Blum Tandem Blumotion Lateral Stabilizers

[Bob Deroeck]

Hi,

I'm working to design new custom cabinets with the cabinet shop designer. There will be 10 drawers which are approximately 34" wide. Blum Tandem undermount slides will be used. Blum recommends using their lateral stabililzers for drawers over 24" wide.

The cabinets will have a full face frame with inset drawers and doors. Cherry with natural finish will be used. I've read the 48 page Blum brochure "Tandem Plus blumotion". On page 26-27 the lateral stabilizers are described. It appears that the gear racks sit on top of the rail of the face frame. If so, I'm concerned about how visible the end of each gear rack is between the bottom of the drawer front and the top of the rail when the drawer is closed. I'm also not keen on losing an additional 1/8" of usable drawer height from the lateral stabilizers on top of the 9/16" already "lost" from using undermount vs side-mount slides.

I'm wondering if Blum is recommending using lateral stabilizers in drawers over 24" wide so that a person can pull on one side of the drawer only and the stabilizer will prevent the drawer jamming due to racking. Let's say I install two pulls on each of these wide drawers and that the person opening the drawer uses both pulls simultaneously. In that case are the lateral stabilizers really needed? Or do the stabilizers simply allow a person to open the drawer without it binding, by pulling on only one of the two pulls? If the lateral stabilizer's only benefit is that it will allow me to open these drawers with only 1 hand, then I'm considering deleting them and accepting the need for two hands to open these drawers. My wive is OK with this approach. But, is my thinking flawed? Are drawers this wide without lateral stabilizers likely to bind even if opened with one hand on each of the two drawer pulls?

I'd appreciate hearing your experience with and without lateral stabilizers on drawers wider than 24". Your thoughts on this subject and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks.

Bob

[Dave Sabo]

I've used them and have them on several of my wide drawers. I use TandemBox so it's a bit different , but the principle is the same.

Yes, it's designed to keep the drawer form racking when pulled off center. Yes it works, but it's not the be all end all.

I feel it's only necessary on drawers 36" and wider. On 30" it's a waste. I'd question whether you'll actually use both hands to open the drawer out in the real world. I know you say you're committed to the idea, but it is such an un-natural motion that I don't think you'll end up practicing it. But people can be trained to do almost anything.

Before I ditched the mech., I'd find/choose a wider or longer handle so that I'd only have to use one per drawer even on wide ones. That will allow for one handed operation without racking while by allowing for a center grip. These types of handles are not as numerous and are more expensive, so there are drawbacks .

[Martin Wasner]

I put them on any drawer over 32". Why? People are stupid. Tell them to use two hands, they won't

I don't lose any height, my slides are still in plane with the face frame. My decks and stretchers are down that 1/8" from the face frame. The rack ends a couple inches behind the slide. They aren't really visible at all.

They're money well spent in my book.