Looking for self closing drawer slides

[Pat Barry]

I bought the Rockler self-closing drawers slides but now am re-considering. I read the reviews on the Rockler website and mostly they are negative on these slides. Complaints were sticky, unreliable, loud closing, hard to adjust, etc. Now I'm considering the Blum version. They cost maybe double the cost of the Rockler. Are there other options I should consider?

[alex grams]

I have used these (soft close and regular, 75# and 100# full extension) and have been very happy with the quality, and the price blows away the retail prices you pay:

http://gliderite.com/side-mount-soft...drawer-slides/

18" Soft close, 10 pair, for $100 ($10/pair) shipped is a great price, especially when you pay twice that at a retailer for a normal, non-soft-close, full extension guide.

[Sam Layton]

Pat, I just purchased the Blum under mounts from CSH Hardware. There prices are good, and the service is outstanding.

[Mark Bolton]

Dont know why Rockler would call their slides self closing. That makes me think of a slide that starts to close the minute you let go of the pull.

We've been using Grass Dynapro's but they are an undermount and Im guessing the rocklers are side mount. Your not going to get them for anywhere in the 10$ range but they are a nice slide. Better than the KV Muv's and comparable to the Blum. The Muv's are a touch cheaper but not as smooth in my opinion.

[Ole Anderson]

Blumotion tandem undermounts are the top of the line as far as quality and soft closing action. Most on-line cabinet suppliers have them for half the cost of Rockler. Figure about $20 per pair depending on size. Installation is a bit more complicated than the side mount Accurides or equivalent, but the multi-direction adjust-ability to get a perfect drawer fit is well worth it. To ease installation you might want to get their tandem template. The ones I am using call for a 5/8" thickness on the drawer sides. They require a half inch under the drawer bottom, so you loose about a quarter inch in useable drawer depth over a normal installation.

[Greg R Bradley]

Rockler is nice since they have a display of the slides actually installed on a drawer display so you can see how they work. They would be far better off if the drawers were large enough and heavy enough to be realistic.

All of their self closing ones including the Blumotion have a significant amount of effort to open since you have to overcome the system that closes the drawer the last couple inches. Undermounts use a significant amount of extra space under each drawer. Blum is very good about making all this info available on their website.

My current project needs lots of shallow drawers so I can't afford using up space between each drawer. I was going to end up with about HALF my total height available inside drawers.

Those Gliderite seem interesting and since they are about 5 miles from me, I will see if they have a display and if they speak English.

[John Piwaron]

I use Accuride slides.

[Neal Daughtry]

Try ahturf.com for cabinet and drawer hdwe. They have the best blum prices I have found.

[Ken Andersen]

+1 on ahturf.com

[Roger Rayburn]

+ another one for A&H Turf specialties. http://ahturf.com/store/index.php?ro...th=882_884_274 They ship fast and they have the lowest prices I have been able to find for people like me who don't qualify for wholesale pricing.

[Ken Krawford]

Try ahturf.com for cabinet and drawer hdwe. They have the best blum prices I have found.

CS Hardware beat their prices by 10% plus their shipping was 50% cheaper. Their service is also outstanding.

[Stan Krupowies]

Blumotion tandem undermounts are the top of the line as far as quality and soft closing action. Most on-line cabinet suppliers have them for half the cost of Rockler. Figure about $20 per pair depending on size. Installation is a bit more complicated than the side mount Accurides or equivalent, but the multi-direction adjust-ability to get a perfect drawer fit is well worth it. To ease installation you might want to get their tandem template. The ones I am using call for a 5/8" thickness on the drawer sides. They require a half inch under the drawer bottom, so you loose about a quarter inch in useable drawer depth over a normal installation.

I just installed the Blum Blumotion in a 7' tall pantry I'm building. I found the installation to be very straight forward. They do require a 1/2" under the drawer bottom so if you are making shallow drawers these would probably not be a good choice. They also require a notch cut in the bottom of the drawer back and drill a small hole in the back as well. But these are easy enough things to do. Once they are installed though, these are NICE slides. Very smooth. You push them back in and at about 2" from the end the springs and slow closer take over. They are rated for 100 lbs which should be plenty for my use. In short, I love the Blum slides

[Pat Barry]

I am pretty much convinced that the Blum is the way to go based on the reviews and comments here. Looking at the details of the application I have in mind, where I made the slide out drawer / shelf originally with the Rockler side mount slides in mind, I'm now wondering if the Blum will work?

Details : The sides and bottom are constructed of 1/2" BB plywood. The bottom is contained in a dado, approx 3/8" recessed. The box is slightly more than 17" long (deep). The Blum slide recommendation is for a 15" slide. Here are two quick Sketchup pictures of what I am doing - top and bottom perspective views. I got a bit confused by the instructions on the Blum website.

Will the Blum slides work? Appreciate feedback from those who have used the Blumotion slides.
DrawerTopSide.JPGDrawerBotSide.JPG

[Roger Rayburn]

I just checked prices at both sites. Everyone should. For both slides and locks.

[Ken Krawford]

Pat, your 3/8" bottom dado is the deal killer. The Blums require 1/2" for the locking mechanism to mount. This piece serves to connect the front of the drawer box to the slide. Not only would they show (and they're orange ! ) but I don't think 3/8" wouldn't allow enough purchase for the mounting screws to bite.

After re-reading your post, is the dado 3/8" deep into the drawer box sides or is there a 3/8 reveal between the drawer bottom and the bottom edge of the sides? For the Blums to work, there must be 1/2" clearance between the drawer bottom and the bottom edge of the drawer box.