I just found this out and I feel silly.
I’m very picky with my storage systems. In every game I play I categorize how I place my items in the chest. Every game has different mechanics. Stardew is no exception to this. I always am taking things out and putting them back in as I don’t always like the order the sort button gives you. BUT!!!! it was today I accidentally placed a Big Chest on top of an existing normal sized chest already filled and on my farm. The game swapped the chests for me and kept all the items inside still accessible in the now Big Chest. This accidentally saved me so much time from taking everything out, pickaxing it, and putting everything back in, and sorting it to my liking.
https://redd.it/1hjbjqk@stardewvalley_en