Do you want the nice look of no drawer slides showing when you pull your drawers out or perhaps like soft closing drawers? BLUM makes some great drawer slides for doing this.
I decided to use the BLUM Tandem Plus Concealed slides on my drawers and I absolutely love them – but most importantly my wife loves them even more.
I had decided to go with these slides prior to building my drawer boxes because unlike side mount slides these go under the drawer box so your drawer boxes may not be able to be as high as the side mount ones, however, they are able to be a little wider. The other nice thing about these slides is they help support the drawer bottoms who haven’t had drawer bottoms sag or even come out of the side panels, especially in those junk drawers where things go to get lost and die.
So where to begin – well, if you read and watched my Drawer Box article then you know for these slides to work they have to go out the backside of the drawer box which means there may need to be a notch in them – I covered this in the previous article.
With that said all I really needed to do was attach the slide components to the underside of the drawer box. While you can do it manually I recommend using the BLUM Tandem 563 Drawer Slide Template along with the BLUM Tandem Plus Tool Set for Drawer Slides. This takes all the tedious measuring and angles for the screw holes.
Using the template and the toolset I quickly drilled out the holes and was able to attach the locking plate to the front of the drawer and slide the slide rail in affixing everything with the supplied screws.
I’m not going to cover the slide installation in the cabinets – this will be covered in the next article but I do install the drawer front and adjust the slides to ensure the drawer front is in alignment with the rest of the cabinet components.
So to attach the drawer front to the drawer box which is now slid into the cabinet I first use Scotch Poster Tape. This thin double-sided tape is great for sticking the drawer front to the drawer box so I can mark where the drawer handle screws will go into the drawer box. I place a 1/4″ piece of material at the bottom of my drawer front to hold it off the previous one since my reveal is 1/4″.
Once I marked where the holes will be drilled I remove the drawer front and drill out the holes. I like to oversize the holes and elongate them by rotating the drill around to make larger holes. This allows me to adjust the drawer front prior to tightening the screws down.
Because of the way my drawer boxes and drawer fronts are made I have to use the adjustable depth snap screws for the drawer pulls that came with my Top Knob drawer pulls. you can snap off the screws at set lengths although I always end up using my Dremel to cut them off.
Once I get the drawer front adjusted close to the way I want I tighten down the screws. Then I do the fine adjustment using the BLUM slide’s adjustment wheels on the locking plates. This allows for left/right and up/down adjustments.
I finally get everything the way I like it and Bob’s your uncle.
As always if you have any questions or comments post them below or on my YouTube video comments section and I’ll do my best to respond.
I’ve included a few Amazon Links below for the equipment and materials I used. By clicking on any of the links in this article you help support my channel as I earn from qualifying purchases.
Equipment and Materials
*Disclaimer: While I attempt to list the equipment I use, some items have been discontinued or have newer models.
- Assorted Grit Sandpaper Sheets
- BLUM 21″ Tandem Plus BLUMOTION Drawer Slide Kit
- BLUM Tandem 563 Drawer Slide Template
- BLUM Tandem Plus Tool Set for Drawer Slides
- CRAFTSMAN Screwdriver Set, Assorted, 25-Piece
- Drawer Pull (Top Knobs TK288TB Chareau Collection 5″ Emerald Pull, Tuscan Bronze)
- Kobalt 24-Volt Max Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) 1/2-in Cordless Brushless Drill
- Scotch Poster Tape
I hope you find this video useful and can use some of the tips presented. Feel free to leave any comments, suggestions, or experiences you have had below.
Some of the links in my video description and article above are Amazon Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you would like to make a different purchase from Amazon, you can also use the storewide link.
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