Labelling Wood Cabinets/Drawers

November 26, 2023 10:23 AM

I've recently moved and the living room has built in cabinets/drawers (imgur). What can we use to stick labels on the drawers that won't ruin the finish but also not look like crap?

I have no idea what type of wood it is, nor how it was finished. The house was built in 1895 and it's possible the wood is original (it's certainly contemporary to a built-in wood stove--this is the Bay Area, for reference).

We do have a label maker, so I'm thinking we'll print labels and stick them to... something that we'll then stick to the cabinets. My default assumption was we'd use painter's tape, but that's seemingly only rated as non-marking for a few hours/days (and I've seen it take up the finish from a gym floor, now that I think about it). A little googling suggests gaffer tape might be what we're looking for.

Given that this is AskMe and someone will be wondering why I'm trying to do such a thing: this is a household of people with ADHD and a bad case of "if it's not visible, it doesn't exist, and sometimes not even then". We need to label the shit out of things for what storage space we have to not become black holes from which nothing emerges. (Seriously. I once lost a wok in the kitchen cabinet. Where the pots lived.)

posted by hoyland to Home & Garden (11 answers total)

How thick is the inner panel? Could you stick one or two strong magnets on the inside of those doors that are strong enough to hold a thin metal card on the outside? Then the card can be adorned with whatever labeling method works best for you.
posted by Stoneshop at 10:35 AM on November 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: The drawers are 13/16" thick, and the cabinet door is an inch (or just over). I don't know how strong a magnet you'd need, but you also made me think that maybe an "over the door" solution might be possible.
posted by hoyland at 10:39 AM on November 26, 2023

What about these small over the door hooks?

Or putting the label on the lock part of the cabinet (maybe the top surface)

(Not to abuse the edit window, but hit post too soon.)

Lastly a nail on design? It'd be pretty easy to fill in the small nail holes with wood filler later.
posted by Pretty Good Talker at 11:00 AM on November 26, 2023

tidy pop
posted by kaelynski at 11:18 AM on November 26, 2023 [7 favorites]

Card frames are the way this is done in cabinetry of law offices, banks, etc. You screw the frame onto the door, then you can slip little paper labels into the frames.
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:28 AM on November 26, 2023 [10 favorites]

You could hang paper tags on the handles.
posted by mezzanayne at 11:44 AM on November 26, 2023

The drawers are 13/16" thick, and the cabinet door is an inch (or just over).

13/16" and 1" are probably too much even for a couple of neodymium magnets although it might just work; I was thinking about the center panel of the door which is likely much thinner, like 1/4" or 3/8" which wouldn't be much of a problem.

Thin cardboard cards folded over the top of the drawers and the doors, and held in place with thumbtacks or tape on the inside would indeed be the easiest solution.
posted by Stoneshop at 12:07 PM on November 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Since you have a label maker, and the cabinets are darkly-colored, how about clear labels with white text?
posted by ShooBoo at 1:18 PM on November 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Make the labels on something sturdy, like wood veneer or well-cut recycled flat plastic (e.g. cut out from a large cat litter container or other flat-walled thing), then stick on with 3M command strip stickers.

Those are made to come off cleanly even after a lot of time.

The good news is that the finish on those cabinets isn't super fancy and will probably be very tough. However, I'd try wiping with a wet paper towel/rag to make sure the finish is applied in a permanent way - sometimes wood stain without a poly coating is water soluble.

Also: the center flat area on that cabinet door isn't really made to be pretty when stained (it's cool though!). But: if you wanted, you could cover that whole area with something else that's easier to label.

Kaelynski - I love the Tidy Pop labels!!!! Thanks for that! Maybe it wouldn't be too hard to emulate those with something else too.
posted by amtho at 1:32 PM on November 26, 2023

Or: you could just do really nice permanent labeling system, using something like these metal card holders.
posted by amtho at 1:35 PM on November 26, 2023

13/16" and 1" are probably too much even for a couple of neodymium magnets although it might just work

Yeah, but if you can access it you could drill holes from the back and stick magnets in it. Then you can just use whatever metal label plates you want.
posted by aubilenon at 4:39 PM on November 26, 2023