school me on drawer slides

[Rick Moyer]

My drawer building experience to this point has mostly been shop cabinets that I used full ext slides that I purchased at Lowes. I am beginning a nightstand project soon and need some info to help me decide what slides I want to use for a few drawers it will have. I can modify the design to either face-frame or frameless at this point, as I don't have a set of plans per se, but I suspect I may go face-framed.

Regardless, I would like your opinions of what slides you prefer; manufacturer, style, mount type, etc. I can look up prices myself, so lets just discuss or compare slides relative to their quality, usefulness, mounting ease, etc. and I will factor in costs myself. I have no experience installing Accuride, Blum, etc. so what are the pros/cons of those and others, as well as undermount vs. side mount, etc. I'm leaning toward not making wooden runner slides, but if you're set on that tell me why as well.

edit: actually I believe the Lowes slide ARE Accuride, but I'm not sure.

[Prashun Patel]

I have a bathroom and some bedroom furniture outfitted with Blum "Tandem Plus Blumotion" slides. They are slow close and , full extension. I also like the locking mechanism that attaches the drawer to the slide. I find them to be reliable and feel good.

[lowell holmes]

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/pag...t=3,43616&ap=1

You can not go bad with Lee Valley. I wouldn't hesitate.

[Andrew Seemann]

Nightstands can be a little bit on the light side compared to other things with drawers, and they often sit on carpet. If you go with a drawer slide, you might want to make sure that doesn't have a lot of resistance to opening or closing. The full extension drawers slides I just used on a heavy oak desk would have been too stiff for a night stand, especially the last "lock" step.

If it was me I would probably use no drawer slides and just round the top and bottoms of the sides and put a little candle wax on them, mostly since nightstand drawers don't get opened and closed with the weight and regularity of a desk. If I was to do slides, I'd probably do the wheeled 3/4 Blum ones that mount on the side and bottom. However, the main reason I would do either of those is that it tends to fit how I tend to design furniture.

If do you go full extension, make sure it doesn't make the nightstand tippy.

[roger wiegand]

I wouldn't bother with glides for a nightstand, wooden runners will be fine. I wouldn't use exposed slides for any piece of furniture. The Blum undermount Tandem glides recommended above are great and out of sight. They are also easy to install if you plan ahead and size your drawer correctly. There is a guy "ahturf" on fleabay who sells them at a good price and provides almost instant service. I just put the heavy duty ones onto two new kitchen drawers I built to replace two badly built ones that had failed.

[Robert Chapman]

I have used Blum slides/hinges for years with never a problem. Go to Blum's website and ask for their catalog. If they still send it for free it is a great resource for any hinge/slide you may need. If it costs a few bucks spend the money - IMO it is well worth it.

[Jay Aubuchon]

I am in the middle of building a night stand. I plan to use wooden runners, a first for me. The two drawers are quite small.

[scott vroom]

+1 on wood runners.

[Cary Falk]

I have installed hundreds of the Blum Tandem slides. I have a bedroom set that has them. They are fine if you don't mind the lack of full extension. If you want to get fancy then you can do the undermount soft close. That will be what I put in the kitchen when I get that far. I wouldn't waste the time on wooden slides unless you are making a reproduction. They are a pain and the reason metal slides were created.

[Prashun Patel]

Thinking back, if you are doing a nightstand, and only need to make a couple drawers at most, I would also consider wood runners. It's a great project to learn on and they're not hard - just take a while.

[scott vroom]

I have installed hundreds of the Blum Tandem slides. I have a bedroom set that has them. They are fine if you don't mind the lack of full extension.

I believe all of the Tandem models are full extension. I first used them around 7 years ago and I believe they were full extension at that time as well. Where they initially designed as partial extension?

I'm using Blum 430E full extension Euro slides on my current project (kitchen). I haven't built the drawers yet and am hoping they are as easy to install as the partial extension 230M's. I paid $20/pr which is considerably cheaper than Tandems.

I prefer wood runners for small, light furniture drawers. But that's just a personal preference. I built small craftsman style nightstands for our bedroom using wood runners. If I were building large nightstands with heavy drawers I'd be inclined to go with metal.

[Cary Falk]

I believe all of the Tandem models are full extension. I first used them around 7 years ago and I believe they were full extension at that time as well. Where they initially designed as partial extension?

I'm using Blum 430E full extension Euro slides on my current project (kitchen). I haven't built the drawers yet and am hoping they are as easy to install as the partial extension 230M's. I paid $20/pr which is considerably cheaper than Tandems.

I prefer wood runners for small, light furniture drawers. But that's just a personal preference. I built small craftsman style nightstands for our bedroom using wood runners. If I were building large nightstands with heavy drawers I'd be inclined to go with metal.

Sorry I was thinking we were talking about these(standards).
https://www.amazon.com/230M5500-Stan...+drawer+slides

[Rick Moyer]

Well, while I could have gone with wooden runners for this project, I decided to "get my feet wet" with the Blum 563H slides. Although pricey, the nightstand is for me anyway so I'll spoil myself. Plus, I like the adjust-ability to assist with my less than perfect skills. Thanks for the comments.

[Roger Marty]

I find wood runners far easier than slides

[Rick Moyer]

My slides will be here next week and I'm not second-guessing my choice, but I'm curious... Can anyone compare the Blum563H with the KV8450FM? I'd guess each have their fans but hoped someone could enlighten me on either's merits.