Kitchen Cabinet Drawer Question (Blum Tandem, Drawer Sides, etc)

[Craig Mitchell]

Hi,


I am starting a kitchen cabinet project soon. It's a modern style frameless style with large drawers for plates, etc. These will be my first cabinets. I have a few questions.


First off, I have been experimenting building "practice" drawers and getting pretty good results. I have been using a set of Blum Tandem undermount drawer slides. They seem pretty easy to install (despite the directions) and I've learned how to design the drawer box for them. I still need to figure out how to calculate the correct length of the drawer so it goes all the way back to the rear "hooks" on the slide.

Here are my questions....


#1) If I am correct, the front Blum Tandem clips need 1/2 inch clearance from the bottom of the drawer?


#2) I have found Prefinished Drawer Sides that are already edgebanded and routed. The problem is the routing only has a clearance of 5/8ths from the bottom which seems slightly too small for the Tandem clips.


#3) The Prefinished Drawer Sides are also only routed for a 1/4 bottom which I think would be too flimsy for large stacks of plates. Would 1/2 inch drawer bottoms be thick enough or should I go with 3/4inch? These will be fairly large drawers.


#4) I don't think it would be a big issue to do the Drawers from scratch using Prefinished Maple Ply and doing the edge banding myself. The routing would be easy enough. Thoughts on this?


I am using pocket hole joinery, so nothing too fancy.


Any advice, suggestions, etc will be appreciated! I'm a rookie at this!

[Greg Heppeard]

Don't know about anything else, but I'd go 1/2" for the bottoms on the drawers that are going to hold heavy things (maybe even 3/4" sides).

[Brad Shipton]

Are you sure you have all the directions and diagrams? Having just installed some Accuride undermounts I know those came with very descriptive diagrams. Blum is in the same league as Accuride, so I cant imagine they do not have good directions somewhere too. The undermounts have specific dimensions based on the side thicknesses, so you should find a proper drawing.

Personally, I would not go with 1/4" bottoms, nor would I purchase those premade sides.

Brad

[David DeCristoforo]

"The problem is the routing only has a clearance of 5/8ths from the bottom which seems slightly too small for the Tandem clips."

The last time I checked, 5/8" was more than 1/2". But, be that as it may, it is a very bad idea to build a drawer box that does not comply in any manner with the published specs for the glides you plan to use. The undermount glides have to be set up according to the manufacturer's specs or you will have nothing but trouble.

[Jeff Duncan]

I use 3/8" maple ply for all my drawer bottoms and would recommend it for others. 1/4" can be a bit on the thin side, especially since most 1/4" ply these days is closer to 3/16" actual thickness. 3/4" seems to be a bit of overkill to me, but hey it's your kitchen right so if that's what you want then by all means....
I'm not sure about your difficulty with the drawer depth if you've already made drawers that work with the Blum? If they work you have the right depth, if they don't work then adjust them by the amount they're off.
Lastly I also would not recommend plywood, just my opinion here, but I don't think it's the best material for drawers. Get yourself some maple and make some drawers that will last as long as the rest of the kitchen or just buy them and call it a day.
good luck,
JeffD

[Craig Mitchell]

Lastly I also would not recommend plywood, just my opinion here, but I don't think it's the best material for drawers. Get yourself some maple and make some drawers that will last as long as the rest of the kitchen or just buy them and call it a day.
good luck,
JeffD

Thanks for the reply! Why do you not recommend plywood for drawer sides? Warpage? Something else? I would like to know. Thanks!

[Craig Mitchell]

"The problem is the routing only has a clearance of 5/8ths from the bottom which seems slightly too small for the Tandem clips."

The last time I checked, 5/8" was more than 1/2". But, be that as it may, it is a very bad idea to build a drawer box that does not comply in any manner with the published specs for the glides you plan to use. The undermount glides have to be set up according to the manufacturer's specs or you will have nothing but trouble.

Opps..... make that 3/8ths. I'm terrible with fractions and should probably switch to the metric system soon.

[Craig Mitchell]

Are you sure you have all the directions and diagrams? Having just installed some Accuride undermounts I know those came with very descriptive diagrams. Blum is in the same league as Accuride, so I cant imagine they do not have good directions somewhere too. The undermounts have specific dimensions based on the side thicknesses, so you should find a proper drawing.

Personally, I would not go with 1/4" bottoms, nor would I purchase those premade sides.

Brad

Thanks! Yes, I will go with either a 1/2 or 3/4 inch bottom. I have a sheet of paper that came with the slides. It has some diagrams but it's a bit confusing to me since it has several different models listed. It could be less complicated in my opinion.....

[Brad Shipton]

I agree totally with Jeff. Dont skimp on this process. If you think you will build your kitchen a lot cheaper than the stores, I think by the time you are done getting all the hardware, wood and any accessories you may want to speed up the process you will find you might only break even. I am building my own too, but mostly because the degree of custom I want would cost way too much. I have been using 3/8" Baltic Birch for my bottoms, but maybe you will need thicker if you have very wide heavy drawers.

Brad

Brad

[Craig Mitchell]

I agree totally with Jeff. Dont skimp on this process. If you think you will build your kitchen a lot cheaper than the stores, I think by the time you are done getting all the hardware, wood and any accessories you may want to speed up the process you will find you might only break even. I am building my own too, but mostly because the degree of custom I want would cost way too much. I have been using 3/8" Baltic Birch for my bottoms, but maybe you will need thicker if you have very wide heavy drawers.

Thanks! Yes, I will go with the thicker bottoms. I have no issue with that. I was just wondering if it would be very far outside of the "norm" but in this case, I think it might be okay.