Knowing how to remove dresser drawers can be pretty useful, especially if you have to move the dresser. It’s much lighter without the drawers in it. This can be particularly useful if one of your dresser drawers happens to break.
You can remove dresser drawers with a center track by checking for a pull-out guard and pushing it down so the drawer will come all of the ways out. Other issues that could cause a drawer to be stuck are humidity, broken hardware, rust, or objects obstructing the drawer.
This article will tell you everything that you need to know about how to remove a drawer with a center metal slide.
Contents
Make Sure Your Drawer Has A Center Metal Slide
Before you start researching how to remove a drawer with a center metal slide, it’s important to make sure that you have one.
If your dresser drawers have metal rollers on each side, you probably don’t have this situation. Instead, you can simply pull the drawer all the way out and then lift up to get the drawer out.
If you have two metal slides on each side of the drawer, you might push to release levers. Simply feel along the drawer to see if you can feel them. Slide the drawer underneath it and use a flashlight to see if you can see them. In this situation, you probably don’t have one with a center track either.
To double-check whether you have a center track, simply slide out the middle drawer and look at the drawer above it. You can also put your hand inside the drawer and feel above the drawer to see if there is a metal track.
If you can see or feel one, the rest of this article will help you learn how to remove the dresser drawer.
Read The Instructions
If you’re anything like me, you probably threw away the instructions after putting together the dresser or threw them in a drawer.
It’s time to dig them out of the drawer and see if there’s anything that might be stopping the drawer from pulling out, such as a plastic stopper for safety reasons. Perhaps you installed a release mechanism years ago when you put together the wooden drawers but then forgot about it.
Buying a used dresser means that you don’t have the instructions. However, you can look them up online if you know the brand of the dresser or where it was purchased.
The instructions can tell you whether you have the types of drawers that have a center slide, if there are release mechanisms and if there are stoppers in place to prevent the drawer from sliding out all the way.
Check For A Pull-Out Guard
Sometimes, a piece of furniture will have extra precautions in place for safety reasons. Companies don’t want to risk someone accidentally pulling the drawer out all the way, so they install a small piece of plastic to make sure that you can’t pull it out all the way.
You’ll see or hear a plastic flap that hits the drawer when you attempt to pull the drawer out all the way. It simply will not budge!
You may also have a small piece of plastic along the metal track that is similar to a speed bump. You won’t be able to see this one without carefully inspecting the metal track.
A piece of furniture that has anti-tip cables is more than likely going to have one of these to make sure that children do not get hurt pulling the drawers out all the way.
While plastic might help prevent you from pulling the drawer out, it is rather easy to break.
Pull The Drawer
If you do have a piece of furniture with a plastic guard, and you know that there is not a locking mechanism in place, pull on the drawer. A little bit of pressure may be enough to break the plastic guard. Be careful when doing this, especially if you have a piece of furniture with pressed wood.
Pressed wood is known for breaking more easily than solid wood.
Try A Different Drawer
You may be having a hard time removing a stuck drawer because the drawer is broken or jammed. To determine if this is the problem, start working on another drawer. If you can remove another drawer easily, your drawer might be stuck for different reasons.
Other Reasons Your Drawer Might Be Stuck
While your drawer might be stuck due to a semi-circular piece of plastic acting as a stopper, there are plenty of other things that can prevent your drawer from coming out all the way. If you are not experiencing the same problem with other drawers, you have either a broken drawer or a jammed drawer.
Try these tips and tricks to get your drawer unstuck.
Humidity
The drawers on your solid wood pieces of furniture are more likely to get stuck during hot, humid months. This is because the humidity makes wood swell, and your dresser is not designed to accommodate a slightly larger drawer that is swollen.
Simply put some lubricant on the drawer to help it slide open and closed again.
Broken Hardware
There’s a chance that a screw might be loose or you may have a broken center slide. This can make it impossible for drawer slides to work properly. You’ll need to disassemble a portion of the dresser and replace the broken hardware.
The Drawer Is Too Full
If your drawer is a bit too full, it will not open. This often happens when children cram a lot of clothing, books, or even papers into the drawer. You’ll have to shake the drawer around a bit to move the contents. Then, you should be able to get the drawer open a little bit.
Put your hand into the gap and move the contents so that you can get the drawer open. Once you do, make sure that you clean out the drawer before closing it again.
Rust
Drawers that have metal hardware are bound to rust over time. You can put oil or candle wax on the hardware to get the drawer out, but this is a very temporary solution. You need to replace the metal hardware that you’re using so that you don’t have to keep dealing with a drawer that won’t slide out properly.
FAQs
How to remove drawers with metal glides and no levers?
If your drawer does not have a lever, it more than likely has another stopping mechanism. Drawers with roller balls often stop on the tracks before they can be pulled open. You have to pull the drawer out all the way and lift it up.
There may also be a stopping mechanism on the under-mount drawer slide. Open the drawer underneath of the one that you want to open and run your hand along the track and the bottom of the drawer to determine if there is a plastic piece stopping the drawer from being pulled out.
How to remove the dresser drawer with a center slide?
A drawer with a center slide more than likely has a stopping mechanism. These are often small pieces of plastic, such as a plastic tab, that acts as a speed bump. You can easily break these. You may also have a drawer with small levers. Simply push in on the lever to activate the release mechanism to open your drawer.
How to remove drawers with bottom slides?
If you own furniture with drawers that have bottom slides, it’s important to understand how this type of drawer works. Often, they have a release mechanism that can be used to pull the drawer out. This involves pushing or pulling on a plastic tab on the drawer slide.
How to unstick wooden drawers?
First, determine why the wooden drawer is stuck. If it is due to humidity, a dehumidifier will help. You can also just pull really hard, but be careful not to break the drawer. Rubbing oil on the parts of the dresser that slide can also help get wooden drawers unstuck.
Why are old dresser drawers hard to open?
Old dresser drawers are often hard to open because they are made of solid wood. They do not have roller balls and other metal components that make them easier to open. They may be hard to open because they are swollen from humidity or because they are stuck.
Dresser drawer won’t open all the way?
Modern dresser drawers often have a stopping mechanism so you can’t open them all the way. For under-mount drawers, there is often a plastic stopper that prevents them from opening all the way. If you have too much stuff in the drawer, this can prevent it from opening all the way too.
In Conclusion
To determine how to get your drawer with a center slide open all the way, make sure that you understand how the slide works. Once you determine what is preventing the drawer from opening all the way, you can use these tips to get it unstuck.
