Fill ‘er Up

by Bob Livingston | Jun 16, 2023 | Cool Gadgets, RVEXPERT

a man pushes a plastic drawer filled with items into an overhead RV cabinet

Photos by Lynne Livingston

RV owners have a tendency to bring along more supplies and personal belongings than necessary. Finding clever ways to keep all this “stuff” under control is almost an art form — so let plastic storage drawers be your palette.

Creating storage cubby holes and making better use of the available cabinet space is almost a national pastime among RV owners. Factory designers do their best to provide enough space to store items relevant to the size and model of an RV, but owners are always trying to stuff in more supplies and “necessary items” than the space can actually handle. (In fact, the May/June issue of RV Enthusiast has a story on creating storage where none existed before.)

Overhead cabinets are perfect for filling with personal items — and just about everyone has a “junk drawer.” I’m guilty of saving too many small items that may come in handy down the road and usually throw them into the drawer without organizing. When it comes time to retrieve something, a bunch of other items must be pulled out of the way to find what I’m looking for.

Usually, this makes a mess. The solution is to place a storage drawer in the cabinet, which can be pulled out to rummage through the “junk” on a table or a place with better visibility. When the drawer is returned into the frame, you lose the disheveled look — and I may even be accused of being organized.

There are dozens of storage drawers on the market, many of them stackable for use in larger spaces. The trick is to fill as much of the available real estate inside the cabinet as you can with the drawer, but most likely you’ll only get close because of varying dimensions. My “junk” cabinet measures 18 ½ x 14 ¼ x 10 ½ inches, so the 17 x 12 x 8 ½-inch drawer I’ve used for years fills most of the space, but also leaves me room to cram in more stuff on the top and sides of the plastic drawer frame.

measuring tape is used to determine the height of the RV overhead cabinet

measuring tape is used to determine the depth of the RV overhead cabinet

The cabinet above the TV and fireplace was the perfect place to store a potpourri of items that may be needed down the road. Before finding the right storage drawer, the opening and depth of the cabinet was measured for matching up the proper size drawer.

One of my favorite places for buying storage drawers and boxes is the Container Store. Physical locations are scattered throughout the country, but the website (containerstore.com) is a perfect place to shop. I also located a single Sterilite drawer online that measures 17 inches long, 14 3/8 inches wide and 10 ¼ inches high, which would fill my cabinet even better (although it would take some bending for the drawer frame to barely clear the opening). This is the closest drawer I found by searching the Internet, but the prices are all over the place. Walmart sells it online for $48.90, which is considerably higher than other online hardware sellers where it can be found for less than $20; some retailers only sell multiples for stacking.

the drawer frame is slid into the cabinet

Sliding the drawer frame into the cabinet takes only a few moments. There is no need to fasten the frame to the cabinet. This drawer is smaller than the cabinet space; the Sterilite 27-quart storage drawer would be almost a perfect fit here but would take finagling to clear the opening.

with the full drawer in place and hand places wrapped cords in the available space atop the drawer within the cabinet

Since the drawer originally installed in the cabinet is smaller than the available space, the areas on both sides and on top can also be used to store small items. A junk-drawer junkie never gives up.

the full drawer, removed from the drawer frame and overhead cabinet and placed on a stool

The big advantage of using a storage drawer — rather than to just throw the stuff in the cabinet willy-nilly and hope for the best — is the ability to remove the drawer (without disturbing the items stuffed on the sides and top) to retrieve whatever’s needed from those buried among the variety of saved items.

The plastic storage drawer is held solidly by the exterior cabinet frame and slides easily for accessing my stuff; there is no need to fasten it to the cabinet floor. Just refrain from overloading the drawer, which could hang up its ability to pull out freely.

There are many places where storage drawers can be used to organize possessions — including exterior compartments and wardrobes — and since the plastic is almost clear, it’s possible to identify what’s in the drawer at glance. What a concept!

a line of Sterilite drawers of differing sizes are stacked at the base of closet

Sterilite products have proven to be durable over the years. Various size storage drawers are available as singles or in multiple packs that can be used to build a stacking system. Photo courtesy Sterilite

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