Drawer slides help the wooden cabinets to move smoothly and efficiently. You can mount drawer slides on sides, over and under the drawer box. Drawer slides are made up of plastic, wood or metal.
 The
best part about drawer slides is that they allow full extension
of the drawer from cabinet without any danger of the drawer falling
out. Drawer slides also contain a guiding channel that ensures free
movement of rollers. It is advisable that you attach drawer slides
to the front portion of wooden cabinets.
Selecting Drawer Slides for Wooden Cabinets
Attaching drawer slides to wooden
cabinets is an important task as the performance of your cabinet
depends on it. Selecting
drawer slides is more confusing than actually installing them. The
easiest way is to find out drawer weights, the drawer depth, and
then the mounting needs. After this, check out the available slides.
There are many types of drawer slides.
Light duty slides: They weigh up to 75 pounds, usually
used for home
cabinets.
Medium duty slides: They weigh
up to 120 pounds and can be used for home cabinets
too, especially ones that are really loaded.
Heavy duty slides: Load ratings range from 100
to 500 pounds, which makes them great to be used for lateral file
drawers, large storage
drawers and pantry pull-outs.
Specialty slides: They are best for cutting boards, pencil drawers and keyboard trays.
Side mount slides: They are mostly used for kitchen
cabinets and offer great variety of extensions, weights and
durability. Side mount slides mount on the drawer sides and interior
of the cabinet. Mounting is usually simple but it can become difficult
if face frame wooden cabinets are used.
Center mount slides: These are mounted under the center of the drawer and are lightest among all slides. Their mounting is very easy and they are a good choice for light duty drawers with special joinery, dovetails or fingerjoints. Center mount slides are slick options when you want an invisible slide in a medium weight category.
Under mount side slides: They add capacity to undermount center slides and are easy to mount. The slide is fitted inside the edges of the drawer sides, at the drawer's bottom. They are good, medium duty choices when you wish to show off special joinery, such as fingerjoints or dovetails.
Side mount underside drawer slides: They are inexpensive
and easy to install,
with good medium load rating of 100 pounds. They mount directly
to the bottom and inside of the cabinet. Their low cost and easy
installation makes them a good choice.
 Important Information for Attaching Drawer Slides
You need to know all about attaching drawer slides before actually
doing it. It includes depth, width, weight etc. Some of these factors
are:
Drawer Depth and Slide Extension
A full closed slide fits easily between the drawer front and the
rear of the cabinet.
Travel
It is also termed as extension and tells you how far the drawer can be extended from the cabinet. 3/4 extension gives good access, with 3/4 of the drawer length totally accessible. Full extension means the drawer opens to the full length of the slide; over travel means the drawer opens more than the slide's length.
Slide Movement
Slides move in stages; telescoping or progressive, with all parts moving at the same time. Progressive slide is the smoothest.
Disconnect
This feature enables you to take the drawer out of cabinet. In lever
disconnect, an internal lever releases the drawer. In rail disconnect
a rail latch lets you raise the drawer off the slide and out of
the cabinet. In friction disconnect there are no levers or latches;
you just keep pulling the drawer until it passes through the resistance
of ball retainer.
Sizing
When sizing the drawer slides, check thickness of the assembly,
as well as its width and length. If the slide is too thin for cabinet
assembly, you will have to shim. If it is too thick, it cannot be
used. Light duty slides might be as thin as 1/2", while heavy
duty slides may be over 3/4" thick.
To check the length of slides, always refer to the manufacture’s
chart where the drawer size and cabinet depth are stated. Usually,
the slide is sized to cabinet depth, with an allowance of an inch
and a half or so. You can exceed this allowance, using a much shorter
drawer and slide but this combination loses the available storage
space.
Bracket Assembly
If your wooden cabinet has a
bracket assembly then the task of attaching drawer slides to a wooden
cabinet becomes a lot easier. It is worth mentioning that bracket
assembly makes sure that the drawer slides can be adjusted laterally
once the installation
is completed.
Load Ratings
Look carefully at the drawer slides to check its load ratings, they
tell you about the amount of weight drawer slides can carry. Drawer
slides loading ratings test is normally implemented on an 18"
extension. Hundred percent static load safety ensures that drawer
slides will face no problem in holding minimum of the load rating
in stationary position.
A well attached drawer slide is very smooth and ensures free movement
of drawers. It gives a feeling of luxury making storage and putting
in and taking out of things an easy task.
Related Articles:
|