Drawer Slides for Assembly Table Drawers

[chris weir]

I'm almost finished building a new assembly/outfeed table and just need to install drawers on the long side of the table. I have a center divider in the table, with 2 plywood boxes - each box interior is 22.75" width x 21.75" height x 21.5" depth that will hold the drawers. I want the drawers flush with the front of the table, and will most likely use drawer slides. I've never used drawer slides, but they don't look too complicated to install.

I'm planning on making and installing 4 drawer boxes on each side, about +/- 4" tall with applied drawer fronts about 1/2" larger on all sides. I'm considering either a recessed cut in the drawer fronts instead of a drawer pull, or using drawer slides with a push to open feature.

So....I'm looking for advice on good quality drawer slides, hints on installation of the drawer slides, and recommendations for opening the drawer without a drawer pull. Also - how much clearance do the drawer boxes need to accommodate the slides?

I was also considering wood runners attached to the box, with grooves cut into the sides of each drawer, but this seems like more time/work and perhaps not as accurate as drawer slides.

Thanks for any assistance!

IMG20240224163919.jpg

[Cameron Wood]

I would just have the drawers ride on hardwood cleats and some wax. The drawers are deep enough to pull out most of the way. I have various shop drawers like that with over 100 lb contents, in service for decades.
For no-handles, make the drawer front 1 1/2" lower than the sides. Something to grab, & you can often put stuff in without opening the drawer.

[Michael Burnside]

I helped a friend build some in his shop and I’m a big fan of Knape & Vogt heavy duty drawer slides. Super smooth and can handle quite a bit of weight. They are also stupid simple to install IMHO.

Cameron’s idea is good too, just might need to wax the slides periodically if they get sticky.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I like drawer slides, and prefer them over wood runners. I put full extension drawer slides in the kitchen cabinet under the counter and they are very smooth and convenient. The ones I bought worked out to around $10 a set, as I recall, and I was pleased with them. I can't remember the brand but will look in the shop where the extra ones are. I think I bought them on eBay

[Don Stephan]

Knap and Vogt full extension drawer slides are great, have used them for decades. I would be concerned about sawdust accumulating in the drawer boxes if the top of the applied front were cut down.

[Lee Schierer]

I really like K&V full extension soft close slide. A pair is rated at 100 pounds. They are very smooth and hold up well.

[Michael Zerance]

I would just have the drawers ride on hardwood cleats and some wax.

I like this idea best. I had several cabinets in my old shop that utilized side-mount drawer slides and the sawdust gummed up several of them making them stick and difficult to open and close, and some of them seized up completely and were inoperable. Granted, they lasted about 10 years but regardless, in my new shop, the plan is to use cleats/runners to avoid any issues.

[George Yetka]

I have used knaps and some cheepies I found on amazon for the garage. I would go with the K&V unless you want to spring for undermounts. In which case the Blums are great but I have heard Selina are good also


Woodworker express has good pricing on most cabinet hardware

[mike stenson]

In the shop I go with k&v. Better load handling than a hardwood runner, and the drawers are full extension. To be honest, kitchens and shops are the only place I use ball bearing guides.

[Tom Bender]

All the same depth is a bad plan, a lazy plan. Set out on the bench what you plan to put in each drawer then size the drawers for that. A deep bottom one for power tools, shallow ones at the top for hand tools like screwdrivers and chisels. From the top something like this would serve better;

2 1/2" Hand tools

2 1/2" Measuring and marking

4" Hardware

9" Power tools

[Patrick Varley]

I've used an offshore brand of bearing slides from Amazon (Aolisheng) for shop projects, and for the price I can't complain.

For budget undermount slides, I've used the value line from Cabinet parts.com and also had a good experience. Can't speak to their longevity yet, and they aren't being used in an application that's going to deal with heavy cycling or large amounts of weight. (https://www.cabinetparts.com/p/cabin...2U18SC-p122009)

One tip that definitely helped me with bearing slides is to minimize dependence on measuring/marking as much as possible. I cut scrap plywood pieces to serve as a reference, then let the slides rest on that for installation. Then the slides are almost guaranteed to be matching on both sides. Then you cut the spacer for the next height, and let it rest on the slide below.

I have also found the Kreg drawer jigs helpful for installing the slides on the drawer box. There are other ways to do it, but it was worth the $30 to me.

Finally, while it's great to have the dimensions spot on, with the bearing slides I've found that when it's easier to deal with slightly undersized drawer boxes by using shims. On oversized drawer box can be fixed, but usually takes shaving some off the side (usually by creating a dado/recess for the slide) which takes a bit more effort.

If you're looking for a way to avoid drawer pulls, easy enough to make a template for a finger/hand pull on the top of the drawer front. Then jigsaw out the majority and use a router with a pattern bit to trim the rest.

Peter Millar has a pretty good video on this: https://youtu.be/eK8NlFYfUMc

He purposefully uses a recess for the slide on the drawer to maximize drawer width. But I also like his method of building the drawer box directly off the cabinet box. Not the most efficient way if you were going to batch out a large number, but for small cabinet, can minimize the pain of having drawer boxes that are mis-sized.