Chest of drawers plans, checked for tipping
Choose the size, number of drawers and runners, and Woodworker checks each drawer and runner for its load and the whole chest for tipping when the drawers are open.
Open the chest of drawers designerFree · no sign-up · works in your browser
How the design works
A plywood or MDF carcass with drawer boxes on ball-bearing runners, overlay fronts with handles or knobs, a back and a plinth. The 3D view can pull the drawers out.
Starts at 800 × 900 mm and 470 mm deep, with four drawers (32 × 36 in in US sizes). Change any size and everything else follows.
What Woodworker checks
- Tipping forward with drawers pulled out (the most important check)
- Runners against the weight of each drawer and its contents
- Drawer bottoms sagging
- Whether it needs fixing to the wall
When something isn’t strong or stable enough, it says why and offers a fix you can apply in one click, like a bigger section, an extra brace or a different joint.
What you can change
- Width, height and depth
- Number of drawers in each column
- Material and thickness
- Handles or knobs, and standard or heavy-duty runners
- Drawer bottom thickness, back and plinth
What you get
- A cut list of every part, with sizes, wood and how many
- A shopping list of timber lengths or sheets, screws, bolts and hardware, with rough costs
- Assembly steps in build order, with the joints and fixings for each step
- Dimensioned front, side and top drawings, and a printable workshop sheet (PDF)
Tips
- Chests of drawers can tip onto children: fix them to the wall.
- Buy the runners first and check their side clearance before cutting the drawer boxes.
Questions
- Can I make a sideboard or bedside table?
- Yes, Woodworker has sideboard and bedside table templates too, with doors, drawers and shelves.
- Is it really free?
- Yes. Woodworker is free, with no ads and no account. Designs are saved in your browser and never uploaded.
- How accurate are the checks?
- They use Eurocode 5 methods and common furniture test loads, as a guide for home-made projects, not certified engineering. Ask an engineer about anything large or anything people could be hurt by if it failed.
