Drawer side stock?

3/4 inch or nominal 1/2 inch? The 1/2 inch is 7/16 alder from the local Menards. Drawer size is approximately 18" square.

Thanks!

Larry

Reply to
Gramp's shop
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Menards. Drawer size is approximately 18" square.

1/2 always

3/4 looks like crap... 1/2 looks right.

Reply to
woodchucker

Menards. Drawer size is approximately 18" square.

1/2" (7/16") is plenty. 3/4" would be way over kill. You'd lose space and add weight.
Reply to
-MIKE-

Menards. Drawer size is approximately 18" square.

Swingman and I actually used 3/4" maple for a high end kitchen/bathrooms remodel year before last. There must have been close to 50 drawers total. All dovetailed or rabbeted with added domino reinforcements. They looked rich.

That said, for kitchen or bathroom cabinets for a normal budget job I prefer 1/2" Baltic Birch.

If I were dovetailing absolutely 3/4" solid stock.

Here they are

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Reply to
Leon

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Reply to
Swingman

Even smaller drawers with 3/4" sides can be gorgeous:

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Reply to
Swingman

Either one but one may be preferable depending...

The 7/16 is fine as long as it is ample for whatever joint you intend to use.

The 3/4 is fine regardless of the joint. Especially if you intend to get max usefulness from the drawer. I almost always partition drawers by cutting 1/4" evenly spaced "V"s into the sides. That lets me easily make moveable partitions.

I also very frequently fit drawers - even very shallow drawers - with sliding trays. I do that by using 3/4" sides and making a wide 1/4" rabbet along the inside top of them. The rabbet is slightly wider than the tray will be deep and the bottom supports the tray. The rabbet also removes the top portion of the "V"s for the bottom part of the drawer. The trays can be either lift out (same size as drawer inside) or sliding (one half or less than the drawer inside); I generally do the latter.

"A place for everything and everything in its place" :-)

Reply to
dadiOH

+1
Reply to
Swingman

l Menards. =A0Drawer size is approximately 18" square.

This isn't an answer to your specific question, and I have read all the other posts about 3/4" being fine, but I'll tell you my story:

I built 2 slide out boxes for all of our plastic containers, one for the covers, one for the containers themselves. They each take up 1/2 of one base cabinet, i.e. one above the shelf, one below it.

I used 3/4" ply and bullnosed the top edges. They always look bulky to me when I extend them. Maybe it's because they aren't holding any "visual weight" but they just look overbuilt. 2 years later and I still wonder if they would look better had I gone with 1/2" stock.

I may be building all new drawers for my kitchen soon, so I am very interested in this issue. My current drawers, in 1950's stick built cabinets, are 1/2" stock. I do not plan on replacing the cabinets, just building drawers and doors.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Actually, it pretty simple. Go with what does the job, both cost effectively for your budget, and attractively for you and your design.

I use whatever is spec'ed by the client.

Many high end kitchens these days have a professional designer involved in the initial design and almost to a man/woman, they go with 3/4" thick drawer sides/components. There is something to be said for that in both looks and function once you see a well designed kitchen with well executed drawers of that thickness ... it does convey a sense of above average _custom work_ to a kitchen in the upper price range.

That said, I used 1/2" poplar for my own kitchen drawers and they do the job just fine and fit nicely in my budget at the time. Pretty cheesy by today's designer standards. :)

I've also built a ton of drawers for others using 1/2" pre-finished stock.

My choice is to "split the difference", and use 5/8" stock, which is what I generally put in the kitchens in the homes I build.

5/8" drawer thickness, IMO, gives you the best of both worlds, so is worth considering for your new kitchen drawers.

YMMV ...

Reply to
Swingman

I meant to add that you will certainly want to consider, before you make a decision about your drawer side thickness, the type of drawer slides you will be using.

While it is possible to use just about any thickness you want with some drawer slides; manufacturers of the modern undermount, self/soft close drawer slides will make it much easier for you to dimension your drawer widths for your cabinet opening if you stick to standard 1/2, 5/8 and

3/4 ... but be sure to double check.

In many cases, you may have to buy a specific submodel of the same slide for the corresponding thickness, so don't assume anything in that regard.

Reply to
Swingman

local Menards. Drawer size is approximately 18" square. ...

I personally prefer the thinner drawer sides aesthetically plus if one is using a side-mount slide one loses an inch of opening for the typical and 3/4" stock costs another 1-1/2" -- that's a lot of space to give up unless there's just unlimited room available.

I generally use either oak or soft maple to be stiff/strong enough and go no more than 1/2"--often even 3/8" for smaller drawers. Even a deep file drawer in oak is plenty stout enough w/ 1/2".

I also will round over the tops--I don't like the square edges.

Hadn't thought of the wide rabbet for the tray--that does handle the visual problem nicely but not the total width loss. If I'm going to do that I'll make a dado and inset a ledger strip and keep the same total thickness.

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Reply to
dpb

The 1/2 inch is 7/16 alder from the

Thank for your earlier post about using whatever stock "fits", budgetwise, etc.

What are your thoughts on bottom vs. side-mount slides, in general?

At the risk of hijacking this thread, do you have a source that you like for slides? I'll only need 5 sets for my kitchen.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

I think it's a matter of preference. That said, my experience has been that most folks think the 1/2" looks more to scale unless you're talking very large drawers.

Reply to
Larry Blanchard

Check your math. That "costs another 1 1/2" above is only operative if you're using no drawer sides at all. ;)

With today's undermount drawer slides it's even less. You rarely see a modern kitchen with sidemount drawer slides these days, particularly with the dovetail drawers that many around here are going to shoot for.

Reply to
Swingman

Unless the drawers are to handle heavy loads, I see no need for any drawer slides at all. A traditionally fitted drawer is much better.

Reply to
Larry Blanchard

My reply was directed to someone who was talking about kitchen drawers, not furniture drawers.

IME, "traditionally fitted" drawers are not going to be well received by the modern kitchen user these days.

Folks want soft/self closing drawers, and doors, in their kitchens now, often with other sliding components, none of which they are going to get with "traditionally fitted" drawers, at least not without the time and expense that would make it prohibitive to begin with ... they will want to put their money somewhere else where they get more bang for their buck.

Perhaps for some areas in the kitchen, but certainly not for the majority of the drawers in a moern kitchen, which, when loaded with the myriad of utensils and heavy cooking items these days, the friction sliding of a "traditionally fitted drawer", even with nylon runners, will have a very short life span.

Reply to
Swingman

Reply to
-MIKE-

----------------------------------------------------------- I like 9 ply (1/2") birch.

With a coat of shellac, the ply layers pop and they sure look purdy.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

I already have "traditionally fitted drawers" in my stick built kitchen cabinets and trust me, I'm going to use slides when I build the new ones. Even the nylon runners on the face frame and center bar don't help.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

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