I finally got my dream desk built after 2 years of contemplating. I got a good deal on a used 98” Karlby (darker color, more expensive) and 2x Alex drawers; all in great condition for $150.

Stopped by IKEA today and spent a good hour and a half trying find an organizer that would fit well on the Alex drawers. Finally found this…

UPPDATERA $6.00/each 704.914.10 https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/uppdatera-flatware-tray-white-70491410/

It’s a perfect snug fit and is intended for kitchen utensils. It fits perfectly. There’s a cheaper version for 2.99 each but it was flimsy and had a little bit of wiggle room inside the drawers.

If you’re looking for something to organize your Alex drawers, I highly recommend this.

You can also get two of these https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/uppdatera-utensil-tray-white-60491364/ per drawers but it’s $5.00 each (a bit more expensive per drawer) but good if you need longer dividers.

Years ago, I Frankensteined a desk together using Ikea bits. A couple of the Alex drawers, some legs, a couple of desktops, some add-on hardware to keep the tops aligned, and boom, I've got an L-shaped desk in my office.

But the drawers. OMG, the drawers. What a mess. Inspired by my wife (an absolute paragon of organization), I decided to run with that spirit, using Gridfinity for the drawers. If you're unfamiliar with the Alex drawers, each unit has 5 drawers, 2 are relatively shallow, 3 medium depth. Presently, I've got 4 full sets of bases printed and installed, with 2 shallow drawers fully complete and another half-way. For the taller drawers, I'm looking at doing Neogrid, since making Gridfinity bins that are 100-110mm tall doesn't seem like the greatest idea.

As an aside on the Neogrid stuff - I'm in the US, and u/Hands-On-Katie 's suggested material thickness of 8.5mm isn't exactly common. I looked at PVC trim boards in Lowes and Home Depot, and everything readily available in the board width I'd be looking for is 3/4 inch thick. Not exactly reasonable for this job. So, I'm looking at printing divider material at 8.5mm thick so I can use her "official" parts, printing with no top and bottom layers, using just infill. Like 5-10% hexagons probably. Anyone in the US have a better direction to pursue? I'm all ears.

Here's the obligatory pics. I've been printing in eSun's ePLA-Lite. I got a roll for free on a Black Friday deal and found it was great for stuff like this. I picked up 10 more rolls for less than $10/roll. I'm chugging right through this stuff at a surprising clip!