Cabinet drawer hardware question

[Wayne Fuder]

I am heading into uncharted territory for myself. I am currently making kitchen cabinets that will be used in my farm shop. We decided it would be nice to have a little nicer area for when we make sausages and smoked meats. Cabinets are something I have never made before and would like to get some advice from the seasoned pros who hang out here. I would like to use self/soft closing drawer hardware. My cabinets will accept 22" slides as the cab is 24" overall deep which includes the 3/4" face frame 1/4" back. What are the pros and cons of side vrs bottom mount hardware and what are the preferred brands and or models within those brands. Is one style easier to mount than another and where is a good place to buy? I look forward to your replies and helpful advice.

[Sam Murdoch]

The state of the art these days is Blum Tandems with Blumotion. These are undermounts with full extension and a self/soft close feature. You do need to close the drawer most of the way but then the slides takes over and pulls it in. The biggest advantages to the undermount over the side mount is that you don't loose 1" of cabinet/drawer width, you don't see the slides and you have a range of adjustability that is not offered by the side mounts. They are more expensive. My supplier is Atlantic Plywood - on the North East Coast. Others will be able to give you some best price advice.

Side mounts are fine and durable and easy to install but I very rarely use them and certainly my clients never ask for them, though once upon a time, in the not so distant past, they were all I used. They allow for deeper drawers in a given space but deep isn't usually as useful as the gained width of the undermounts. Accuride and KV offer a good side mount product but I'm out of the loop these days to suggest what is the current best product.

[Nate Conley]

Do you plan in having dovetails on the drawers? If so, they look way nicer without a drawer slide on the side. I personally would go with the undermount. Generally that's what is used for kitchen cabinets.

-Nate

[Justin Ludwig]

While I don't understand spending the extra cash on soft cl

[Justin Ludwig]

Grrrr. Mobile posting...

...on soft close, Blum Tandem are pretty darn sweet. Very easy to install and if you buy the 1901 locking device, you get extra adjustability (left/right, up/down) in the front of drawer which is great for inset cabinets.

You're gonna pay a premium for them no matter where you buy. Expect $25/pair (that's the guide and locking devices). The rear mount piece is optional and depends on your install method.

[Mel Fulks]

I agree with Justin. Don't understand the appeal. If you decide you didn't get the apropriate spoon or whatever ,you are either waiting for it to finish closing so that you can open it again or fighting the shock absorbers.

[Sam Murdoch]

I agree with Justin. Don't understand the appeal. If you decide you didn't get the apropriate spoon or whatever ,you are either waiting for it to finish closing so that you can open it again or fighting the shock absorbers.

I agree with this too. While clients want the newest they also seem to think they are getting the best, but that's the success of marketing and not necessarily a given. Me? I just close the drawer. Still, Blum Tandems are very good slides with or without the extra motion.

[William C Rogers]

I am just finishing making my kitchen and laundry room cabinets. I used side mount on the laundry room mainly because I got 14 pair KV slides off CL for $20 and I had a lot of pull out shelves. I am using Blum undermount soft close for the kitchen. Both are easy to install. I used Somerfield's tongue and groove system for the cabinet construction. It does make one strong cabinet. He has video's on YouTube showing his method. One advantage to his system is you can make any size cabinet. Another advantage is all his bits are matched where you can go back and forth without resetting the bit height.

[Jeff Duncan]

The appeal of the soft close is that it keeps the drawers from slamming when they close. I can say that I've never had a client that didn't want the soft close or was unhappy later on that they got them. As far as cost I don't think it's more than maybe a couple dollar difference between soft close on not. So figure for an average kitchen in the mid $20k range your adding what….$50 or so?

As far as fighting shock absorbers….not with Blum your not. At least not to any degree it's noticeable. I've had them in my own kitchen for almost 10 years now and haven't ever had to sit there and wait for a drawer to close to re-open it. They're great slides that hold up well over time. Side mounts would as well though….they're just really a different class of slide. These days you really only see them in lower end projects or specialty applications. Like extra deep drawers or SS hardware for exterior applications etc etc..

good luck,
JeffD

[Jamie Buxton]

Soft-close Tandems are now less expensive than self-close Tandems.

Details.. I'm comparing 563H (that is, softclose) 18" with 562H (that is, selfclose) 18" slides. At both wwhardware.com and ahturf.com, the softclose slides are a couple bucks less than the selfclose.

[Justin Ludwig]

I got distracted in the middle of my post because I was on my phone. What I meant to say was: "why soft close in a "farm shop"? I can't see justifying the extra cost there.

@Jeff - $50 or so addition to a $20k dollar kitchen? I don't follow. The last job where the couple wanted soft close in their home (96ln ft in the whole house), the cost increased $1300. This was upgrading from a TruTrac (Taiwan) full extension (a guide I find just as durable as KV8400's) to Blum 563H.

I hear people complain a lot about things not being made in the USA, but when it comes down to brass tax they don't want to pay x2.

[Jeff Duncan]

I got distracted in the middle of my post because I was on my phone. What I meant to say was: "why soft close in a "farm shop"? I can't see justifying the extra cost there.

@Jeff - $50 or so addition to a $20k dollar kitchen? I don't follow. The last job where the couple wanted soft close in their home (96ln ft in the whole house), the cost increased $1300. This was upgrading from a TruTrac (Taiwan) full extension (a guide I find just as durable as KV8400's) to Blum 563H.

I hear people complain a lot about things not being made in the USA, but when it comes down to brass tax they don't want to pay x2.

Justin, we're comparing the difference between soft close and self close, which if Jamie is correct are now cheaper then the self close? The difference between them and side mounts is of course much more, though I would never offer side mounts on a kitchen project. I've found on average I use about a dozen slides per kitchen….just an average though, there are exceptions of course. So total cost of the slides for an average sized kitchen is going to be in the neighborhood of say $300.

Now this is in the Northeast where we have fairly small though expensive homes. Not like in some parts of the country where the upper end of the middle class are building 5k + sq. ft. mansions which I'm sure could make use of a LOT more drawers Around here 96 LF would be nowhere near $20k. That kind of custom cabinetry would likely start in the $50k range and go up from there….but I digress….overall point was that the difference between self close and soft close is minimal and that clients expect them nowadays. Not to compare them with side mounts which are a different animal altogether

JeffD

[Justin Ludwig]

To put things in perspective on the last home I was referring to: that price was cabinets unfinished with no counter tops.

I know this is off topic, but... it amazes me the cost differences of homes and "woodwork" in general from metropolitan areas against rural and midwest homes. People out here look more to size than quality and think that size means quality. I find it very frustrating when trying to design unique cabinets in my area.