How Do I Fix My Stuck Kitchen Drawer?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a participant's issue with a stuck kitchen drawer, believed to be caused by a spatula or similar utensil. Participants share various suggestions and experiences related to fixing the drawer, including potential tools and methods to retrieve the stuck item.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests calling a repairman as a possible solution.
  • Another proposes pulling out a lower drawer to access the stuck utensil, although one participant expresses difficulty in reaching around the back.
  • Some participants mention using tools like a butter knife or a metal coat hanger to pry or retrieve the stuck item.
  • A participant shares their strategy of keeping flatware in the top drawer to avoid similar issues, indicating a preference for drawer organization.
  • Another participant considers using a hacksaw blade to assist in the situation, noting that pulling the drawer more causes it to wedge further.
  • There are humorous suggestions, such as praying to a fictional deity and cleaning a bike in the kitchen.
  • One participant discusses a more drastic measure of drilling from the bottom of the drawer to retrieve the utensil and mentions creating a deflector to prevent future issues.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants present multiple competing views and suggestions without reaching a consensus on the best approach to resolve the issue. Various methods are proposed, but no single solution is agreed upon.

Contextual Notes

Some suggestions depend on the specific layout of the kitchen and the design of the drawers, which may vary among participants. There are unresolved assumptions about the accessibility of tools and the feasibility of proposed methods.

wolram
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The draw i keep my kitchen implements in is stuck, i am sure it is the the spatula thing for picking up fried eggs as it has done it before, but this time i can not un wedge it as the draw will only move about 1/4 inch, i have tried shaking, wiggling, pulling, banging it but nothing works this time.
Any ideas?
 
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Why don't you call up a repairman instead ?
 
In some cases, if there is another drawer below the stuck one, you can pull that one out, reach around the back, and get the offending spatula. Don't put it back in.
 
jimmysnyder said:
In some cases, if there is another drawer below the stuck one, you can pull that one out, reach around the back, and get the offending spatula. Don't put it back in.

Not this one, i would have to be an India rubber man to reach around the back.
 
wolram said:
Not this one, i would have to be an India rubber man to reach around the back.

Find yourself a rubber man, then follow jimmy's directions.
 
wolram said:
Not this one, i would have to be an India rubber man to reach around the back.
Perhaps you can find some tool that you can use. I'm thinking of something long and thin with a handle at one end and a flat surface at the other.
 
I'd be willing to blame the spatula too. Though, I've had ladles cause that trouble too. I don't know why cabinet makers always make the utensil drawers so shallow that there's barely room for a spatula. This is why I only keep flatware in the top drawer, and the other utensils in the one below it. If a utensil gets stuck, I just pull out the flatware drawer and can reach into the one below it easily.

You might be able to get in with a butter knife to pry down the edge of whatever is sticking. Or, if you have one of those skinny metal jimmy stick things for unlocking car doors, that could work, or a metal coat hanger you could bend to squeeze into the space.
 
I am working on it, i can just pull the draw out enough to slip an hacksaw blade in, trouble is the more i pull the more wedged it is.
 
Moonbear said:
This is why I only keep flatware in the top drawer, and the other utensils in the one below it.
My wife has taken a vase and used it for the purpose of holding spatulas, rice paddles, tongs and other utensils of that sort.
 
  • #10
jimmysnyder said:
My wife has taken a vase and used it for the purpose of holding spatulas, rice paddles, tongs and other utensils of that sort.

I have my knife shoe and wok set on the counter plus my slow cooker, with a small kitchen there is only so much space.
Still have not open the draw, i think i will have to measure one of the other draws to get the screw centers and drill them out.
 
  • #11
Have you tried praying to Anoia (obscure Discworld reference) ?
 
  • #12
mgb_phys said:
Have you tried praying to Anoia (obscure Discworld reference) ?

Keep them Disc world gods away from me, things is complicated enough as is :smile:
 
  • #13
Try cleaning your bike in the kitchen.
 
  • #14
I guess, if worse comes to worse, you could drill up from the bottom of the drawer. Thread a wire through the hole and try to catch the utensil that is catching.

And if you want to make a million dollars - or pounds (even better!) - think up a way to prevent this from happening, because it happens to everyone!
 
  • #15
lisab said:
I guess, if worse comes to worse, you could drill up from the bottom of the drawer. Thread a wire through the hole and try to catch the utensil that is catching.

And if you want to make a million dollars - or pounds (even better!) - think up a way to prevent this from happening, because it happens to everyone!


Great minds, well one great one and one little one, this is what i ended up doing. and i now have an angled deflector fitted to the top of the cabinet.
 

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