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My dishwasher attaches to the cabinets on the side via a screw. This hole has become a little stripped, is there a way to fill it in and then screw in to it again? I can't change the location of where the dishwasher attaches.

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Clean out the hole of debris and then carve a tapered peg from another piece of wood that will start into the hole. Fill the hole with wood glue and then pound in your peg. Let it dry overnight and then cut off the remainder of the peg flush with the surface. At this point you can drill a new pilot hole for your screws.

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If you are lacking a wooden peg or the skills to make one use round wooden toothpicks. Coat the toothpicks with woodglue. Place as many toothpicks in the hole as will fit. Gently tap in one more with a hammer. Break off any bits of toothpick that protrude from the hole. After the glue has dried, reinstall the screw.

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    Wooden matches work better than toothpicks - they're a consistent size for one.
    – chris
    Commented Dec 27, 2012 at 4:09
  • I signed up here to upvote this answer. Now I can mount the flag again. After reading this answer, I found this video demonstrating the technique youtube.com/watch?v=nfeSbBgmygs
    – user24241
    Commented Aug 5, 2014 at 10:17
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If you have access to the inside of the cabinet you could replace the wood screw with T-nut and a machine screw.

You would need to drill the hole to fit the T-nut and place the T-nut on the inside of the cabinet.

Again, this only works if you have access to both sides of the cabinet wall.

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I agree with using wooden pegs, matchsticks, or toothpicks to fill the holes, but rather than wood glue I recommend epoxy because it's better at filling spaces, and doesn't need clamping to form a strong bond. I'd use something like a small screwdriver to fill each hole with epoxy, liberally coat the peg/matchstick/toothpicks with more epoxy and pound them in, cut them off flush, then stick a piece of tape over the hole to keep the epoxy in place until it hardens. (Clean up the mixing surface and tools with alcohol.)

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Golf tees work great. may need to drill out first to get enough of the tee in the space--coat with plenty of glue and allow time for it to completely dry. Cut carefully with utility knife.

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    Hello, and welcome to Home Improvement. Thanks for the answer; keep 'em coming. And, you should probably take our tour so you'll know how best to contribute here.
    – Daniel Griscom
    Commented Sep 7, 2019 at 23:06
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    Make sure to use wooden golf tees instead of the plastic ones. Also for those that are painted make sure to scrape or sand off the paint to bare wood before trying to glue into the hole. The wood glue will not stick well to painted or smooth finished surfaces.
    – Michael Karas ♦
    Commented Sep 8, 2019 at 1:32
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The quickest and easiest solution:

Use a bigger screw.

A larger diameter screw of the same length will fill the hole.

I have done this to hold my own dishwasher in, and in numerous other scenarios. I know a lot of cabinet material is crappy particle board which is not very durable.

Also, in cases where you are not worried about the screw coming out the other side (door hinges for example), a longer screw will work as well (and better).

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2' of 3/8" wood dowel from the handicraft section in Walmart for under a buck is my preferred choice. Drill out the cavity with a 3/8" bit, clear out any residue. use epoxy on the cavity and dowel, twist while inserting and trim to fit. Predrill for new screw and you are done. You can stain the dwell end to touch it up for a match. Good luck!

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  • Hello, and welcome to Home Improvement. Thanks for the answer; keep 'em coming. And, props for taking our tour before posting; most newbies don't.
    – Daniel Griscom
    Commented Nov 26, 2019 at 18:51
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Tap a plastic wall plug into the hole, the sort you'd normally use in brick or concrete walls, or a screw in wall plug if it's a cavity wall.

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  • I used this method to repair the hinge of a wood trunk that had come loose from the lid of the trunk. The screws that were there were falling out of the holes. The only good screws I had on hand were longer but a bit narrower, which made the mismatch between screw and hole worse. I needed a way to fix this fast because the trunk is in constant use and the remaining good hinge was getting overtaxed. I was a bit skeptical at first that this would work well but I tried it. It's not fine woodworking but it works.
    – Louis
    Commented Nov 24, 2016 at 14:44
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What about using a wood filler like DAP's Plastic Wood.

Product page.
Product category.

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    I used exactly this to fill a horizontal hole. It was a fairly big hole, around 3/8", so the applicator fit into the hole, making it very easy to fill up. I don't know how strong it is, but it was good in my situation.
    – blambert
    Commented Aug 18, 2022 at 18:37
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Plug with one of those colorful plastic drywall anchors that you have laying around

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    This answer was already given nearly 6 years ago. Care to expand on it or add something new?
    – FreeMan
    Commented Dec 6, 2021 at 13:01

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