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View Full Version : Stair riser drawer: I want them to close when released



Roger Feeley
11-17-2022, 9:14 AM
I’m making a short stairway for my grandsons new room. It has sort of an elevated balcony. There will be only 3 treads. I hate to let space go unused so I’m thinking about drawers where the front would be the stair riser. But an open drawer would be a trip and fall hazard. I want a way that the drawer would close when released. I looked up self-closing slides and they only pull the drawer the last couple of inches.

my preference would have been to make the drawers come out the sides but there’s no room.

I can think of a couple of approaches:

1. Put the slides at an angle and let gravity do the work. In this case, I might build the stairs as cabinet carcasses and stack them.
2. Some kind of magical spring pulley thingy that would pull the drawer.
3. Make the spaces with no drawer, just a door into open space. The boys are 5 and 7 so you can guess how that would go.

Has anyone made drawers that close when released?

Maurice Mcmurry
11-17-2022, 9:29 AM
I have not. I have made under-stair drawers that access from the side and / or the back of the stairway. More like a stepped cabinet that one can walk up.

Dan Friedrichs
11-17-2022, 10:25 AM
Interesting idea. For #2, a pull spring might be all you need. Alternately, what if you had a "window weight"-type arrangement?

Walter Plummer
11-17-2022, 2:40 PM
What if the treads lifted up instead of risers pulling out? SOSS hinges would be good for this. You would probably need to use a lid stay to keep it open till you want to close it.

glenn bradley
11-17-2022, 2:41 PM
Or if the drawers pulled out of the sides, not the fronts?

Jamie Buxton
11-17-2022, 4:57 PM
With either the slanted side mounts or the spring approach, the drawer will slam closed. You might consider an add-on soft-close thing. Blum makes some which just contain the hydraulic piston found inside soft-close slides.

Ed Aumiller
11-17-2022, 5:28 PM
Can the drawers open from the back ??? Left open would not cause an accident...

Roger Feeley
11-17-2022, 5:42 PM
No space on the sides or back.
im liking Walter’s idea of just making the treads into box lids. Other than that, I think the reward of more storage (for kid crap) isn’t worth the risk.

Tom M King
11-17-2022, 5:42 PM
I would do without rather than do them that way.

Zachary Hoyt
11-17-2022, 6:21 PM
If the closing mechanism was strong enough to close the drawer all by itself I would be a bit worried about it becoming an arm biter, if for instance the 7 year old pulled it open and then let go while the 5 year old was still reaching into it.

John Kananis
11-17-2022, 9:41 PM
This just sounds dangerous. I can imagine walking down and catching on a 'stuck' drawer. Drawers in staircases belong on the side imho.