Why drawer slides

[Bill Dufour]

Why use drawer slides. I understand them in the shop and kitchen with heavy drawers that get used a lot. How about bathroom and bedroom cabinets with out heavy loads.
Are they easier to install then all the runners for conventional drawers? The cost for slides seems much higher then a little wood.
Bill D

[jack duren]

For long term use you better with a drawer hardware. There less than $5 a set...

[Doug Dawson]

Why use drawer slides. I understand them in the shop and kitchen with heavy drawers that get used a lot. How about bathroom and bedroom cabinets with out heavy loads.
Are they easier to install then all the runners for conventional drawers? The cost for slides seems much higher then a little wood.


They just feel good. There's a lot of pleasure there. Should there be any other reason? But more practically, they protect you from the vicissitudes of wood movement affecting how the drawer opens and closes. Metal moves less than wood, as you well know.

[Paul F Franklin]

Out of all the repairs I've made to furniture over the years, I would say repairing problems with drawers is at or near the top in terms of number of repairs. They stick, the runners come loose or break, etc. This is not at all to say wooden guides cannot be made that will work well and not break; of course they can. But it takes more time and care to make and fit the drawer, and careful design to accommodate wood movement with humidity, and for less than top of the line furniture, that care is rarely taken by the manufacturers. Metal slides are fast to install and the better slides can be adjusted after installation to align the drawer. They also offer features like full extension or even overtravel, and soft/self close that a lot of customers like. Such features are not practical with wooden guides. Metal slides do not exactly shout "fine furniture" but I find I use them more and more these days because of the practical considerations.

[John Lanciani]

full extension and the drawers don't fall on your toes if you pull too far.

[glenn bradley]

full extension and the drawers don't fall on your toes if you pull too far.

This! When I build for clients they generally want side hung or web frame wood-on-wood because it is more 'traditional' and speaks to 'craftsmanship'. Same goes for dovetailed drawers. I am happy to do any of these for the client but, I often show them my own 'traditional' looking furniture with the nice, smooth, full-extension capabilities and about half of them see the light.

I will also chime in that before I decided restoration wasn't for me I would put drawer problems at the 90% mark for things wrong with pieces brought to me. this doesn't mean wooden runners aren't good. I use them. I use them on smaller drawers that will see light loads and light use. Even hard maple will start to degrade in a silverware drawer in the kitchen long before the rest of the fixtures do. JME.

[Lee Schierer]

Drawer slides allow the drawers to slide in and out in all weather conditions. Runners can swell in high humidity locations and cause the drawers to stick. Also on most antique furniture, the runners are worn out even though the dresser/cabinet is still fully functional. As others have stated you also get full extension and drawers don't accidentally come out and dump the contents.

[Mark Hockenberg]

The responses are pretty telling. Like most of us, I use drawer slides even on fine furniture projects. I just built a pair of nice cherry end tables with dovetailed drawers and used Blum Tandem undermounts rather than building runners.

The undermounts are invisible and work way better than runners. I know I won't have any problem with them for years...

[Frank Pratt]

For long term use you better with a drawer hardware. There less than $5 a set...

I'll argue that the cheap slides are not worth using. If using slides, they might as well be of decent quality and full extension.

[johnny means]

I sometimes have to do shop made wooden drawer runners. Doing it right far eclipses the cost of any ready made hardware.

[jack duren]

I'll argue that the cheap slides are not worth using. If using slides, they might as well be of decent quality and full extension.

There I my cabinets since 1999. There fine for kitchen or bath. A shop with overloaded drawers now that different story.

Usually when there is a problem with the cheaper drawer guides used by local cabinet companies is being installed incorrectly .

Most shops are going to use the best bang for the buck because they buy in bulk. If one want a high weight count it can easily be changed...

[Robert Engel]

I've been using some of the cheap self closing slides you see on Amazon for various shop cabs.

So far I've been pretty impressed. Sure saves a lot of money!

[Bill Dufour]

I never heard they could be adjusted after installation in case things are not square. You folks do make then sound easy to use.

[Brian Holcombe]

I make furniture and I don’t use drawer slides.

My desk is pretty high use, so I made Teflon runners for it. In nine years of daily use I’ve yet to notice a difference or any drooping.

[John TenEyck]

I think undermount slides put the aesthetc arguments against their use in high end furniture to rest. For kitchen, bath, shop, and nearly every other application using metal slides is an easy decision for me. That's not say I don't like the look and tactile feel of traditional drawers on a cabinet. I do, but don't build period pieces very often.

Bill, nearly every slide has built on adjustment to help align the drawer box. Pull up the installation instructions for side mount and undermount slides from Blum, KV, etc and you'll see.
John

[Christian Hawkshaw]

I think undermount slides put the aesthetc arguments against their use in high end furniture to rest. For kitchen, bath, shop, and nearly every other application using metal slides is an easy decision for me. That's not say I don't like the look and tactile feel of traditional drawers on a cabinet. I do, but don't build period pieces very often.

Bill, nearly every slide has built on adjustment to help align the drawer box. Pull up the installation instructions for side mount and undermount slides from Blum, KV, etc and you'll see.
John


I completely agree with you on the undermount slides. While most of the furniture I have built have side hung drawers on wooden rails (like Stickely does), I have built one piece with Blum undermount slides. You don't really know the slides are there.

[Edward Dyas]

Why use drawer slides. I understand them in the shop and kitchen with heavy drawers that get used a lot. How about bathroom and bedroom cabinets with out heavy loads.
Are they easier to install then all the runners for conventional drawers? The cost for slides seems much higher then a little wood.
Bill DGenerally kitchen and bath cabinets are a different class of woodworking than furniture. I don't mind using slides in cabinets but use conventional drawers in furniture.

[Carl Beckett]

I do some of each. For my more heirloom type pieces I do wooden. For drawers that get used a lot, kitchens, bathrooms, shop cabinets, etc, I use metal. Some soft close some cheapies.

Note even good quality metal slides in a high use area like a kitchen or tool box will wear out eventually. My kitchen was built in 1970 and they are all going, but that is pretty good life.

The wooden ones, depending on how you do them, can be susceptible to seasonal movement.

I have had good luck with NK style wooden slides. They allow a larger bearing surface and run smooth and less seasonal sticking.

[Edwin Santos]

I don't think I've seen two of the biggest reasons for metal slides mentioned in the responses yet.

1. A ball bearing slide will reduce the load on the drawer substantially and increase its life, which is especially important for drawers that may be heavy with contents.

2. For a furniture maker, a drawer that is wider than it is deep presents a considerably greater binding challenge. This is why traditional furniture makers broke up pieces into multiple drawers on a row, at least as much as they could. Anyone who has ever struggled with a wide dresser drawer that binds knows what I mean. Ball bearing slides changed the game and allows us to design without these restrictions and end up with a silky smooth running drawer, even when loaded.

Don't want to see metal? Blum Tandems and Hettich Quadros are your ticket.