Drawer Slide Supply Chain Shortage

[Joshua Bass]

How are you guys dealing with the long lead times on drawer slides? It seems Blum slides are out of stock everywhere. I've been waiting on my order since August. I finally ordered the K&V style and the ship date on those keeps getting moved as well. I have projects piling up that I cant finish because of this now.

[Joe Hendershott]

I had some Blum Tandem slides ordered in March and never got them. I've used them for years on every project and changing isn't easy for me. Latest project I went with the Grass Dynapro slides and am satisfied with them. Still tough to get and I have to look around for them, but I doubt I will go back to Blum. I'm pretty brand loyal but their supply chain issues have been worse than others. Yes, yes, I know all of the excuses but it is past time to get back on track.

[Patrick Kane]

Uh oh, i just ordered Blum tandems and the estimated ship date was the second week of January. If this is a 6 month lead time, then i will probably go with wooden runners for this small built in project.

[Joshua Bass]

Uh oh, i just ordered Blum tandems and the estimated ship date was the second week of January. If this is a 6 month lead time, then i will probably go with wooden runners for this small built in project.

My first estimated ship date was in September. It has moved every few weeks and still nothing.

[Mark Bolton]

My first estimated ship date was in September. It has moved every few weeks and still nothing.

The last info I heard with regards to Blum a month or so back was from another shop that had an order on backorder and they were like #4000 in the queue or something like that. I'd imagine Blum has a backorder list nearing 10K. We run Salice and Grass and supply has been sketchy but not off the charts.

[Tom Bain]

It’s pretty nuts … my understanding is Blum tandem’s are made in their NC facility, but correct me if I’m wrong on that. Are they sourcing the steel internationally? Or is it a labor issue? Definitely a head scratcher why they are so backlogged compared to other suppliers.

[Darrell Bade]

Blum seems unobtainable but I recently ordered some KVs and they were in stock at two places that I found on line. I generally use KVs anyway, have had good luck with them.

[Patrick Kane]

Blum seems unobtainable but I recently ordered some KVs and they were in stock at two places that I found on line. I generally use KVs anyway, have had good luck with them.

Darrell, are the KV undermount slides easy to install? This is my first time installing undermount slides, and blum has a lot of install videos.

Sounds like i am cancelling these blum slides.

[Erik Loza]

All my local shops are experiencing this. One of them told me that the various suppliers are rationing them, depending on what "tier" customer you happen to be. My suggestion was to explain the situation to their clients and possibly go with a different or more readily available drawer slide for the time being, just so that the install can move forward, then come back and install whatever the original spec was, later. Not ideal but who wants to store several kitchens worth of assembled carcasses on their own dime until this situation settles down?

Erik

[Orlyn Gaddis]

I ordered some Accuride full extension slides (3832 and 3932 series) directly from Accuride recently and they were delivered in less than a week.

[Scott Bernstein]

About two years I made a plan to build my own kitchen cabinets, having gotten into the hobby of woodworking 5 years earlier for that specific reason. After sketching out plans on paper, for some reason the very first thing I did was order Blum drawer slides and hinges. I hadn't even ordered wood yet or started building anything. I ordered about double what I would need of both, figuring my plans could change a little and I can use the extra for other projects. Sure am glad I did that! I also ordered about double the amount of Baltic Birch plywood I actually needed - very glad of that, too. I have plenty of solid wood and plywood for all kinds of projects. Just dumb luck - I did not intelligently predict shortages or price increases. Better to be lucky than good, I suppose.

[Joe Hendershott]

The last info I heard with regards to Blum a month or so back was from another shop that had an order on backorder and they were like #4000 in the queue or something like that. I'd imagine Blum has a backorder list nearing 10K. We run Salice and Grass and supply has been sketchy but not off the charts.

I've never used the Salice, how do they compare with the Grass slides?

[Mark Bolton]

Ive not had any trouble out of the Salice. I am always honest (even with Salice) that I love the Grass Dynapros. They are a beast of a slide and the clips are night and day (die cast and plastic instead of all plastic). But my distributor for Grass has gone poof and Im left ordering them on-line. The support from Salice across the board is beyond compare. And I can pull them from a couple sources and have them in a day in any quantity. (Hafele is one but spendy).

Blum has done a masterful job in the market and Ive had several slides, hinges, and other components in on jobs where we had to use them or as samples and Ive just never been very impressed with anything from them. I tried a bunch of KV MUV that a salesman shipped in and didnt care for them either. I run Salice by default now for undermounts and all hinges but if I had really good access to Grass I pretty much know I'd go back.

[Joe Hendershott]

Ive not had any trouble out of the Salice. I am always honest (even with Salice) that I love the Grass Dynapros. They are a beast of a slide and the clips are night and day (die cast and plastic instead of all plastic). But my distributor for Grass has gone poof and Im left ordering them on-line. The support from Salice across the board is beyond compare. And I can pull them from a couple sources and have them in a day in any quantity. (Hafele is one but spendy).

Blum has done a masterful job in the market and Ive had several slides, hinges, and other components in on jobs where we had to use them or as samples and Ive just never been very impressed with anything from them. I tried a bunch of KV MUV that a salesman shipped in and didnt care for them either. I run Salice by default now for undermounts and all hinges but if I had really good access to Grass I pretty much know I'd go back.

Thanks Mark. I'll order a couple of the Salice and give them a try.

I hate to have to change from one brand to another just because it slows things down, but Ill see how they compare. The Blum Tandem slides were fine before I got the Grass, now not so much. The Dynapro just seems better machined and have less slop than Blum, plus they seem to require less force to open them.. Perhaps Blum did me a favor- I know I won't go back to using them. Hoping someone will want the Tipmatic push-to-open option so I can see how well they work.

[johnny means]

I'm kicking myself for dumping a couple of hundred Grass slides I fell into a while back.