How to Make Simple Under Stairs Storage Drawers! 2026

How to Make Simple Storage Drawers Under Stairs, if you have always wanted to build stairs with storage and don't know how to do it. Now you can learn by reading the article, we explain and show with images how you can do a project of this type. Very simple, it doesn't take much practice to do it, just the most basic and necessary tools.

I hope you can enjoy this article!

Step 1: Design

So this is actually a commissioned piece from a client. He set an interesting goal for this project, although it didn't seem that way at first.

This type of storage is modern and has small life and efficient storage. But I think this will be run more and more because it adds value to a small space. More and more of us live in cities and have less space on average.

Drawers can only be installed effectively from the front of the staircase. At the top, two drawers had a compound or angled front face. This made measurement challenging. The trick here was to skillfully measure the trusses and check the angles of the faces. You must be careful with the measurement because you can make a “measurement error”. You make one measurement and you make another measurement without any good reference. Making it possible to have two errors in one measurement.

Step 2: Draft

As I mentioned, the drawers can only be installed (easily) from the front. The drawers with their casing/frame had to be pushed “into” the stairs from the front. This caused me to lose frame storage space, drawer mechanics, and drawer wall thickness.

So, in this case, all parts must have a certain tolerance in their dimensions. Making drawings and drafts is easy for me to keep track of and the placement of specific parts.

Step 3: Cutting blades

So the first practical step was to cut 9mm (3/8″) and 12mm (1/2″) sheets to long strips of wood and 3 drawer bottoms. The bottoms of the drawers were trapezoidal, making them the most complicated to cut. Having a track saw makes it much more precise and repeatable. It is not essential.

The strips can be made with a parallel fence on your average handheld circular saw. To be honest, this is my favorite tool because of the simplicity and speed of cutting.

Step 4: Sizing the pieces

As I said before, the parts have a fairly specific tolerance, +-0.5mm (1/50″) in the length dimensions. So after cutting I checked my wood strips (measuring 3 to 4 points wide) and shortened them with a miter saw. Again, this is convenient for repeatability and speed. You could work with a circular saw or handsaw. In my experience, with a little practice, a saw can be precise..

Step 5: Assembling frames

So, after hours of sawing and breathing dust, I concentrated on putting the frames together.

I used glue and nails to hold the pieces together. The 9mm (3/8") tops and bottoms go on the 12mm (1/2") sides. The tops/bottoms actually consist of strips and not full sheets. This saves weight and material.

Later, the corners will be reinforced with drawer rails.

Step 6: Assembling drawers

The drawers go close together like the frames. Glue and nails do the job. The sides are thicker plywood, the front and bottoms are thin plywood.

The interior corners were also reinforced. Given this, effective space is consumed, but this prolongs the life of the drawer. Materials always degenerate in strength over time, this varies course between different woods and engineered woods such as plywood. Steel, for example, degenerates, but will maintain a certain level, aluminum degenerates continuously.

Step 7: Drawer Rails

The drawers will be supported by hardwood slide bearings. Rails if you want. The rails were cut to 18mm (3/4″) square.

Step 8: Fixing rails

The rails were then attached at the corner of the frame. Then with correct spacing to the drawer. In a way that the drawer supports an air space between the bottom and top of the frame.

The third rail is then attached to the frame, spaced one rail thick + 1mm (approximately 1/32″) from the rail at the corner.

To keep the paraffin sliding (candlelight material) you can apply wax.

Step 9: Test

This is not the step you want to skip. Very important to verify spacing and operation. It was a great moment to see that the drawers really work with tolerances and precision.

Step 10: Fronts

The drawer fronts or faces were made from prepreg MDF. This material is quickly completed with a high-end look.

A rectangular recess was made in the front to function as a grip or handle. This was stylish and space saving in my opinion.

Step 11: Install!

To get the drawers in I had to remove the boards from the stairs. I was hoping I could gently pry them loose or pry them off, but I had to get past it.

And then the most stressful moment... Will it fit?

Fortunately it did, my measurements and careful work paid off. I could put in the drawer frames and then the drawers.

Step 12: Secure

The drawer frames were screwed to the stringers of the stairs. And each other with wooden panels.

Between the drawer frames I put a piece of filler to take into account the thickness of the shelf. The frames rest on each other and not on the stairs.

Step 13: Placing the fronts

And as a final step, I attached the fronts first with hot glue and then with 5 screws from the inside of the drawer.

I made sure they stopped themThey had an even air gap in relation to the stairs. 2 mm or 1/6″.

Step 14: Ready!

Projects that are difficult are always going to go wrong, even this project had some scrapped parts or steps that took a long time.

The thing is, you can determine how much you are disappointed by that. In the end, be patient and it will work out the way you want.

Thank you for reading! I hope it inspires you!

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