Drawer slide & door hinge recomendations please

[Mike Holbrook]

I am about to start making cabinets for my shop. Construction material for the cabinets will be an inexpensive 3/4 Birch plywood. Door & drawer material will be 1/4" ply & solid wood frames.

I need to decide what drawer slides and door hinges I will be using, but I am new to this and have no experience with this hardware. I am hoping to get some suggestions here.

[Frank Pellow]

I really like these (http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.aspx?c=2&cat=3,43614,43616&p=50508) slides. I purchased one pair a couple of weeks ago and made a prototype cabinet and drawer. They work great and I am about to purchase 15 more pairs.

[Michael Perata]

Mike

For utility cabinets I would suggest Accuride 3832 100% Ext 100# Capacity

Whether your doors are inset or overlap I would not use Euro hinges as they take up too much room in the cabinet and will hang tools.

[Steve Wargo]

Mike,
Since I'm big into organization and I hate clutter, Anyone whose been in my shop can attest to this, I'm not a fan of drawers. I always feel like drawers are just a way of squirling away things and then I tend to leave them messy since you can't see inside of them. I like cabinets with big doors. So when I open them up everything is visible and I can't hide messes. I use euro hinges in the shop, because when I'm building a cabinet for the shop it is usually quick and dirty and euro hinges are just that. While they may not look great, just my opinion, they work excellent. I can't really comment on drawers, but I rarely use runners on furniture. Hope this helps.

[Ken Robb]

Mike,

Try the Shop Fox brand from Grizzly. They are the least expensive Accuride type drawer slides I've found.

Ken

[Byron Trantham]

I really like these (http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.aspx?c=2&cat=3,43614,43616&p=50508) slides. I purchased one pair a couple of weeks ago and made a prototype cabinet and drawer. They work great and I am about to purchase 15 more pairs.

Frank, you might try these folks.
http://www.dlawlesshardware.com/index.html

I bought some them the other day and I couldn't believe the price and quality.

[Lars Thomas]

Mike, one of your first decisions is to make frameless cabinets or if you will have a face frame. The follow article (http://www.rockler.com/articles/display_article.cfm?&story_id=27) explains the two alternatives. Personally, I prefer face frames - but just a matter of taste.

In either case, I would select the appropriate European style hinge. These hinges are easy to install and are generally able to be provide adjustability in two or sometimes three planes. This is important to get a good fit. Consider where the cabinet will be placed and how you will open the door. Different hinge types vary by how many degrees they open. Typically, they range from 100 degrees to 180. As far as I know you can’t get a 180 hinge for a face frame application. So your usage of the cabinet may dictate the cabinet design (vary Shaker of me, isn’t)

As for slides, you could go with some shop built wood slides. It could be as simple a drawer that exactly (with some wiggle room) fits an opening. You could also make sliding dovetails for the drawers to run on. This approach is a bit more involved.

If you elect to go with metal slides, you will want to have in mind what you will use the drawer for. Drawer Slides are rated according to how much weight they will hold and how far they open. In a shop, I'd guess they will be loaded with some heavy 'stuff'. I would resist the temptation to use 'Kitchen' style slides - which generally open only 3/4 of the length (i.e. on a 20" drawer, it may open only 15", leaving the last 5" difficult to access). I'd recommend looking at full extension slides like the Accuride 3732.

Depending on how many drawers you intend to build, the cost of slides can add up quickly. You can hit $18-20/per pretty quickly (and goes up from there - way up for specialized products).

For metal slides, the drawer is generally constructed 1” less then the drawer opening width (to allow room for the slides). If you are pressed for space (i.e.: a certain item needs to fit in the drawer), that may also be reason to consider wood slides. For my projects, I use metal slides for ‘utility’ type cabinets. However for nicer furniture, I stick to some type of integrated wood slide.

There is a lot to know about hinges and slides. So to answer your question (What to use for shop cabinets) I would use Accuride 3732 slides and Blum 3/8" Overlay (for face frame cabinets.)

I hope this explanation help. Lars

[Joseph N. Myers]

Mike,

After you decide on what your getting and price them out, try www.cshardware.com (http://www.cshardware.com/), 1-800-882-0009. The prices and selection are great and you might find as I have, that for the price, you can select better hardware and still save money.

Only problem is to receive the wholesale prices, you have to purchase at least $50. Prices are that good that you probably not reach that. Not to worry, they have plenty of other "must have" items you can spend your money on.

Regards, Joe

[Ray Arnold]

;) I'm new around here but you may want to check out this site for your slides
http://gliderite.com/

[Christian Aufreiter]

I can also recommend Blum hardware. Excellent quality and very nice features (adjustable, easy to install, ...).

Regards,

Christian

[Tony Falotico]

After you decide on what your getting and price them out, try www.cshardware.com (http://www.cshardware.com/), 1-800-882-0009. The prices and selection are great and you might find as I have, that for the price, you can select better hardware and still save money.

Recently purchased 20 sets 20" full extension (100 lb) drawer slides from CSH. Couldn't believe the much higher quality I got for less than 1/2 the borg price (a little over $6.60 per set shipped vrs $14.95 per set at the borg) Check 'em out!

[Mike Holbrook]

I lost this post. Glad someone revised it. Great links guys thanks a bunch.

Good point on the shelves vs drawers Steve. I am planing on more big doors with shelves than drawers. I want a few drawers for small items like measuring & marking devises that are easy to get to, in the middle of the room.

Lee Valley Frank, I should have known to check there, those look nice. the other sites look nice to, guess I have research to do.