How to Stop Dresser Drawers from Sliding Out?

A sliding drawer doesn’t look good no matter how pretty your wooden dresser is. And after a long time of use, the gears of the drawer and at times, the drawer itself cannot take the beating any longer.

The worst part is these drawers don’t include a drawer stop to prevent them from falling now and then. And if you see it sliding every morning when you get ready for the office, keep your weekend for fixing this.

We can tell you how to stop dresser drawers from sliding out and we assure you won’t be annoyed with every morning with the dresser anymore!

Steps to Fix the Dresser Drawers from Sliding out

Adding a stop will stop the dresser drawer- of course, they are called STOPS for a reason! Here’s how to stop the dresser drawer from sliding open and keep it in its place. Check out the steps friends.

Step 1: Take the Drawer Out

As you are already having issues with the drawer sliding out, you have to start with taking the drawer out first. Completely removing the drawer will help you examine it properly and then you can learn how to stop drawers from sliding open.

Go to the dresser drawer and stand before it. Get one hand on each side of the drawer. Hold it first and pull it. At times, people see that the drawer is will get stuck halfway. The mistake we do is to force it. Well, we recommend you not to force the drawer.

Instead, you have to settle for gently tapping the sides of your drawer. This will surely fix the issue. For the next time, learn how to make drawer slides smoother to avoid such consequences! Tapping it from the left to right, you can pull it once again.

And this time, the drawer will come out easily. If the dresser drawer is wooden, you can go for nylon tape when it comes to removing it.

Also, you can use a bit of paraffin. Lubricating the surface will help it come off easily. If your drawer has no lever, you can have a look at how to remove a drawer with no lever in a few easy steps!

Step 2: DIY Drawer Stop Block

Once the drawer is out, you get to examine the issue behind it sliding out again and again. A good idea is to get a stop block for the drawer that will help it stay in its place. You can DIY this woodblock. In this step, we will show you how to do it!

First of all, you have to get your hands on a block of wood. Buy it or cut it on your own. The wood piece you will need here should be 1.5 cm by 2 cm by 5 cm long. In short, it will be ½-by-3/4-by-2 inches long. It’s time to drill a hole. Get a hold of a drill first.

You have to check out the end of the wood piece and measure a point that’s ¾ inches from that end. In that specific position, you have to drill an off-center hole. Get the hole through the piece of wood. While drilling it, make sure you are choosing the right drill bit.

This hole should be similarly sized to the screw you are going to use for adding this block of wood as a drawer stop. Now, the deal is, you might need more than one drawer stop for keeping the drawer in place. Go for as many stops as you need in the same way.

Step 3: Install the Drawer Stop

The drawer stops are ready! It’s time to install them. But for this, you have to pick up the right position for installing them. Find out where the stop will work. And then, you have to mark that point with the help of a pencil.

Get a hold of that DIY drawer stop and screw it into the rear panel of the drawer. The block will be inside the drawer and won’t be visible from the outside. The hole that you have drilled before should be at the bottom part of the block.

Now, you have to screw. For this part, use a long screw. The screw must be passing through without sticking to the other side! Check the upper part of the block.

About 1.5 cm of this part should emerge above the lip of the drawer. Now, go for tightening the screw. Get the help of a screwdriver for this job. It will hold the DIY drawer stop securely.

But on the other hand, it will also be loose enough so that it can rotate around the screw. If you have drawers with ball bearings, you might want to roll your eyes on how to fix drawer slides with ball bearing too!

Step 4: Add the Drawer

Now, you are done with adding the drawer stop you made. It’s time to check if it is working properly or not. Check by inserting the drawer once again. While doing it, you have to make sure that the DIY drawer stop is in a horizontal position.

And then, you are free to get the drawer in just like before. At times, any part of the drawer stop will protrude above the panel of the drawer. You have to ensure that this isn’t happening. Sliding the drawer back in will help you check if the method works or not.

Now, you have to push the drawer as long as it goes. After a while, it will catch the rollers. In this position, you will also get space to get the hand inside and make any changes to the drawer stop. Do you remember that that block was in a horizontal position?

Well, it’s time to change its position. You have to take it to a vertical position. Hold the block of wood and move to 90 degrees. At this position, the drawer stop will be in a vertical position.

Step 5: Test Period

You have got the drawer in but you are not yet sure that the method worked, right? So, let’s test it! The drawer stop is in its place now. And now, when you will pull out the drawer, it will stop. At this time, the DIY stoop with catching the frame of the cabinet.

And in this way, it will stop the drawer from coming out. If you have falling drawers in your house, now you know how to fix a drawer bottom that falls out, right?  

Store-Bought Drawer Stops

The method we have mentioned above is a cost-saving way. But you might not have so much time on buying or cutting woodblocks and drilling holes into them.

For your hectic life, an easy solution is to go for the premade store-bought drawer stops. These drawer stops are available in the market both in plastic and metal construction.

Any local hardware store can bring them to you or you can order them online. Adding them is easier than the DIY ones and they do the same job as the homemade ones!

The Last Resort

At times, the drawer will not stop sliding! Yes, dresser drawers are mostly durable. But if you keep on beating them hard, they will eventually break. Also, sliding drawers can break anytime! The parts of the drawers might come apart again and again.

It’s a good way to glue them in their position. But when no drawer stop is preventing them from falling, it’s a good idea to go for a new drawer!

Well, these days, you can customize your dresser drawer and make it look exactly like the previous one- it isn’t that difficult! However, you must try the drawer stop idea to prevent it from dropping, and as a last resort, you can replace the drawer or the whole set with a new one!

Wrap Up

Have you checked how to stop your dresser drawer from falling and keep it right where it belongs? Well, adding a drawer stop is just common sense for the wooden drawers. However, this doesn’t work the same for the metal drawers.

In that case, you have to fix the rollers and replace the broken slides too! Check out our site for more information on metal drawers sliding off now and then!