If the image that comes to mind when you think of “drawer liner” is that tatty vinyl stuff that Grandma used to use, then it’s time to get updated. There are some great products on the market that make your drawer contents stay put and shut up.
Sometimes I wonder why people ever bothered with that self-adhesive paper/vinyl drawer liner stuff. I mean, is this really hygienic or useful?
However, stuff in the drawers in our van was rattling and sliding so much that we needed to do something about it.
First we tried some drawer liner material that looks a little like non-slip rug underlay. It served the purpose but it wasn’t easy to clean and it tended to stick to the underside of things as we took them out of the drawers. Too gummy.
Then, we found Con-tact Solid Grip Shelf Liner. This is going to sound like a paid advertisement, because we are so happy with it. The stuff is just about thick enough to have some cushion, but not so thick that it takes up space inside your drawers. It cuts easily. It stays where you put it. When you put things on top of it, they stay where you put them too.
Best of all, it has a snake skin imprint, so it looks cool too. We were a little worried about buying it, because it comes in a case of six 4′ long rolls of 18″ wide material. We’ve used most of four rolls covering the bases of our van drawers. Some of the offcuts stay in the drawers to go between items that rattle together. Worth every penny.
We also used a couple of pieces on the dash. We replaced the boring stock pad in the passenger side recess with super-cool cobra snake skin stuff.
We also made a piece to go on the section under the gauges. That was specifically to rest a phone against for Google Maps navigation before we got our phone holder. Putting the phone there obscures the gauges but it’s very handy for viewing the navigation screen. Because it has a matte finish, the shelf liner cuts down on reflection in that area too.
Here’s a template for creating your own non-slip mat for the gauge area of the NCV3 Sprinter dash in case you want to try the same thing without so much hassle.
If you really don’t want snakeskin, they also do a regular dimple version of the mat we used, but where’s the fun in that?