Buying guides / No. 004
Sink-Notched Drawers: Working Around Plumbing's Main-Character Syndrome
A sink-notched drawer has a shaped recess that allows the box to work around plumbing or another obstruction. The useful storage stays where space permits. The pipe continues believing the entire cabinet was built for it.
Good notch information describes both the opening and where it sits within the overall drawer. Width and depth alone do not locate it.
Agree on a view before discussing left
Use a top view with the drawer front clearly labelled at the bottom of the drawing and the back at the top. In that view, left means the left side as you face the drawer from the front.
It sounds obvious until one person is standing behind the cabinet and another is looking at a photograph taken upside down.
Record the overall outside box width and depth separately from the notch dimensions. Also record box height; an obstruction can affect one drawer level differently from another.
Locate the opening
For a rectangular notch entering from the rear, identify its width, its depth forward from the rear outside edge, and its horizontal position. Position can be expressed as the notch centre measured from the left outside edge, or as an edge offset. Choose one convention and label it.
If an ordering tool asks for a different reference, translate deliberately. Never quietly reuse a centre measurement in a field asking for an edge.
A hypothetical plan-view example
Take a box 700 mm wide and 500 mm deep. Specify a rear notch 200 mm wide and 180 mm deep, centred 350 mm from the left outside edge. Its left and right boundaries are then 250 mm and 450 mm from that edge. Its front boundary is 320 mm behind the drawer's front outside edge.
These numbers illustrate the geometry only. They are not a recommended clearance or a production-approved design. The notch walls and construction details still need to be accounted for in the final drawing.
Arithmetic has done its job. The plumbing has not yet been consulted.
Measure the obstruction, not just the pipe
Include fittings, traps, hoses, valves, brackets and anything projecting into the drawer's travel. A pipe diameter is only one part of that envelope. Check the drawer while closed and throughout its opening movement; a static photo does not describe the whole path.
Leave the clearance and access needed for the actual installation. We do not prescribe one universal gap here. The layout must also preserve access for servicing, and the chosen runner needs a compatible mounting arrangement.
What to send with an order
Supply the overall box dimensions, a labelled top view, notch dimensions and position, hardware details, and photographs showing the plumbing at the proposed drawer height. Include unusual sloping or offset obstructions.
If the layout is uncertain, resolve it before manufacturing. A sink drawer should fit around the services; it should not require an improvised plumbing redesign on installation day.
Bring us the awkward cabinet. Include the boring measurements. That is usually where the useful solution begins.