Drawer slide that slides both ways?

[Michael Dunn]

Does such a slide exist? I'm building a coffee table for a client. Initially I was planning to have two drawers. One on the front and one on the back. The piece is completely symmetrical. Then I wondered if I could build one drawer with two faces and have a slide that can be pulled out from either side?

Anyone know if such a slide exists?

[Michael Dunn]

Ok, so I should've googled it first. Their called two way travel slides. How would the drawer be built to allow for this type of movement? It seems that a drawer with two faces would not allow for this. Also, I plan to have the drawers inset. I have a SketchUp drawing, but it's on my laptop.

I'm at a wedding and shouldn't even be on my phone. Ha!

[Jeff Qualmann]

You'd need to plan on an inset style drawer front to make this work. Overlay fronts would not work for you.

[Ethan Melad]

dont forget that unless you (the client) have enough clearance to allow the drawer to open at least 1/2 the width of the table from both sides, there will always be an unusable area in the middle. theres also the possible annoyance of opening one side only to find that what you want has rolled/slid to the other side. personally, i'd say do 2 drawers, or even just one shallower drawer from one side.

in terms of installation, it will be critical to have a square drawer and square table; install the slides with the same setbacks at each corner or else it could bind or protrude unevenly at the corners.

[John Coloccia]

I would build two drawers. It will look goofy when you pull the drawer on one side and expose the hole/mechanism on the other, plus people will constantly be bumping the drawer open from one side and they'll have to go to the other to close it. In my opinion, those two way slides are more suited to industrial applications where you might have a workstation with people working on both sides, or maybe a rolling workstation so you can always get the drawer open regardless of where you roll it around to (i.e. you don't get trapped by a wall or other obstruction).

[keith micinski]

Related question on these slides. I have always wondered how this slide works never having seen one in person. It appears you have too have a gap of almost a half an inch for the drawer front to slide past the slide attached to the table. That is a ridiculously big gap for an inset drawer face. I must be missing something.

[Matt Meiser]

You could do no slide at all and just use wood runners lined with UHMW strips to make it slide easily. There's a shaker sewing stand that has drawers that open both sides that could provide some inspiration.

[Jamie Buxton]

You could do no slide at all and just use wood runners lined with UHMW strips to make it slide easily. There's a shaker sewing stand that has drawers that open both sides that could provide some inspiration.

Yeah, this approach works nicely. The big advantage of metal drawer slides is that you can get full extension. However, with this double-sided drawer, full extension probably isn't necessary.

A nice trick is to use magnets to make a detent for the drawer position when it is in the closed position. One magnet goes in the runner, and the mating one goes in the bottom of the drawer slide.

[Jamie Buxton]

I would build two drawers. It will look goofy when you pull the drawer on one side and expose the hole/mechanism on the other, plus people will constantly be bumping the drawer open from one side and they'll have to go to the other to close it. In my opinion, those two way slides are more suited to industrial applications where you might have a workstation with people working on both sides, or maybe a rolling workstation so you can always get the drawer open regardless of where you roll it around to (i.e. you don't get trapped by a wall or other obstruction).

Oh, you're being so practical. :) A double-sided drawer has a "gee whiz" factor that's nice in custom-built furniture.

[Brian Gumpper]

I have some that I think are 7" and unused, what size do you need?