Making drawers

[David]

I'm fitting out a home office at the moment - currently scratching my head over a drawer unit. Plan is for a worktop to be incorporated into an alcove (an old chimney breast), below which will be a small locker to the left, adjacent to a stack of three drawers to the right. Whole lot is made from maple-effect Contiboard, other than the drawers which I'm getting as prefab kits from

(I bottled out of making them from scratch I'm afraid).

Where I am at now is that I have fitted the Contiboard sides into the alcove (duly padded out as needed to ensure all corners of the unit will all be 90deg), and the locker and door is complete. So I just have a hole to fill with drawers.

The exact heights of the drawer fronts are obviously defined by the height of the adjacent locker door (allowing two 3mm gaps between the drawers). Making the drawers themselves shouldn't be a problem (haven't ordered the bits yet!). But where I'm a bit stuck is where and how to place the runners. Clearly the positioning is absolutely critical for the drawers to run freely and for the fronts to be at the right height. I can't quite see how I'll be able to access the inside of the unit to mark up screw positions with the drawers closed.

Maybe all will become clear once I have obtained the drawer components; but I'm sure others must have done something similar in the past and might be willing to share their experience?

Many thanks David

[Paul Mc Cann]

snip

The easiest way is to use false drawer fronts. Fxing these last allows you to get that perfect gap all round the fronts even when the drawer carcases are all awry.

What type of drawer runners are you intending to use? Bottom fix are easier to get your head around when you are in a fix like this. Starting from the bottom allow 3-6mm to the position of the first drawer bottom then place the rest as you will .

Easy on a computer if you have the facility or lay it out life size on a sheet of whatever you have available

Paul Mc Cann

[John Forbes]

Unless you're using full bearing runners (the expensive type, for heavy loads) one bit of the runner (A) screws onto the bottom (or side) of the drawer and the other bit (B) screws inside the carcase. What I've done before for (B) is to make a plywood template with holes where the screws need to go - something like a big set-square. Then as long as you set the template at the right height(s) you can mark each set of screw holes for each runner on both sides of the carcase, use bradawl to avoid drill slippage on contiboard, then screw on with manual screwdriver.

John Forbes

[David]

Thanks Paul. Yes, the above makes sense, and in fact fortuitously that's what I'd planned. The kits I'm using are 3-sided drawers; so I'll fit them and the runners first and add the fronts last of all.

The kits come with runners half-way up the drawer-sides, but I think I can get my head round it now! Many thanks.

David