My Dresser Drawer is stuck closed

carpentrydrawersstuck

I have a dresser drawer that is stuck closed without anything inside it blocking it. The inside of the drawer is empty, so I assume it is blocked on the rails somehow, but as far as I can tell I don't have any way to access them.

I've attached pictures I took of the drawer being pulled out and the drawers that are still working around it, and I found this youtube video of someone installing similar drawers and this question concerning similar drawers, but neither really helped in any meaningful way.

Is there some kind of tool I should get to free it up somehow? I've tried pulling back, and pushing up from the bottom and I never felt any give.

Drawer pulled open as far as I can pull it
The inside of the drawer without the drawer
Close-up of right side of the rail on the drawer

Best Answer

Do you see the screws that hold the slide attached to the drawer? One cause of stuck-drawer I've experienced is that those screws can back out far enough that the screw head engages with one of the many holes in the fixed track inside the cabinet.

A possible first step is to understand (figure out) what is mechanically holding the drawer stuck in this position. Several useful tools come to mind.

  • your fingers. It appears the space below the stuck drawer is open, and the drawer slide is on the lower edge of the drawer. Feel around all sides of the slide mechanism on both sides. Compare to the feeling of another, non-stuck drawer. Notice the protrusions, dimples, shapes, etc.
  • a probe instrument. This might be as simple as a thin piece of wire, a bit of paper or cardstock, etc. Maneuver it into the gap between the fixed and moving pieces of the drawer slide and move it along between the front roller and the drawer roller. Check the slide on each side of the drawer. Do you notice a difference between the two? A difference between these and a non-stuck drawer?
  • a visual tool. Maybe low-tech like a pocket mirror and a flashlight, maybe the front or rear camera of a smart phone, or even a borescope/endoscope camera (inexpensive, small, USB digital cameras can be found online at relatively low cost). Inspect the slides visually for any obstruction.

After you've understood how/why the drawer is stuck, or if you decide to proceed blindly, you might try techniques such as prying between the two pieces of the slide to un-bind them, or pushing/pulling harder on the drawer face in hopes of breaking whatever is holding it stuck.

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