Drawer latch for IKEA Maximera internal drawers

drawer latch ikea maximera drawer

I made a drawer latch that allows the IKEA MAXIMERA internal drawer to be pulled out together with the exterior drawer front.

Reason for this hack is I wanted my most used dishes easily accessible.

ikea maximera drawer
MAXIMERA drawers | IKEA.com

In the regular IKEA kitchen cabinet with a pull out drawer front, only the bottom drawer opens up when you pull the exterior drawer front.

The upper internal drawer  remains in the cabinet and you’ll need to pull out the internal drawer after opening the drawer front.

I could put my most used dishes in the bottom drawer but that would mean I would always have to bend down deep for the dishes. Which is not ideal.

If I don’t want to bend as deep for them, I need to store them in the internal drawer above. But that would mean that I always have 2 handles to go to access them: pull out the bottom (60cm) drawer and then pull out the internal drawer.

Wouldn’t it be much better, to open both at the same time by pulling out the 60cm front and access the upper level first and only to push back in the internal drawer to access the bottom drawer?

This is, why I modified it.

And now with a drawer latch, it works like this:

If I pull out the 60cm drawer front, both drawers (bottom + internal) open and I can directly access the upper one of both. If I need to access the lower one, I just release the black hook with one finger while pulling out and push the upper one (internal) back in.

When I then close the cabinet, the black hook will automatically snap in and for the next opening, both drawers will again open together. This saves much time and back pain. I absolutely love it.

IKEA items used:
  • IKEA MAXIMERA drawers
  • Child lock from the EFTERSMAK oven
  • FIXA diffusion barrier (or any other aluminum tape)
Other materials and tools:
  • 1 small screw

Hack instructions:

Find out the right position for the hook and screw it from the inside onto the front plate.

Stick the FIXA diffusion barrier on the internal drawer where the hook contacts.

It took less than 5 Minutes and costs me nothing.

The hardest bit was figuring out the right position of the hook so that it easily snaps in when the drawers close but still holds the inner drawer secure when pulled out.

Pay special attention to the position and bending of the hook when installing.

Such drawer latch systems can be ready-bought for many kitchen systems off the shelf, but not for IKEA METOD.

Others have retrofitted this solution by using components of other kitchen systems, but it’s more complicated to install them.

Here is a video of another solution using the components of another manufacturer in an IKEA MAXIMERA drawer:

I hope, this helps you understand the function of this drawer latch.

~ by Eric