: Quick DIY Installation Ideas

This is a tough subject to tackle in one article, but I'm going to give it a shot. There are a lot of topics to discuss like rails, faces, drawer assembly, etc... and the problem is that there are so many different options available and they tend to vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Some suppliers like to use existing rails, some use ball-bearings, some just regular friction glides. I'll try to cover what is available in the next two articles, but if you don't see what you need here, visit our forum and post a question.

Drawer Hardware

I've already mentioned a few of the hardware types for drawers, let's take a closer look. One of the cabinet supply companies that I use literally had 42 pages of drawer glides/slides. Every type of hardware imaginable and from several different manufacturers. Let's take a look at the different types of glides and then get to assembling the drawer.

Drawer Runners

This is probably the most common type of drawer slide. A channel mounts to the inside of the cabinet and a bracket with a roller mounts to the drawer. The roller fits inside the channel and provides smoother operation. There is sometimes a roller on the channel piece as well. This type can also be self-closing, they are angled at the end and if you get the drawer slightly closed, it will close the rest of the way on it's own.

Installation is pretty straight forward, you usually install the channel piece first and go straight back even with the height of the top of the rail, and the bottom of the channel piece. Be sure to install the channel piece level.

If you are changing drawer type, for example from friction to runners, you may have to do some modifying inside the cabinet. I've had to add stand-offs and mounting blocks in many cases.

Ball-Bearing Slides

These are by far my favorite type of drawer slide. A good set of these has very smooth operation and will stand up to hard use. They are more expensive though. They come in two parts that slide into each other and clip. You can get ¾ or full extension version, so they can be used to open the drawer ¾ (like normal drawers) or completely.

Installing these is basically the same as for the runners. Just detach the two parts, usually by moving a clip. Mount the drawer piece to the drawer and the cabinet piece to the cabinet. The only real difference is that with runners the location is dictated on the drawer. With these, the depth is dictated, but you have some liberty as to where they go vertically on the drawer. These type of sliders are popular in European style cabinets that don't have a face frame. If you do have a face frame, you'll probably want to chose concealed glides or runners.

Friction

The friction style drawer basically has a center drawer track and a backplate that is guided on the track. Some systems are real friction and that is all they have. Others have nylon glides stuck to the cabinet that provide for easier opening of the drawer. They might also have nylon rollers there. The glides and rollers mount on both sides of the opening, to the face frame on the inside of the cabinet, and the drawer rests on them.