position of integral drawer slides

[dadiOH]

As soon as I finish tiling our master bath I will be starting on his & her vanities.

The vanities will have a total of three drawer stacks, each with five drawers. Being lazy, I have arranged things so that all the drawers are the same width and length, only two diferent depths, so they will be easy to make :) I plan to suspend them with oak runners let into the cabinet sides.

My question is where - if any - is the best place on the drawer sides for the rabbet for the runners? I have made many drawers like this, always just cut the rabbets a bit above center but maybe near top is better? Or centered? Below center? Is there a "best" place?

All opinions welcome, experience and reasons are worth extra points :)

[Leon]

Rabbet? or Groves for the runners? Why not just let the drawers set on top of the runners?

I have made many drawers like this,

[Greg Guarino]

I have no experience, but I think I can give a reason (Physics). I think the closer the runners are to the height of the handles, the more likely the drawer will pull straight out, as opposed to tilting forward or back and jamming in the slots.

[Lew Hodgett]

-------------------------------------- Whatever floats your boat.

Lew

[dadiOH]

Dang & blast. Yes, of course, dadoes.

The drawers can't sit on top of the runners because there is nothing to impede lateral motion.

[dadiOH]

That makes sense, thanks, Greg.

In this case, there will be no pulls, just an arc cut out of the top of the front. These drawers will be recessed about 3" into the cabinets. The 3" is to make room for sort of a medicine cabinet thingy hanging on the back of the doors that cover the cabinets.

[Scott Lurndal]

Grooves, surely? A dado is across the grain, a groove with the grain.

[dadiOH]

What, I can't make vertical grain sides?? :)

How about "lengthwise excavation" :)

[John McCoy]

Greg Guarino wrote in news:m2rcsg$o33$1@dont- email.me:

Well, that certainly does make sense. I was thinking that all the examples I could think of of that style had the runner pretty much centered, but couldn't think of any reason I'd ever heard for doing it that way. But I think you have it.

John

[John Paquay]

+10 extra points for Greg's reasoning.

Definitely, placing the runner guides at (or as near as possible to) the same height as the pull will provide the smoothest action. Even in a case where the drawer will be very heavily loaded, this works well.

Ball bearing slides pretty much make it a moot point.

[Ed Pawlowski]

That would be my first choice. My bathroom vanities are made by Bertch and use self closing glides. Give the drawer a push and it closes gently. Sure, they cost a bit more but I figure I'm worth it.

[Leon]

I'm still confused, how do runners that slip inside the length of the drawer lessen lateral motion over the drawer sides simply sitting on top of the slides. I have never had issue with that set up?

[krw]

Ditto that. Projects like this take time and money. Saving a little money on slides doesn't seem to make much sense, IMO. I really like the bottom-mount Blum slides for this application.

Word of caution - don't store your stash of slides in an open-top plastic container in the basement under a leaking toilet. :-(

[dadiOH]

Perhaps we are misunderstanding each other...

If you make something like a web frame and sit a drawer on it, the drawer will slide in and out; it will also move side to side as there is nothing to stop it from doing do.

If you make grooves in the drawer sides and fit a piece to wood to it (slightly sloppy, 1/32 max.) and attach that piece of wood to a partition side, the drawer will move in and out but cannot move side to side (except for the "slightly sloppy") because the piece of wood prevents it.

[Greg Guarino]

I was wondering about that too; I had imagined a box with solid sides.

[dadiOH]

In my case, saving money doesn't enter into it. Not that I don't use slides, have a kitchen full of them.

In this case, it is simpler and more precise for me to simply plow grooves in the partition sides...one setup and I can do all. I take a length of oak that I have on hand (and for which I will probably have no future use) and fit it to the grooves, one size fits all. After I make the drawers, I'll plow grooves in them - sides, fronts and backs - and again, one setup does all. To me, that is easier, faster and simpler than fitting 60 separate slide pieces for the 15 drawers, YMMV.

Besides, I enjoy doing it. :)

[dadiOH]

Obviously, you don't make vanities so what do you make?

[Larry Blanchard]

For construction grade, I agree. But if I'm making a piece of fine furniture, metal drawer slides just seem out of place to me.

[Larry Blanchard]

Drawers that sit on a web frame usually have a small strip glued to the top of the web frame on each side to prevent lateral motion.

[krw]

They don't to me and I don't understand that mentality at all. I can understand not wanting the normal side-mounted ball-bearing guides but bottom-mount guides can't be seen. Our Amish-built dining room and bedroom furniture is certainly not "construction grade" and use the bottom-mount self-closing guides throughout. The Cherry isn't even painted! ;-)

IIRC, this is in a bathroom, so humidity is to be expected. Of course it's a personal thing, but I wouldn't use anything other (than bottom mount self-closers).