The Dish on Dish Drawers

Dec 19th, 2007 by Marilyn

There are many things I like to do in the new old house. I like ice skating across the wood floors in socks – next time I’ll put Swiffers on my feet – I like shoveling snow up to my red door, and once or twice a day I throw loving glances at my fireplace.

But my favorite thing to do? Put away the dishes.

Why? The “dish drawer” concept makes this formerly odious chore remarkably easy. One might even say…pleasant. Here’s how it works.

First, you will need plates to put away.

This works best if you have just moved. If you play your cards right and never host Thanksgiving, the stacks will never be this high again.

The “dish drawer insert” we ordered for this deep, two-handled drawer came with a made-to-fit pegboard and triangular wooden pegs from Hafele.

First you need to figure out how you’d like the dishes to fit.

We found out this was a mind-bending feat that requires two people, coffee, and snacks.

Questions to ask during layout:

* which dishes do you grab first?
* which dishes do you use most?
* will someone other than yourself – an unlikely miracle – be putting dishes away?

Now add the wooden pegs. Marvel at the efficient German wood-turning engineers who thought this up.

Screw the pegs in from behind, pausing for plate-fit testing, swearing, and coffee. Be sure to photograph the whole thing so that it takes doubly long to do it.