Musings on kitchen drawers

[Bruce Wrenn]

I only build commercial cabinetry for local "Y's." They can tear up an anvil. In twenty years of doing so, all my drawers have been 1/2" BB sides with 1/4" BB bottoms, with overlay fronts. All have been assembled with KREG pocket screws. Not once have I had a call back to fix a drawer.

[Ole Anderson]

I agree, 5/8" boxes are the sweet spot visually. To me, lock joint construction is just one step down from dovetails. I went with 5/8" soft maple with Leigh blind dovetails when I redid my kitchen. But then it was MY kitchen.

[Andrew Seemann]

The factory-made hardwood dovetailed drawers in the kitchen of my previous house failed after only a few years. Ironically, the rabbeted white glue and nails ones in my mother's 50 year old kitchen have never failed, go figure. The kitchen was in before we moved in. I replaced it after a few years.

I'm not a fan of non-through-cut machine cut dovetails. When they start to loosen, the angles drive the sides out, especially on a overlay drawer front where the front joints take all the shock. I have a dresser from the 50s with the same problem and have seen it on other things as well. I much prefer a drawer joint, sliding dovetails, or nearly anything else.

[Warren Lake]

the factory ones never should have failed. i have oak office drawers i made 35 years ago on a router jig and they are just as strong now as when they were made with lots of use on them.

Ive seen enough flat finished junk then assembled after non of it even close to flush and its hardly done any time would not surprise me to see that stuff fail, its already failed as far as im concerned.

[Julie Moriarty]

For years and years - as a custom cabinet maker - I have "educated" my clients that - with the refinement and smooth operation of mechanical drawer slides - whether the Blum Tandem types or side mount Accurides types (not the 70s 1 wheel on a side rail version) - dovetails constructed drawers serve no structural purpose but are now merely affectations.

You make a great point, Sam. I think the entire industry is moving towards motion technology because that's what people want. The high end kitchen today might have flush drawers and doors with no handles and Movento drawer slides or Aventos lifts. There might not be a single piece of solid wood in the entire room. Homeowners love touching a drawer and watching it open by itself and then close softly by itself.

The other thing that gets people drooling is well engineered storage systems. I installed Rev-A-Shelf wire racks with the bottom for pots and pans and the top for lids. Everyone who has seen loves it. I've put more consideration into motion technology and smart storage in this place than I did in the last place because it's just nicer to have and, based on friends and neighbor comments, I'm not alone.

[Mark Bolton]

For years and years - as a custom cabinet maker - I have "educated" my clients that - with the refinement and smooth operation of mechanical drawer slides - whether the Blum Tandem types or side mount Accurides types (not the 70s 1 wheel on a side rail version) - dovetails constructed drawers serve no structural purpose but are now merely affectations.

Absolutely. The hard part around here is even the big box manufacturers are all supplying machine cut dovetail boxes on even some of their modest lines so customers who are shopping a kitchen around are going to think that their POS home center cabs are "high end" because they have dovetailed drawers. They have pretty much made dovetailed drawers the norm unless you in the extreme budget line and even some of the dirt cheap ply drawer boxes are dovetailed lol.

We opt away from them on budget work but 5/8 hard maple drawer boxes and dovetails are the norm for us.

I wouldnt mind subing out shallow boxes but when you get to pricing wide deep drawers the numbers are far less attractive to me so we just build them all.

[Joe Jensen]

Have you considered having drawer made? I have two companies in the Phoenix area. I can get Baltic Birch dovetailed drawers for about 20% more than I can buy the BB sheets. I have used them for solid Maple dovetailed drawers too. I bought 9 drawers, 6 about 15" wide and 3 about 28" wide in solid maple, dovetailed, and finished with conversion varnish for $550.

[Jon Endres]

My last home had Kraft-Maid cabinets with maple (or birch?) dovetailed drawer boxes. Quite a few of the boxes failed, apparently due to a starved glue joint. A couple of them looked like they were never glued and only held together by the finish that was used.

My current home, which I built for myself and intend to live in forever, has 1/2" baltic birch drawer boxes, held together with pocket screws and glue. The bottoms are all 1/4" (5mm) BB ply as well. I did this because it was quick and easy, the drawers are solid and sturdy, and if I want to make any alterations, I don't have to worry about having to match materials. I also view a kitchen (at least, my kitchen) as just another workshop with different tools. My kitchen gets used HARD. Everything was built to withstand five kids, many guests and friends, three meals a day for decades. The fronts are all cherry and curly maple and look elegant, but it's built to be abused. I paid less than three grand to build every cabinet, including hardware, and if I want to rip it all out and start over, I won't cry about it.

[Mark Bolton]

Thats a great number. It's not uncommon for an average kitchen to have over a grand in slides and hinges alone and another in pre-fin ply.

[Jim Dwight]

Our new Kraft made kitchen has dovetail maple drawers 5/8 thick. I built one kitchen and dovetailed 1/2 beech for the drawers. I built a new island for our previous house and I dovetailed 1/2 Baltic birch plywood for the drawers. I've made several dressers the same way. For deep kitchen drawers I also use the 1/2 bb for the drawers bottoms. I keep a cheap dovetail jig setup on a stand. I have a jig for the bit depth. So setup time is a few minutes. Cutting the dovetails takes little time. I mostly back cut the bb to minimize splintering. Resulting drawers are sturdy and at least I know the difference. I dovetail the backs too. It is quicker than setting up for another joint.