DIY In-Drawer Charging Outlet to Organize Your Devices

An in-drawer charging outlet has been on my wish list for years and now that I have one, I can confidently say it should be on yours, too. It’s just as life-changing for the clutter and the organization as my busy mum DIYer self had hoped for, and I’m all about taking those easy wins when I can get ‘em.

Because I keep it transparent around here, I do need to tell you that we’ve actually had one of these charging drawers for about a year and a half now, but there were a few problems with our first DIY version that we’ve recently fixed.

Before we get into the details of the Docking Drawer system we admittedly should’ve used all along, let me give you a quick back story with a lesson on why you should just do the thing right in the first place (who knew?).

Note: This post is sponsored by Docking Drawer, but the thoughts are all ours.

Where we went wrong

When we renovated our kitchen, we added a very DIY version of this concept in an outlet strip that was set into the back of a drawer with a cord that ran to the outlet, but we’ve since learned that solution isn’t up to building code standards.

Thankfully we never had any issues with it, but having a cord that just hangs down in the cabinet unprotected can leave it open to being pinched and pulled AKA a massive fire hazard.

I feel like one of the hardest lessons of DIY – or honestly maybe even life when you get philosophical about it – is knowing when to forge your own solution and when to just trust the experts and the pros. In this situation, it’s definitely the latter.

The safer solution

Docking Drawer sent us their Blade Duo in-drawer charging outlet to replace our dinky little DIY solution, and honestly?

I could instantly see why this product is so superior.

It has a cable management arm that protects the cord as it swings in and out, and an interlocking thermostat that automatically shuts off the power when the temperature gets above 120°F, and is ETL Listed.

To be totally candid, house fires are one of my absolute biggest fears and one that only intensified when I had kids, so that last point is an especially big one for me!

The install process

Any time I can do a DIY without relying on a measuring tape is a good time.

The Docking Drawer Blade Duo comes with a cutout template, so you just hold it up to your drawer and mark your corners, drill them out, then use a jigsaw to connect those lines and form your hole. You could also probably use an oscillating tool for the cutout, but it might be a little trickier than just using that template.

We had a bit of a struggle with making this hole in our drawer, but that’s very specific to our situation both because we had a kind of shallow drawer and because we already had a hole from our little outlet strip we were just widening.

Then the outlet just slides right in there, you secure it with screws, and add the cover plate.

The hardest part of the whole install process is crouching under the drawer inside the cabinet to line up and screw in the swinging arm’s back plate, but that’s probably on me because I was competing with our blender and air fryer for space back there and in hindsight obviously should’ve just moved them.

We used some of Docking Drawer’s new cord cable clamps to hold the rest of the cord (the part that runs from the cable management arm to the wall outlet) in place, and we were done!

The finished look

I used this upgrade as an opportunity to add some drawer organization too, which was just as satisfying as you’d expect.

Keeping all the cords neatly wrapped up in these little dividers is a game changer for eliminating clutter, and I think I’ll add some labels on the sections next so we won’t have to go searching through them for which cord is which.

Our Blade Duo has a mix of USB-A and AC outlets that lets us charge up to eight devices at once out of sight, and there are other configurations available too including USB-C ports.

This was especially handy before we went to Disney World last weekend because I was charging two portable phone chargers, two kids’ tablets for the drive, my AirPods, and a stroller fan the day before we left with room for more!

Ultimately, we’re so happy with this solution and it makes day-to-day life run a little bit smoother.

Is it weird to make visitors come look at my hidden in-drawer outlet? Because I might start doing that now.

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