The Best Drawer Organizers & Inserts For IKEA ALEX Drawers (2024)

So you have a sweet set of ALEX drawers from IKEA, but no great organizing solution? We’ve got you covered. We’re always preaching about the importance of getting organized, and since you landed on this article, keep up the good work!

In this article, we’re going to give you the best organizational solutions that fit the interior dimensions of IKEA ALEX drawers.

These organizers are going to be great for all types of applications. From the standard home office supplies to electronics, and even makeup. Basically, any collection of smallish things you store in your ALEX drawers deserves some of these organizers.

Organizers will help you give your stuff a proper home, which will make things easier to find, and in turn, just make your life so much more efficient. Let’s get started.

Key Takeaways

• The top two ALEX drawer organizers are the GRÅSIDAN inserts from IKEA themselves and the Polar Whale premium foam inserts.
• Other solutions involve drawer dividers for custom organization layouts that work well with deeper drawers.
• The most affordable route for ALEX drawer organization is the imperfectly fitting but functional general organizer tray sets.

The Best Drawer Organizer Inserts For ALEX Drawers

1) IKEA GRÅSIDAN Box Inserts For Small Drawer

IKEA actually sells some drawer organizer inserts themselves! The GRÅSIDAN Box organizers. IKEA specifically mentions that these fit ALEX drawers.

This is a set of five individual boxes that come in three different sizes. You have some flexibility on how you set them up in your drawer.

Here are the dimensions of the three box sizes from IKEA’s website:

• Large Box: 11in x 11in x 2in
• Medium Box: 8in x 4in x 2in
• Small Box: 4in x 3.5in x 2in

You can immediately tell that these fall under the 2.2-inch tall side wall for the small drawers. That way you can’t see the inserts protruding from your drawer when you open it. Nice.

Also, you can tell that the largest box is under the 11.5-inch drawer width. That means we have a nice half-inch clearance and these will install very smoothly.

These are made from 100% recycled cardboard, so it is a very environmentally friendly solution to go with. However, if there is any chance you will have liquids in these organizers, this one may not last a very long time. The cardboard will just absorb the liquid and start to deform.

2) Polar Whale ALEX Drawer Organizers

These are a bit more expensive, but Polar Whale is one of the few aftermarket drawer organizer inserts that are made specifically for the ALEX drawers.

They are layered foam cutouts that come in a couple of different shapes and sizes for the ALEX drawers. There are options for both the small ALEX drawer and the medium-sized ALEX drawer.

If you store any makeup in your ALEX drawer, they have many makeup/cosmetics-specific drawer inserts.

They even have a mega set that gives you a drawer organizer for all five drawers of your set! Just be prepared to pay that premium.

I think the high cost comes from them needing to cut and stack a bunch of foam layers to get the final product. I feel like there should be a cheaper way to manufacture these though.

The nice part about these inserts is that they will certainly protect the items in your drawer. There are not many foam protective organizers on the market. Let alone custom-tailored to the ALEX drawers.

3) Separators For Large Drawers

These drawer separators are originally designed for dressers but they are a great solution for any drawer. All any drawer organizer insert does is create little subcompartments within your drawers. These adjustable drawer dividers pretty much do the same thing!

The only difference here is that you are actually in control of the size of your compartments. You gain some vertical space back because these dividers don’t have a “bottom” like the other inserts.

This option below is a 4-inch tall divider that can be used on the larger bottom drawers.

They are adjustable from 11 to 17 inches long. That works well laterally for the ALEX drawers.

If you want even more flexibility on compartment sizes, check out these dividers with adjustable separators. It really maximizes how much you can customize your drawer compartment sizes.

This one is also under 4 inches in height so they fit the bottom ALEX drawers perfectly!

4) Imperfect Sized Drawer Organizers That Get The Job Done

The last ALEX drawer organizer that we will get into is one for those of you that don’t need a perfectly fitting set of inserts. There are a few benefits of going this route.

First of all, it’s much cheaper to get a random set of organizers than ALEX drawer-specific organizers. Looking at you Polar Whale.

Second of all, you can combine different sizes/types of items to fill in the imperfect gaps. This is exactly what I did with my ALEX drawers. I tend to lean toward budget-friendly products, so I’m part of this club.

I use the imperfect sizes to my advantage by placing my larger items in those gaps. The result is a highly functional and pretty organized desk drawer.

The last reason you should go this route is that you have a much larger selection of items available to you once you stop looking for exact dimensions. All you have to worry about is being under the height or the sidewall height.

We talk about the important ALEX drawer dimensions below.

Here is the drawer organizer set I used. They are a nice soft felt material so I don’t have to hear any of my stuff rattling around when I open and close my drawers.

When you stop worrying about the perfect fit, you can get some crazy good drawer insert deals. Like this 25-piece organizer set below for only $20 at the time of writing!

This is a serious consideration for those on a budget that need your dollars to go as far as possible.

In the video below, the user recommends the IKEA SUMMERA drawer inserts. They are not specific to the ALEX drawer, but they can work decently well as you can see.

5) Make Some DIY ALEX Drawer Inserts!

If you love working with your hands and making functional things from scratch, you might be interested in how to make your own ALEX drawer organizers!

Check out this video on DIY ALEX inserts below!

What Size Should ALEX Drawer Organizers Be?

Before we go buying any random drawer insert we see on Amazon, let’s find out the interior dimensions of the ALEX drawers. No need to go grab your measuring tape, we’ve already done that for you!

Quick note, this is for the five-drawer ALEX drawer set. There are three medium size drawers and two small-top drawers. If you want the complete dimensions of the ALEX drawers, here are all the useful dimensions of ALEX drawers.

We pulled the interior dimensions from that article so you don’t have to look for it.

Small Top Drawer Dimensions

Here are the dimensions for the two top drawers. Notice how there are two height values. The first HEIGHT value is the tallest object you can place in the drawer and comfortably close it.

The SIDEWALL HEIGHT is the smaller height of the walls you see when you pull the drawer out. Ideally, we want our inserts under this height just so it matches the geometry of the drawer.

I guess it doesn’t have to match the drawer sidewall, I just think it looks much cleaner.

You can install inserts up to the HEIGHT value, just keep in mind that it will be a bit taller than the side walls and may look a bit out of place.

*HEIGHT refers to the distance between the bottom of the drawer to the top of the front drawer panel. Don’t install items above this height or the drawer will not close.

**SIDEWALL HEIGHT is the distance between the bottom of the drawer to the top of the side wall.

Medium Bottom Drawer Dimensions

Here are the dimensions for the three larger-sized drawers towards the bottom of the ALEX set. The same HEIGHT and SIDEWALL HEIGHT differences are present here.

*HEIGHT refers to the distance between the bottom of the drawer to the top of the front drawer panel. Don’t install items above this height or the drawer will not close.

**SIDEWALL HEIGHT is the distance between the bottom of the drawer to the top of the side wall.

How To Choose The Best Organizer Inserts

Now that we have the dimensions we are almost ready to go shopping for some inserts. Before we do, we have to quickly think about how much clearance you need.

If you get inserts that are the exact size of the drawer, they might be tough to fit inside the drawer. Nobody wants to force an organizer into a drawer.

For example, the top small drawers have the following inside dimension: 11.5in x 20.6in x 2.2in.So ideally, we want inserts that are under 2.2 inches tall and can add up to be UNDER 11.5 in width and UNDER 20.6 in length/depth.

Try to avoid anything that is equal to or larger than 11.5 in width and larger than 20.6 in length/depth. We have a little extra room if it is taller than 2.2 inches because the max height is 3.5 inches. It will just protrude above the side walls.

Now that I got those small details out of the way, you are ready to find the best ALEX drawer inserts out there. You are equipped with the information to shop for them yourself, or you can use one of the solutions above!

Before You Go

If you want a super-efficient drawer setup, we have an entire article on how to organize desk drawers. We’ve got you covered even if you have especially deep drawers that need organizing as well. The bottom ALEX drawers are pretty deep so that article is very applicable to you.

I have an entire drawer dedicated to my gaming gear, so check out this article if you’re interested in IKEA battlestation desk setups for gamers.

Side note, if you have too much stuff that doesn’t fit in your organizer, check out our article on all-in-one desk organizers.Overstuffed drawers can lead to stuff falling behind on the inside of your drawer set. If this happens to you, don’t worry. We have a simple ALEX drawer removal guide here.