Seeking Opinions on Drawer construction

[Ed Blough]

I'm building a cabinet for my bathroom.
I have the choice of using slides or not.

Side slides make for easy opening but take 1/2 inch of room from each side of the drawer and are probably the easiest to do.

A bottom slide will work but they seem to be a little weaker, but don't require the 1/2 on each side. And they are out of sight.

Or I could build the drawer like a dresser without any slides just guides on the side and top to keep the drawer from flopping around.

Thoughts preferrences and reasons why?

Thanks
Ed

[Chris Padilla]

Blum blue-motion underslides are very nice although a bit spendy. They are plenty strong and would be my choice.

What will the material of the drawers be? Mostly plywood? All hardwood?

[mark koopman]

My thoughts are that using wooden guides could be problematic due to the humdity changes that occur in a bathroom. ( i.e. Steamy Shower ;) ) I may be wrong but I think there could be some issues with that.

I have to agree with the above poster though the Blum undermounts are fantastic.

[Mark Rios]

Chris is da man on this one. I concur.











(HA!....Like I really know)

[frank shic]

i woudl go with the blum solo slides which are visibly out of sight but economically reasonable. you have to be aware that the undermount slide format will eat up some vertical space as well as horizontal space.

http://wwhardware.com/catalog.cfm/GroupID/Cabinet%20Drawer%20Slides/CatID/Drawer%20Slides%2C%20Undermount/SubCatID/Blum%26%230174%3B%20Solo%20100%23%20Class%20

[Jamie Buxton]

Blum Tandems are my default, because they have a very nice feel to them. However, they are expensive and they do eat airspace below the drawer -- TANFL.

The Accuride-type full-extension side-mounts may use a half-inch on each side of the drawer, but to my way of thinking, they gain you space over the simple box which you call a dresser drawer. The drawback to the simple box is that you can't pull it out all the way. The rear third of it is near-useless, and becomes just a place for junk to accumulate. Full-extension slides allow you to really use the whole drawer, and thus gain you space.

[Jim Becker]

There are hidden slides that mount at the outside edges and don't screw around with drawer width. I don't recommend center mounts...I used them in my kitchen for some smaller upper drawers and they are the one thing I really don't like at all in the job.

[Ed Blough]

There are hidden slides that mount at the outside edges and don't screw around with drawer width. I don't recommend center mounts...I used them in my kitchen for some smaller upper drawers and they are the one thing I really don't like at all in the job.

Jim can you give me more info about why you don't like the center slides?

Also aren't the side mounts that don't take any room the ones that must be inset into the side of the drawer? If there are others I sure would be interested.

[Jim Becker]

Ed, I find that the center mounts have just enough "play" to cause problems with my inset doors closing properly. Perhaps the ball bearing, full extension type would work better, but I didn't opt for that cost.

Here is the type I was referring to as "zero clearance" side/bottom mounts. These work really smoothly and I'd use them again. (They are not full extension, however, but neither are the center mounts I have on other drawers) They do not need any cut out on the sides of the drawer and only a small recess in the drawer back on each side if it extends below the drawer bottom.

42577

[Ed Blough]

Jim
Who is the manufacture or where do you get these? They seem like my answer.

Thanks for all you help

[Jim Becker]

I believe they are either Accuride or Blum and quite common, but I'm not home to even try and look them up...it was back in 2002 when I did the kitchen island as a prototype for the kitchen renovation in 2003. (Silly me...not using the same slides then... :( )

[Ed Blough]

I believe they are either Accuride or Blum and quite common, but I'm not home to even try and look them up...it was back in 2002 when I did the kitchen island as a prototype for the kitchen renovation in 2003. (Silly me...not using the same slides then... :( )

Jim
I still can't locate the exact slides. I found a couple slightly different designs on the Rockler site but they run from $30-$50 a pair and I need 10 pair. That is little rich for my blood. :o

If you come up the manufacture or where I can purchase the kind you show I would greatly appreciate it and perhaps a ballpark of what you paid for them.