I’m going to try building my entire kitchen for my new house from scratch. No premade boxes or drawers, or cabinet fronts. I have settled on a design of a modified Shaker Style, flat panel, recessed doors and drawers in a face frame.
I’m putting together a hardware list and realized that I’ll need a couple dozen sets of drawer slides. I’d like to use a full extension, overtravel slide on all the drawers. The lower cabinets will be almost entirely drawers or pullout shelves, so there will be a lot of slides. I need to decide which models to set my sights on. I have heard a lot about the Blum tandem, but have never seen them in use. I have used whatever brand it is that Rockler carries (can’t remember offhand) and like them, and the K-V slides seem to be readily available almost anywhere.
Anybody here have any preferences and can speak to the features of any of the slides available?
EDIT: Also need some advice on size? How does one pick the correct size for the application? I see a range of 10″ to 28″ available, I assume a 24″ deep base cabinet should be using a 20″ or 22″ slide, but I’m not sure.
Edited 12/6/2004 5:01 pm ET by Jon
Replies
I like the Blum four hundred series full extension or the Tandem if you object to seeing the sidemount.I have found that either of these are not greatly affected by bread crumbs etc.Go for full extension with overtravel so the back of the drawer clears the counter edge.Don't buy poor slides as it really degrades the overall feel of the kitchen. IMO either size will work depending on the clearance you have inside.Quite often there is a nailer at the back so design your boxes first.It is really quite straight forward if you put in the reading and drawing time up front
I really like the Blum Tandems, and have used them in the upscale pieces I've made. I haven't used the Hettich Quattro, which are similar, but seen them in some nice pieces, and they seem good as well. If you go with the Tandems, you might want to order them before you do your layout (or get the spec sheets for them). They are sized in 3" increments for the drawer, so you may want to do a small tweak of dimensions to get the maximum sized drawer in your kitchen.
http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product_details.cfm?&offerings_id=10843
Here is Rockler's page on those Blum tandem slides.
There's some videos for Blum slides near the center of the page.
The demo in short and long form and also a technical video on how to install them.
That installation video is a biggie but it's worth the download price.
My first set of cabinets looks really bad but those slides made them feel like a million bucks.
Regards
Ouch! I was at a Rockler store in Concord, CA this afternoon and the Blum Tandem 21" were $36.95, still WAY too high.
The link here actually has some good pricing if you buy more than 10. http://www.sommerfeldtools.com/products.asp?id=181_________________________________
Michael in San Jose
"In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted." Bertrand Russell
Michael -
Have you looked at the drawer hardware at Southern Lumber lately?
It's just standard Accuride and KV, or am I missing something?_________________________________
Michael in San Jose
"In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted." Bertrand Russell
No, but I've been using them and avoiding mail ordering. - lol
Dave
If you are shopping at Southern Lumber it must be Sunday and/or you have way too much cash in the checking account.
_________________________________
Michael in San Jose
"In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted." Bertrand Russell
Edited 12/7/2004 2:44 pm ET by MICHAELP
Just a user's note here. My bride and I just finished a kitchen remod as part of our whole house renovation. We opted for the full extension slide provided by Kraftmaid in their cabinets. Whatever brand these are, and I think they're Blum, the bottom mount slides are absolutely the best. So easy to use and the quality is top notch. No matter what it ends up costing you, you won't be sorry.
Kell - now proud of his kitchen and the cabinets he hung himself and the wood counters on top of them.
Kell
Did you also have the Blumotion closing unit installed? Makes it nearly impossible to slam the drawer shut._________________________________
Michael in San Jose
"In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted." Bertrand Russell
I don't but with teen age daughters, it probably would be a good idea. :>)
Come to think of it, it would have saved me replacing the drawer front on the flatware drawer due to my last wife's stupidity.
Kell
Kell,
Appreciate your input. I have full-ex slides on my current kitchen drawers, which happen to be Kraftmaid. They sag a little, but are otherwise OK. I don't know the mfr., but they are undermount slides. I'm going to go with a side-mount slide.
I'll refrain from posting my opinion about Kraftmaid in general.
Jon,
I'm surprised to hear you "not say" anything about Kraftmaid. This was our first venture with them and I'm quite impressed with the fit, finish, look and feel of our cabs. Delivery was also very good, too. Their customer service folks were very helpful and pleasant. We did buy their top of the line units, though. (If I didn't have time to build them myself, I wasn't going to allow cheesy looking ones in the house.)
Kell
Try the pricing at http://www.cshardware.com
I have been using their 1170 replacement slides for the last 2 years and haven't had any problems. They are Accuride 3800 & KV replacement slides at half the price.
Eric
Edited 12/7/2004 6:37 pm ET by ECBNTMKR
Kell,
I used to work for a construction company whose side business was kitchen/bath supply. We dealt with KM, among others. We got the best deal on KM, so I was able to get a whole kitchen worth of cabinets at cost (something like 25% of MSRP). I didn't get top of the line, but I did get natural hickory faces and frames and full extension hardware.
The doors have warped, the laminate over the particle board carcases chips very easily, the drawers (dovetailed, no less) have literally fallen apart (like they used no glue) and they scratch very easily.
The hickory looks very nice though. For cost, I'm happy with them. If I had to pay full retail, I'd be really upset right about now. They've been in three years, and were professionally installed. I'm not shedding tears over leaving them behind when we move.
I was faced with a choice in the new house - have them custom made or make 'em myself. Since I can handle building cabinets, I decided the latter was the better. It's even more satisfying because all of the wood for the drawer fronts and frames and doors is from my own property and I milled it myself. Ash and/or cherry frames and butternut panels.
I'm an Accuride fan, big time. Strong as a horse, indestructable, and micro-adjustable. Not the cheapest by far, but certainly the best. they will out last the drawer.Regards,
Boris"Sir, I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow" -- WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1934
I've just built a new kitchen for myself and used Blum Tandem slides. They're usually the first thing I show to people who look at the kitchen (they can see the cabinets themselves). They appear bulletproof and work as smooth as can be. I bought them at McFadden's in London Ont. Cost me about $25 Canadian a pair (that would be about $20 US) for 22 inch slides. That was a year ago.
My two cents (Canadian)
Doug
Me too on the Accurides. My favorite feature is the cam adjustment that lets me 'tweak' the drawer alignment if I need to. - lol
How do you do this tweak?
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