I just got a new range. There’s a drawer at the bottom, beneath the oven, to store pans.
Well, in addition to other pans, I put a couple of bread ones (one Corningware, one Pyrex) in the drawer. They don’t really nest well, and in closing the drawer, the top (Pyrex) pan shifted and now I can’t open the drawer.
I’ve tried using a spatula between the pans and the floor of the oven, but I can’t get the pans to budge. Since it’s in the oven, I can’t really get to it from the sides or top or bottom.
I really could use one or two of the pans in there for Christmas cooking. I’m totally willing to sacrifice either or both of the loaf pans if necessary. (Yes, I thought of deliberately breaking the pans, but how? If I could get a hammer or something in there, I could get my hand in, and if I could get my hand in, I think I could shift the loaf pans enough to get the drawer open.}
So, I’m asking – some of the smartest folks I know – how do I get the blasted drawer open?
If you tilt the oven back and bang on the drawer (not hard enough to damage it of course) you might knock the pans around enough that you can get the drawer open. Usually the drawer doesn’t fit so tight that you can’t get at least a little bit of movement from it, either side to side or up and down.
Tilting the oven back and rocking it back and forth might also shift the pans around enough that you can open the drawer.
Sometimes if you open the oven door, there will be a gap between the door and the drawer underneath. You might be able to stick something thin like a spatula in there and move the pans around.
You’d have to move the range away from the wall, but the back might have enough space at the bottom to reach in and rearrange the stuff inside. I just checked mine (I pulled the drawer all the way out, I didn’t pull the range away from the wall) and the back panel stops about 4 inches above the floor.
Pray for Anoia’s forgiveness. This is her doing; you must have done something to earn her wrath.
Many oven doors are not rigidly attached to the hinges. If you open the door slightly, you may be able to pull up an inch or two (or more–be careful not to pull it off completely). It’s possible this will give you the gap you need to slide in an implement. You’ll probably want a second person to pull on the door while you fiddle with the drawer.
If you have something long and flat and rigid, like a metal yard stick, you slide it between the top of the drawer and the oven straight back. You need to get it between the ceiling of the drawer compartment and whatever cookware is catching on the drawer opening. Then you should be able to slide the drawer open.
(Happens on a daily basis at work with our Lista parts cabinets. Techs can’t seem to go through a drawer without moving everything out of place jamming the drawers)
Mine has enough wiggle room that I can tilt the drawer while rattling it, and that usually unsticks whatever’s jamming it. A couple of times, though, I’ve needed to use a metal ruler to push down the offending object enough to open the drawer.
You sure it’s a drawer for pans? Ours is really just a warming area (though it’s still the de facto place for pot lids).
Like others said, shake the drawer back and forth (like you would a stuck kitchen drawer*) and you can probably get whatever’s stuck to fall down enough to get it open. Someone mentioned tilting the entire unit. If you can tilt it, you can probably slide it out. If you have anyone small/slender in your house, you really only need to pull it out a foot or so and someone can hop up on the counter and jump behind it. Then you don’t even need to disconnect the gas/electric.
*Regarding a kitchen utensil drawer (the one with the big spoons and ladles and spatulas etc). I’ve found that if you put those items that tend to get hung up in the drawer ‘upside down’, that is, put the ladle facing down instead of up), they’re considerably less likely to cause issues.