Divan drawer broken - worth repairing? And where?

[Marritza]

So I've overloaded one of my divan drawers and it finally gave up the ghost. About a year ago one of the runners twisted badly and it was difficult to pull/push the drawer. Today I pulled on it and the front panel came off.

Don't think I can fix it myself...but is it even worth trying to find someone to repair it compared to the cost of a single divan base (it's two singles linked together into a super king size, so I'm hoping to just buy one of the singles)? It's a 10 year old divan base, which doesn't seem to be easy to track down but here's something very similar - https://www.bedstar.co.uk/sealy-millionaire-ortho-3ft-single-divan-bed.html. Would I have to track down a carpenter?

 

[JohnD]

You can get metal runners for kitchen drawers in various sizes. Probably a pair for pan drawers would do. They generally screw to the side of the drawer and the cabinet, some are attached to the bottom. Blum is a good make. B&Q isn't

Please measure yours, and the length and width of the drawer and the aperture.

A carpenter can make a new drawer out of laminated chipboard as used for kitchen cabinets, which would be stronger than your old drawer, and will have the skills to fit and adjust the runners. You can get readymade ones to fit in kitchen units in common sizes such as 1000mm, 800mm, 600mm, 500mm but these are the external sizes of the cabinet, the drawers are purposely made smaller to fit inside.

You could learn to do it yourself, but you would need some tools and might make a mistake.

Best way to find a carpenter (a semi-retired person could do this little job) is by personal recommendation from someone you know and trust, or a small-ad in the parish magazine. The worst way is an advert on a "recommendation" website where they pay to be listed and unfavourable reviews are seldom published.

Even cheaper, you could get some "underbed" plastic storage boxes that will slide into the gap.

 

[mattylad]

If you find you cannot repair the drawer itself, can you attach a batten along the front bottom and using a piano hinge attach the front, use a magnetic catch so it can pull down?

Myself, I'd rather try that than the cost of a whole new base just for something that's probably not used daily.

 

[Marritza]

JohnD, mattylad, thank you for the recommendations! All good ideas, I'm a bit more confident about trying to repair this now. I'll try to find a carpenter first and if not, I'll try one of the other solutions. Shame to have to replace the base because of a single drawer...