Oversize Drawers

[Scott Welty]

No not boxers! My client for whom I'm building the under the stairs drawers wants to use 'all the space'. This leads to some drawers that are 36 wide and 36 deep on full extension glides. Not sure what they plan to put in there but that's a big drawer and when out all the way, that's a big lever. I certainly plan on 1/2 inch bottoms. Other suggestions on construction and glides if I can't get them to back off on this depth.

[Dave Zellers]

These will handle it.
http://www.leevalley.com/US/Hardware/page.aspx?p=46578&cat=3,43614,43616&ap=1
I've used them, they are worth the money. As are their 400 lb slides.

[glenn bradley]

The glides are available at a price equal to their task so that's no problem. I would try to get them to see that one giant "box" like that will just get too full of stuff to be useful unless they have a specific requirement. Its like the oversized Rubbermaid storage bins; they have so much stuff in them you don't know what you've got where . . . IME anyway.

[Jim Dwight]

How deep are they? Depth makes it harder to find things for me than length and width of a drawer. If you made at least some of them relatively shallow they might not be bad. It might be a good idea to make the whole drawer of 3/4. It adds weight but also strength and rigidity.

[Lee Schierer]

I recently built some slide out shelves for my wife's pantry that used 28" full extension slides. I used KV8450FM™ SOFT CLOSE SLIDES with a 100# capacity, but I think they are limited to a 24" drawer width.

[Patrick McCarthy]

Scott,

I have to agree with Glenn; too big means too much stuff to sort/dig thru in order to retrieve anything.

How tall are the sides going to be?? ( I assume when you said 36 deep, you meant front to back)

If these have 4 inch sides, then they will be more like sliding shelves than weight laden drawers . . . . .

[Dave Zellers]

If we assume a 7 1/2" rise on these stairs, then it is 6 3/4" from the top of one tread to the bottom of the other if the treads are 3/4". Then subtract 1/2" to 3/4" for the bottom of the drawer and these drawers are at most 6" deep. Not all that deep. I'm with the client- Maximize the drawers and minimize the wasted space.

Of course, it sounds like these drawers will be on the side of the stairs, and not bound by riser height. (thinking while I type...) So design the drawers around how they intend to use them (as a previous replier said). If you have big bulky towels or sweaters to store, you need big deep drawers.

[Patrick McCarthy]

Dave, I assumed they were on the side . . . . . . but maybe the Riser will be the Drawer Front??? never envisioned it that way, my bad.

Scott, back to you; obviously we need more information!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dave Zellers]

They must be on the side, that's why they're 36" long. It was my bad to think otherwise. Duh.

[Scott Welty]

Yes the drawers are on the side. Good point about making the client decide how they drawers might be used in the future. I think they only went from my 11 drawer design to my 6 drawer design because it's a little cheaper. We'll see. Thanks for all the advice.

[Malcolm McLeod]

I made curly cherry dressers in 2nd floor bedroom that are built into the knee-wall on each side of the room. To take advantage of the angled space behind the wall, I made the case and drawers increase in depth (horizontal) as they got closer to the floor. Result was a 12"D top drawer and 36"D bottom drawer. (Drawer heights are graduated as well; width is 24".) Because the bottom drawers are both deep and tall, I faced similar decisions.

I used full extension guides rated at 150#/pair. I'm not storing cases of bottled water, but guides have been more than adequate so far.

I was worried about the lower drawer's 1/4" birch ply bottom sagging, so ran a horizontal 'stile' (not sure what else to call it) to split the bottom into two sections. The stile is 3/4"H x 2-1/2"W maple and is mortised into the front and back of drawer box. Sides of stile have dadoes to match the bottom dado of drawer boxes. (The stile projects 1/4" into the drawer, so interior bottom of drawer is not perfectly flat.) Each of the 2 bottom panel sections are 100% supported in the dado. Again, more than adequate so far.

I was pretty well locked into the 24W X 36D drawer size and already had the 1/4 ply, so wanted the extra support. I considered putting the stile under a 1-piece bottom to hide it, as well as provide a smooth bottom, but it would have reduced the internal height.

If you use 1/2 ply drawer bottoms and a stile, I would think you COULD store bottled water - - but I might look for 400# drawer guides. (36 x 36 x 8 full of water would weigh 384#)