Hi all,
I’ve got a tricky one. I’m building new drawers and doors for my kitchen using a basic shaker style (2 rails, 2 stiles, and a 1/4″ plywood insert).
The problem I’m facing is how to attach the drawer fronts to the drawer boxes. There’s no way to screw into the 1/4″ plywood, and I don’t know if there will be enough room to screw into the stiles or rails. We have a bathroom vanity that has the same style I’m using for the kitchen, but I can’t figure out how they attached the faces to the boxes. It almost looks like they used a piece of flat metal or something.
Does anyone have any ideas how to do this?
Thanks,
-Jay
Replies
Hi Jay,
Yeah with that 1/4" panel there's no depth for a screw from inside the drawer box into the panel. Your bathroom drawer face could have been glued on but that's a short term solution.
If your rails and stiles are wide enough then you could screw into them. Or you could screw them into the drawer box from the face side using plugs to cover your screws.
I think a better alternative, if you're set on this design, is to use a 1/2" panel. Then you'd have more thickness to screw into. You could also run your drawer handle through the panel and use those screws to help hold the front on with some screws on the side into the stiles.
Hope this helps some.
Gary
http://www.northwestwoodworking.com
Hi Gary,Those sound reasonable. I might be able to screw into the rails or stiles. Or, I might be able to put a filler board on the back side of the drawer face, which would give me more board to screw into. It would also help with securing the drawer pulls. I believe this is what was done with my bathroom vanity.Thanks for your help!
Hi,
Yeah, if your 1/4" panel is sitting in a groove, then you should have space behind it for a spacer panel and enough meat for a screw. Good luck. Gary
That's a good question, and the other responses should work for you. There are a few other ways to install drawer fronts (that work well for shaker style too)
1) Use double sided tape, install the lower drawer front first, use an 1/8" spacer strip, then work your way up the cabinet. Do one bank of drawers first, bottom to top, then move on to the next cabinet using 1/8" spacer strips vertically and horizontally. Apply pressure with cabinet clamps along the way, it will make the tape stick much better. Once you have them all installed square to each other, layout and install the handles. If you're using pulls and knobs the hardware will reinforce holding power.
2) Another way is to use silicone and hot glue. Do your layout the same as above, starting with the bottom drawer working up, then to the adjacent set. The hot glue will allow you enough time to set the perfectly and will hold long enough for the silicone to set up. Use a 1/4" bead and make 1"-2" circles with the silicone. Don't use PL adhesive. Silicone is far superior as an adhesive as it will bond incredibly well yet allow for expansion/contraction of the materials. PL is far too rigid and may cause the material to split/crack throughout seasons.
Hope this helps :)
He built those drawers exactly 13 years ago.
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