I am building a face frame base cabinet that will hold 4 drawers. My intention is to build these drawers such that they fit flush with the face frame and that there will be about 1/16″ reveal between the drawers and between each drawer and the face frame. Sounds good so far.
I purchased some Accuride slides and am wondering how all of this is going to work. The face frame is 3/4″ thick. Yesterday, I took my raised panel router bit to the 3/4″ drawer front blanks and they now look great. Except that the edge of the drawer front is now 1/4″ thick.
If I want the drawer front to fit flush with the face frame, where do I mount the rail and where do I mount the slide? Accuride says to mount the slide flush with the cabinet front and the rail should be mounted 1/8″ in front the front of the drawer. This seems to be in conflict with my desire to have a 1/16″ reveal between the drawer and the face frame.
This is the first time I have ever tried this so maybe I am missing something very obvious. I hope so.
Replies
Jerry,
There are a couple of things that you might do to deal with this condition. In the future you could just mill the drawer fronts from stock that this is that much bigger by the amount that the router bit removes from the drawer blank. If you started with a 3/4" blank and after you router the profile you are left with a 1/4" edge, then the stock should have been 1-1/4".
If that’s not an option then you can always add a ½" blank to the back of the drawer front to align the edge. You could also make the drawer front a frame and panel or just add ½" x 1" strips to the back again to align the edge.
Another option is to locate the drawer runner further back from the drawer front. This is typical if you install “button stops” to the back of the drawer front to prevent the drawer from making wood to wood contact when closing or closed. By adjusting the runner back on the drawer you cause the drawer to “stick out” further when in the closed position.
All of these options will cause the “front” of the raised panel to be “proud” of the face frame.
Good luck.
Thanks Joe. I'll probably opt for adjsting the drawer runner.
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