Drawer slide recommendation.

[Kent E. Matthew]

I need to get started and finish a project. A missionish style double dresser. To solve some out of square face frame problems I have decided to make the drawers an inch short and from the back side screw on a face piece that will look like the front of the drawer that I can sand slightly out of square where needed. I would like the drawer to look like the regular mission style. Completely flush with the face plate when the drawer is shut. What would be the best drawer slide choice for this set up?

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c56/Goose5/dresserphoto.jpg

The right half is square. The left half is slightly off. I have no idea how I accomplished that.

[Sam Murdoch]

This is a pretty standard way to build drawer boxes in the world of kitchen cabinets. This is a 5 piece drawer box and a good solution for the problem you describe. If you are not concerned with "traditional" and are happy to use ball bearing drawer slides - there are very many options. Rockler sells their Topslide, which is a side mount full extension slide. Other companies - Lee Valley, Woodcraft etc. sell very similar products such as Accuride or Grant/Hettich. These require a 1/2" clearance on either side of the drawer and and will tolerate a total of 1/16" bigger opening. Best to keep the 1/2" an nearly precise as you can. The drawer box is built 1" narrower than the opening width and the added drawer front overlays the drawer slides x the 1/2" each side with say a 3/32" clearance. These type of slides can be 3/4 extension , full extension, or full extension +1" and are also available with soft close features. Another great drawer slide is an undermount manufactured by Blum. These are IMHO, the best for contemporary drawers. They require more parts and a specific way to construct the drawer box. Also, you need to study their product line and specs to get just what you need. I would NOT recommend this for 1 drawer. The side mounts are more builder friendly. Otherwise, for a more traditional detail you can just manufacture some wood slides. The details of that are for another post, or I'm certain a search on this forum will give you many examples.

[Robert Chapman]

I use Blum Tandem slides. They are under the drawer, fully adjustable, self-closing and soft closing if you want. They are very easy to install, work very smoothly. The drawers must be a given size. Check them out. By the way they are not cheap.

[Darrin Davis]

I used Ferrari Drawer Slides for almost a decade with no complaints. The are identical to the more expensive ones at a fraction of the cost. 14" start at about $6 a pair and 20" go for about $12 a pair. My lumber supplier changed to Fulterer brand drawer slides the last couple of years so we started using them for convenience. Again, with the Fulterer brand, no complaints. I cannot make myself pay $20 to $30 a set just because it has a name brand on it. I used the expensive ones and I can't tell the difference.

[keith micinski]

I wish I could agree with you but there is no comparison to a project done with good slides and one done with slides bought at the box store. I think I have used my last set of cheap slides. I am going to try the full extension soft close Topslides from Rockler to see how they do as a compromise but the Blums really are amazing.

[frank shic]

go with the blum tandems or an equivalent as previously recommended. if you're going to spend that much effort building a piece of furniture, why go cheap on the drawer slides? i hate seeing epoxy or side mounts on good-looking cabinets! please post final pics... when you finish (no rush we've all been here lol)! i'm still working on a bathroom renovation that's taken me over a year so far...