By depth I mean from the front of the drawer to the back of the cabinet.
My question is what would be the minimum reasonable depth for a drawer?
I am designing a cabinet to fill a space, but the depth needs to be minimal due to it sticking into the room where a hallway enters.
Could I get by with say 12" deep drawers. Would I be able to find full-extension drawer slides that could be easily adapted to work with the shallow depth?
Thanks for advice. Oops, sorry, advise.
-Doug
Commercial full extension drawer slides are definitely available in 12" lengths. You won't have much wiggle room, but it should work (most brands are a little (1/4" or so) shorter than the specified length).
It's not a bad practice to design around hardware dimensions. Shop around for your drawer slides and then measure them before you build your cabinets.
Of course, if you use wooden drawer slides, you can make your drawers any depth you want.
Actually, you were correct the first time; it's "advice".
If what you want to fit into those drawers will fit, you'll be fine with
12" drawers if that's all the room you have. Buy the hardware first, before building the drawers.Dave
Better stated, "If what you want to STORE in those drawers will fit..."
Dave
I'd advise Doug to take your advice.
Rockler carries full extension drawer slides as short as 8", so the depth shouldn't be a problem. Just make smaller drawers. :)
When we built our kitchen cabinets, I had a water valve where a bank of drawers was supposed to go. I simply made the bottom drawer shorter than the others (about 16" front to back, compared to 22" for all the rest). It worked great, and you can't tell it's any different unless you pull the drawers out and compare.
I also made a built-in dresser for our master closet. The alcove was only
16" deep, so I ended up using 14" drawer slides. It works great too.Just recently I built a new computer desk, and one of the drawers fit in front of a cable access panel. Even though the cabinet was 24" deep, I only made the drawer 12" deep (for pens, paperclips, rubber bands, etc.) to clear cables and whatnot. Again, no problems with the shorter drawer.
Anthony
Doug,
Realizing your need for the depth. Have you thought about the height of that narrow of a cabinet? You may have some problems with stability on a high cabinet that is that narrow.
If it because it is in a narrow passageway you may be able to get away with a deeper base of about 1/3 the height and the upper 2/3 could be that 12" depth. That way hips and upper bodies can pass easier. And, legs don't need as much room to pass. Base could maybe be 18" in depth at most.
Just a thought!
Roy
The depth of his cabinet isn't stated. The depth of his drawer is limited because of the width of the location that it's located in.
I think you need to re-read his request. He does state:
Roy
Right, but he doesn't state that the cabinet itself is narrow, but he wants to limit the drawer depth because of the location of the cabinet "due to it sticking inot the room".
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