information overload "drawer slides"

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16
Location
Spring Hill Kansas
Hello everyone first post here. I have been making things with wood for a while now and decided to join this site.
I have a question about drawer slides though. I am in the process of making the wife a stand alone kitchen pantry with pull out shelves/drawers inside.
There seams to be a whole lot of different ones out there from rather cheap prices to oh my heaven that's high prices.
Anyone have some ideas on what one to stay away from and what ones I need to take a better look at???????
Thanks in advance to all

Gary
 
i used KV brand and you can get them in full length opening and 100lb is a good weight, unless you have alot of canned goods but they hold alot at that rating ,, blum makes some real good ones as well accuride is another good brand..
 
Whatever you do---Use FULL extension glides.

I have a "Man's" 12 drawer chest. The drawers open about 4/5 of the way. I cuss the darn thing every time I use it. The only reason it is still around is that it is so handy otherwise, looks good and my wife was from the House of Glendowen (with all of the Scottish money implications that are used in humor). When we rebuilt the kitchen I insisted on full extension drawers and pull-outs. Myrna did not like the idea ($$$$) until she lived with them for a few days when said she loved them.

My shop cabinets all have full extension drawers, except for one; the first one. I didn't think it would matter if the shop cabinet drawers didn't extend fully; man was I wrong on that!!! Believe me the rest of the drawers extend fully.

That is my 2 cents worth.

Enjoy your new shop and cabinets.
JimB
 
This makes me wonder when you use pantry slides (verses normal) and if there is a preference or not for soft close slides?

Thanks (don't mean to hijack, but OP may wonder as well, so no new thread).
 
Woodworker's hardware has already been mentioned, and I really like the KV sides. They also come in several version (over travel or not, weight ratings, soft close, etc.) best to check their website...if you order from them you'll get their catalog which s a really useful reference. As for using soft close, I like them in cabinet applications but probably not for a pantry. My maybe faulty reasoning for this is that cabinet drawers sometimes get slammed (like early morning kids in the bathroom) but that's less likely in a pantry (or not, it's a personal decision, I guess). BTW, Woodworker's Hardware has their winter sale going on until the end of the month, some pretty good prices on slides.
 
Another happy KV user here. The 100lb 'full extension' and 'over extension' slides have been serving me well for years. I use them in pullouts in my own kitchen and in those of others with confidence. If you want to not see the slides, then you get into the more pricey undermount formats. You would want to clarify this to get better responses.

Glenn's-Pullouts.jpgJan's Pullouts 008.jpgJan's Pullouts 005.jpg
 
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I have a web page on different types of metal slides, issues with wood drawer slides, drawer construction, etc. etc.
See www.solowoodworker.com/wood/drawers.html

I find the lumber yards often have slides at a better price than mail order.
Trivia - Blum is hinges, Accuride is the same company in drawer slides. KV is the other "name brand"

And if you are designing a kitchen, there is finally a solution for the blind corner, that makes use of close to 100% of the space (where a lazy susan only handles approximately 3/4 of the space) - See the Hafele Magic Corner II System at
http://www.hafele.com/us/products/magic-corner-ii-base-corner-pull-out-cabinet-storage-hafele.asp
 
charlie, i know you have researched many things but i recently saw a pantry from ikea that had blum under drawer slides.. had the blum logo on them.. so maybe they have decided to change there marketing approach some.. i was impressed that the ikea stuff had quality hardware in them..
 
...If you want to not see the slides, then you get into the more pricey undermount formats. You would want to clarify this to get better responses.

Using undermount slides lets you make the drawers almost a full inch wider, but at the expense of depth. The drawers will need to be about ¾" shallower with the undermounted hardware. Personally, I kinda like the cleaner look of the undermounts.
 
Welcome to the family Gary!
Personally I like to use undermount slides. I like the way they operate. the smoothness if the soft close mechanisms that are available ease of installation etc.
The brands I favor are acuride with their eclipse model and blum with their tandems.
with regards to installation both are quite detailed in their installation instructions.
Ive used hundreds if both brands and only once have I had a defective slide. the supplier replaced it immediately so imho there has never been a problem.
Good luck post pics and have fun!
 
I have used KV and BLUM

Both are great.

I like the soft close for the drawer slides and also the cabinet doors.

It's not real likely that Home Depot or Lowes will carry the good stuff.

If you are comparing prices between KV, Blum and Home Depot - the KV and Blum are going to look outrageous.

You do PAY for quality.

What to stay away from? It's all relevent, really cheap Home Depot slides could be OK for something make on the quick, but not for a quality cabinet - and visa versa
 
I've used a lot of KV and Blum slides. When looking at alternatives, one I found that seems every bit as good at a better price is Woodtek from Woodworker's Supply.

On another direction with drawer slides, I've gotta admit I'm cheap. When building my shop, I wanted a bunch of drawers - 48 in one bank alone. I chose to go with simple Euro slides - yeah, like most kitchens. No, I don't get full extension but that's of little consequence in my case.

Incidentally, I have a wad of extra slides of various types I'll probably take to the July gathering for those who might be interested. In many instances, if I needed six pair of slides, a case of twelve pair didn't cost any more than six individual pairs. Having extras on hand has paid off a couple of times by having some for a new project.
 
figure roughly 30 to 40 dollars per pair for a blum tandem or accuride eclipse undermount slide. imo money well spent. especially with that soft close feature.
 
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