Drawers are so useful! They are my favorite part of a kitchen, desk, console, and more. But they can be intimidating to install.
So I partnered with Kreg Tools to share all my tips for how to install cabinet drawers using their awesome drawer slide jig.
I use all of the Kreg Hardware jigs on a regular basis! If you plan to make any cabinets in the new year, you will definitely want to grab this kit to make your build easier.
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The first part of a successful drawer install is a successful drawer build. I go into detail on building DIY cabinet drawers here.
You need to know what the requirements for spacing are for your drawer slides. It’s a good idea to double check the specs of your drawer slides before building your drawers.
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Most ball bearing drawer slides I have used require 1/2″ spacing on either side of the drawer. So I built my drawers 1″ smaller than the cabinet opening.
Also, when building your drawers, I always err on the side of too small over to large. The drawer slides can quickly be shimmed out a 16th or 32nd of an inch to fit a smaller drawer.
Lastly, square drawers will fit so nicely into your cabinets. So take the extra time to set up your saw blades & fences to perfect 90 degree angles and square up the ends of your boards before assembly.
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Having a blade or fence off by a couple degrees will quickly make a wonky drawer box that you will be fighting when it’s time to install.
Full extension means that the drawer back is brought to front of the cabinet box when fully opened. This allows full access to the contents of the drawer.
Of course, if you have an overhang on your countertops (most usually do) the back top drawers will be slightly hidden behind the overhang. But it’s barely noticeable because that is only an inch or so.
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If you want even more access to the items in your drawer, you can use over-travel drawer slides that extend the back of the cabinet an inch or so past the cabinet box.
We used an over-travel drawer slide for our pull out trash can cabinet. This allows us to lift the trash can out of the trash can drawer if needed because it brings the drawer out past the countertop.
And don’t be tempted by the low price of 3/4 extension drawer slides. If you have ever been frustrated by older drawers that felt like they stopped way too soon, that is a 3/4 extension.
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Just think, if your drawer is 20″ deep, 5″ of that will still be hidden in the cabinet. This makes a large drawer feel so small.
Soft close is a feature that stops the drawer from slamming shut. Even better, after it stops the drawer, it slowly pulls the drawer to the fully closed position.
But if you are on a budget, you can save yourself around $5 per pair of slides by not choosing the soft close option. And you can always upgrade slides later when you have more money in your budget (and save the non-soft close slides for more projects!).
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Make sure to pay attention to the weight limit on your drawer slides when purchasing them. Large drawers can hold lots of items so you want to make sure the slides can handle it.
To install drawer slide, the side of cabinet needs to be flush with the side side of the opening. If you are installing drawers in frameless cabinets, this is already the case.
If you are installing drawers in a face frame cabinet, you will have to do some additional work before you can install drawer slidessince the face frame (usually) will have an overhang into the cabinet box.
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You have two choices to fix this, one is to use the plastic clips made to work with face frame cabinets. The front of the drawer slide is attached to the inside of the face frame and the back to the clip.
The other option is to add a strip of scrap wood inside your cabinet where you are installing the drawer slides to bring it flush with the sides of the face frame.
If you want to install overlay cabinet doors (where they sit on top of the face frame) you can use either method. If you want to install inlay cabinet doors (where they sit inside the face frame) you can only use the second option.
How To Install Drawer Slides
I prefer using the second option all the time. I always have scraps of wood laying around that I can use for drawer slide blocking.
And since I like to use fill my drawers full and use them often, I am worried those plastic clips will not hold up to lots of heavy use and abuse. The wood blocking definitely does!
The cabinets I built for our new kitchen are a mix of frameless and face-frame cabinets. I am installing inlay cabinet doors, but still wanted the classic look of the face frame cabinet.
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So I made my face frames only 1″ wide. That way the inside of the face frame is flush with the inside of the cabinet and the extra 1/4″ (since my cabinets are built with 3/4″ plywood) give me some wiggle room when it comes to installing them.
And bonus, it makes it easy to install drawer slides without any additional blocking or clips. But even if you have face frame or frameless cabinets, installing the slides is the same!
Before you can install the drawer slides, you need to take them apart. To do this, pull the two pieces apart until they stop.
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Then look for the black plastic tab on the inside of the drawer slide. Pinch this tab toward the side of the drawer slide to release the two pieces.
I find you need to pinch the tab and press them slightly together again, then pull apart to get the slides to release.
If you are installing drawers in a drawer base without a cabinet on bottom, the install of the bottom drawer is a little different.
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You cannot use the Kreg drawer slide jig for the install since you need the drawer slide closer to the bottom of the cabinet. Instead, use a couple pieces of scrap wood to hold the slides off the bottom of the cabinet.
I use 1/2″ baltic birch plywood to build my drawer boxes out of, so I always have a few scrap pieces of it laying around. This works perfectly for a spacer when installing the bottom drawer slide.
When installing the drawer slides, I like to use the holes in the tabs sections of the drawer slide. These will allow a little flex as the drawers are installed.
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Drill a pilot hole in the hole in the front tab of the drawer slide. Make sure it is centered in the hole.
Now repeat with 2 more screws (one in the center of the slide and one toward the back). Make sure to use the screw openings on the tabs again.
Be careful not to bump or move your slide as you install the screws. Double check the slide is flush against the plywood scrap and properly spaced on the front as you go.
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For face frame cabinets: pull out the gray tab on the top of the drawer slide jig forward. Also, pull out the side tab out too.
Place drawer slide jig A on the right side of cabinet and B on the left. The tab on the top should rest on top of the face frame rail and the tab on the side should sit up against the wall.
For frameless cabinets: do not pull out the tabs. Place drawer slide jig B on the right side of cabinet and A on the left. Clamp them to the side of the cabinet to secure.
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You can clamp both jigs on at the same time, but I find myself bumping up against the one I am not using as I try to maneuver inside the cabinet. So feel free to do one at a time!
For my face frame/frameless cabinet hybrid: I used drawer slide jig B on the right side and A on the left (like frameless cabinets). Then I used the top tab over the face frame and clamped them to the face from (like face frame cabinets).
I did have a small challenge with the weight of the drawer slide causing the back of the drawer slide jig to occasionally drop down because there was not a face frame for it to but up against. But I just always double-checked that the bottom was flush with the face frame before securing the back screws.
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Add screws in the front, middle and back to secure. Then repeat for the other side and any other drawer slides you need in your drawer base.
This is also how you would attach drawer slides to any base cabinet that has just a single drawer above the cabinet.
If you look
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