Advice on drawer (pullout) slides

[Mike Manning]

Guys. I posted back in July about some pullouts my wife wants me to add to her bathroom vanity. I got some great advice but I need some more about what drawer slides to use. I'll be adding 3 pullouts to both the left and right side of my wife's vanity. The problem is that there is a hinge on the door where I need to attach the slide. It is 1.5" above the bottom of the face frame. It would be great if there was a slide that was only an inch in height but I'm not having any luck finding one. I'd been planning on 3 pullouts each 4 5/8" tall with 3/4" space between the pullouts. The hinge is 2.5" and starts like I said at 1.5" above the bottom of the face frame so I figured I really need to use a bottom mounting slide. Any thoughts or recommendations?

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[Matt Day]

If it's only one door, could you remount the hinge higher?

[Mike Manning]

If it's only one door, could you remount the hinge higher?

Good thought Matt. Just looked at it and the hinges can't really be moved. There is some kind of pocket which is imbedded into the door. Would be really ugly.

[Jerry Miner]

In our shop, we use Blum 563H under-mount slides. They work great, and will not interfere with the hinge provided you pack-out the mounting location to get your pull-outs to clear the hinges, and size the pull-outs appropriately.

Since the hardware sits below the drawer box, we include a "dropped lip" on the p.o. front to hide the hardware.

[Mike Manning]

In our shop, we use Blum 563H under-mount slides. They work great, and will not interfere with the hinge provided you pack-out the mounting location to get your pull-outs to clear the hinges, and size the pull-outs appropriately.

Since the hardware sits below the drawer box, we include a "dropped lip" on the p.o. front to hide the hardware.

Jerry, what do you mean by "pack-out the mounting location?

[Jerry Miner]

Jerry, what do you mean by "pack-out the mounting location?

The cabinet portion of the slide mounts to the side of the cabinet, and there is a certain horizontal distance between the mounting location and the box side (which depends on the box side thickness).

Since you have a hinge that projects into the opening, the slide will have to mount "inside" the hinge projection, so filler material is used to "pack-out" --or adjust horizontally--- the mounting location:

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[Jerry Miner]

In thinking about this a little more, you may still want to move the hinge, as the cabinet portion of the Blum slide is about 2" tall, so could still interfere with the hinge.

Alternatively, you could mount the slides deeper into the cabinet and behind the hinge--and either push the whole pull-out back or build the drawer box to allow the mounting clips to be installed a bit "rearward".

All of this is harder to explain than to do. I think it is always best to plan for the hardware at the design phase of a project, rather than after the build.

Another option would be a "low-profile" side-mount slide, like this (http://www.cshardware.com/kitchen-and-bath/slides-and-drawers/ball-bearing/39-1130-16.html?gclid=CL-hg5bPptACFQkJaQodQFEPgQ)

You would still need to pack-out the mounting location, or use a spacer (http://www.wwhardware.com/bainbridge-single-tab-plastic-drawer-slide-spacers-bx36single)

[Mike Manning]

Agree and understand on the "best to plan for the hardware at the design phase" but I haven't started making sawdust yet. Adding these pullouts to pre-existing cheap cabinetry in our home and just didn't realize the height of the drawer slides were going to be such a problem with the existing hinges. Appreciate your advice and that nice drawing above!

[Paul Girouard]

Guys. I posted back in July about some pullouts my wife wants me to add to her bathroom vanity. I got some great advice but I need some more about what drawer slides to use. I'll be adding 3 pullouts to both the left and right side of my wife's vanity. The problem is that there is a hinge on the door where I need to attach the slide. It is 1.5" above the bottom of the face frame. It would be great if there was a slide that was only an inch in height but I'm not having any luck finding one. I'd been planning on 3 pullouts each 4 5/8" tall with 3/4" space between the pullouts. The hinge is 2.5" and starts like I said at 1.5" above the bottom of the face frame so I figured I really need to use a bottom mounting slide. Any thoughts or recommendations?

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Move the hinge up , it's easy to do, well sort of. They make plastic inserts to cover the old bore hole , or you could get a 32MM plug cutter and plug the old bore hole.

Or as the one guys is saying , although I use the term "Pad out" not pack out. It can be a PITA to adjust the hinge with the P.O. In the opening , but IF you pad out the lower slide so your PO will miss the hinge you'll be fine.

Another option would be floor mounting a tandem style drawer slide , again the lower PO just need to be narrower so it clears the hinge.

It's all do-able if you have the skill set to understand the directions you've been given.

[Dan Rude]

Why don't you consider the door to be the end of the pull-out, this would eliminate this problem. I did this on my pantry pullouts. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/asset.php?fid=188868&uid=35336&d=1303787118 http://www.sawmillcreek.org/asset.php?fid=188867&uid=35336&d=1303787112http://www.sawmillcreek.org/asset.php?fid=188869&uid=35336&d=1303787126 The same concept should work for you. Dan

[Mike Manning]

Not following you Dan and the pics are viewable for me.

[William Young]

This may be something that you are totally against doing, but my first thought is to eliminate the door and make drawers with overlay or flush fronts.

[Mike Manning]

This may be something that you are totally against doing, but my first thought is to eliminate the door and make drawers with overlay or flush fronts.

My wife wants the POs behind the doors.

[Paul Girouard]

My wife wants the POs behind the doors.



Guess you'll be doing PO then! LOL.
One thing to consider is there's a lot of space on the LH side, it might be wise to add a vertical partition on that side for a couple of reasons.
#1: You'll need some means of attaching the drawer slide.
#2: Stuff that falls out of the pull out will be hard to retrieve , or considered lost as it will not be easy to see it or reach it.
So it might be easier in the long run to just attach a cleat vertically set back 3/4" , and then attach the partition which only need to be the height of the door opening. or a inch or two higher to insure stuff can't get knocked off and go behind the partition.

[Justin Ludwig]

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Blum requires 1" of clearance for their full overlay hinges and 1-5/8" for the inset half crank. Your hinges look very similar to Blum full overlay. This picture shows 1" QuikTray pilasters, but a 1" wide board will work just the same. A board could be placed horizontally like in Jerry's drawing. You have to take into account the thickness of a side mount guide (normally 1/2") or the offset of Blum's 563" which is 11/32".

[Chris Kiely]

Make the drawer smaller - i.e. add a fur out strip just underneath the hinge. Use the lower row of screws on the glide to fasten to this strip if the hinge is interfering.

This is truly how pullouts are made - they should be quite a bit narrower than the opening so they do not hit the inside of the door and scratch the heck out of it. :)

[Paul Girouard]

Blum also sells a bumper for pull out drawer:

The bumper then hits the back of the door instead of the hardware , lessen the scratched door thing just mentioned.

Rok Hardware Blum Drawer Slide Bumpers for Roll Out Shelves, 10 Pack$5.99


Quantity: 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+

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Estimated delivery Nov. 17 to Nov. 25
Add to Cart

[Dan Rude]

Mike, use the existing door as the drawer front. Have a couple of shelves inside the slide out shelf. This eliminates the need to have the hinges open wide enough to allow the rollout. Just a thought. My pantry was much bigger of course. The slides I had to use due to weight are for file cabinets. Sorry,it was not clear. For lighter stuff, use an under mount or side mount slide to do it. Dan

[Mike Manning]

Make the drawer smaller - i.e. add a fur out strip just underneath the hinge. Use the lower row of screws on the glide to fasten to this strip if the hinge is interfering.

This is truly how pullouts are made - they should be quite a bit narrower than the opening so they do not hit the inside of the door and scratch the heck out of it. :)

Chris, it isn't the width of the slides it's the height that's causing me problems. I'd already planned to use a 5/8" strip under the hinge and to use slide sockets to attach the slides at the back of the cabinet rather than "pack-out" the sides horrizontally as suggested earlier.

[Davis Young]

You could try the Accuride 3732 low profiles. At 1.46" high, they are less than your 1.5" space, but just barely. https://www.accuride.com/media/2549/3732-r10-0408.pdf

[Chris Kiely]

Chris, it isn't the width of the slides it's the height that's causing me problems. I'd already planned to use a 5/8" strip under the hinge and to use slide sockets to attach the slides at the back of the cabinet rather than "pack-out" the sides horrizontally as suggested earlier.

Yes, I know. Just make sure the strip is wide enough so that the drawer glide clears the hinge. Could be an inch-ish..