A drawer slide's Mounting Type describes how and where the drawer slide attaches to the cabinet and drawer. Some slides can be mounted several different ways, and some slides feature accessory brackets to adapt them to different mounting types. Side Mounted- This is the most common type of slide we offer. It attaches to both the side of the drawer and the side of the inner cabinet. This type of mounting is very efficent at carrying weight, and usually requires no modification to the drawer box. Center Mount- One of the oldest types of slides, this mounts onto the drawer's bottom face. The Universal Drawer Slide Jig is the ultimate aid for installing drawer slides of almost any type, including ball-bearing or epoxy-coated side-mount slides and even center-mount slides! Premium Durability: Made for face frame and frameless cabinets. The Drawer Slide Jig works with almost all types of drawer slides, including ball-bearing, epoxy-coated, and undermount slides. Installation procedure www.- easy-to use jig holds slides in position as you drill mounting holes in the cabinet, and it supports drawer boxes while mounting slides to the drawer. Plus, the Jig works with ball-bearing, e. Epoxy-coated drawer slides, ball-bearing slides, and bottom-mounted slides are three common types of slide hardware for drawer cabinets. WOOD's Kevin Boyle. By signing up you cabinet drawer slide mounts guide agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy. Every dollar contributed enables us to keep providing high-quality how-to help to people like you. Here we have some slides that are crucial for applications where a standard drawer slide simply won't cut it. Mechanical opening system 2. Hopefully we can lend a little clarity to the various types and features you will find if you go looking for new or replacement slides.

Hafele America Co. Rev-A-Shelf 3. Woodfold - Marco Mfg Inc 1. Mechanical opening system 2. USA Bottom Center 9. Euro Side Undermount Self Close Remove the drawer from the cabinet and place it on a flat surface. To make your measurements simpler, turn the drawer upside down, so the bottom is facing up.

Measure the length of the cabinet to have a sense of the furniture dimensions. Use a tape measure to calculate the distance between the front edge of the open cabinet to the back wall. Examine the bottom of the drawer that you just removed. Extend the tape measure from the front edge of the drawer to the back edge. Take note of this measurement, as under-mounted slides need to be the exact same length as the drawer.

Examine the measurement of both your drawer and cabinet to determine the length that your slide will need to be. Traditional drawer slides range in length between 10 to 28 inches 25 to 71 cm , so use those measurements to select the best slide style. Method 2 of Using a ruler or tape measure, calculate the amount of space between the outer edge of the drawer and the inner edge of the cabinet.

Is visual design an important factor for you, or are you more concerned with functionality? Check the distance between the outside of the drawer and the inside of the cabinet wall.

If your furniture is a bit more narrow, you might not have enough room for a side-mounted drawer slide. Do you want your drawer to fully come out of the furniture, or would you prefer a more limited slide extension?

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Related wikiHows How to. How to. About This Article. Co-authored by:. So long as you stay within the bounds of what your cabinets will support, it all comes down to budget and preference.

Keep reading below to get an idea of what all the features are and why you may or may not want them in your kitchen or bathroom. As always, we are available by phone Monday — Friday 8am to 5pm CST at to answer your questions and help you find exactly what you need to make you a Hero at Home.

The extension of a slide is simply how far out of the cabinet your drawer will protrude. Unless you have a critical application where you MUST have access to the entire drawer, like a tool box in your shop, for example, this option mainly comes down to budget.

They are often chosen for purely economic reasons as they are usually much cheaper than their full extension counterparts, while achieving nearly all of the same functionality. Full extension slides, like the name implies, allow your drawer to extend the full distance out of the cabinet, giving you access to the entire drawer.

These are often used in interior rollout drawers, toolboxes, or pullout organizers tucked into your base cabinet. How does your drawer attach to the slide?

Side mounts will typically require more side clearance between your drawer box and the cabinet opening. Undermounts will typically require a newly built drawer box, or modifications to your current drawer box according to manufacturer specifications. Side mount drawer slides will attach directly to the side of your drawer box. If you check in your kitchen right now, chances are you have side mounted drawer slides. The nylon roller variety is a very popular budget option for side mount slides, but more and more cabinet shops are moving to the more robust steel ball bearing variety, like one we have pictured here.

Check your side clearance carefully before purchasing new side mount drawer slides. Undermount drawer slides are quickly becoming the most popular type of drawer slide the Blum Tandem undermounts are by far our best selling product. You might have guessed, but these types of slides will sit underneath your drawer box. There is a small learning curve when it comes to construction of the box if you're more used to installing other types of slides, but the ease of use and installation once you get it down are second to none.

Below you will find a number of features that are not necessarily crucial to the functionality of a standard drawer, but depending on your goals and application, some of these may be absolutely critical.

When you close a drawer equipped with soft close, the very last inch or so gets pulled in automatically and dampened by some sort of mechanism. There are many drawer slides today with integrated soft close and they are only growing in popularity. You can also retrofit old drawers with add on devices like the one pictured, which you can find here. When full extension just isn't long enough for your application, overtravel is the feature you will want to look for.

They work just like full extension slides, but they extend some additional amount. Your mileage may very there depending on the model. There are a few series of slides out there that have the drawer box sides built in.

Pictured here, we have the Blum Legrabox system.

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