange the cut-out rectangles on top of the drawer-shaped paper outline. Line up the rectangles in the same direction, where possible, and group similar types of silverware together. During the construction process for your silverware drawer, the sections will be separated by ¼-inch-wide sections of wood. Leave spaces this wide between each of the rectangles.

Place double-sided tape on the back of the rectangles and attach them to the drawer outline.

Color the 1/4-inch-wide spaces between the rectangles with a marker to make them more visible. Measure the length of each colored line. Add these lengths together to find the total length of wood strip you’ll need to execute your silverware drawer design.