How to Build Great Drawers
Drawers are tricky, and take precision to get right. We’ve made two dedicated videos on building and installing drawers. Following these steps will help you build a drawer that opens and closes smoothly.
In this blog post we will cover:
Drawer Structure
Building Drawers for Side Mount Slides
Video Tutorial
Installation
Tools Needed
Drawer Structure
There are many ways and many materials to build great drawers. This is my way.
I build all my drawers out of 3/4” material for the box and 1/4 plywood for the bottom. Assembly is done with pocket hole joints, and the drawer face is attached separately.
The green parts are the front and the back. The blue parts are the sides. The orange is the bottom
Captive bottom on three sides or four?
To insert the 1/4 bottom we cut at 1/4 wide by 3/8” dado (or slot) into the four sides of the drawer box. Once assembled the 1/4 bottom is held “captive” in these dados.
To have the drawer bottom captive on all four sides you have to assemble all the pieces at once. I think this is kind of a pain so I build my boxes with the drawer bottom captive on only three sides.
Captive on three sides means I cut the back side of the drawer box short so I can build the drawer box and slide the drawer bottom in after assembly. Then I use 18ga staples to hold it in place.
Captive on 4 sides is arguably stronger, but I believe that my method is plenty strong for 99% of common drawer usage. For the other 1% you probably need a beefier drawer with a 1/2” bottom anyway.
Building Drawers for Side Mount Drawer Slides
Pro-tip 20” drawer slides work well in 24” deep cabinets. These are the side mount drawer slides I use
For side mount drawer slides you want your finished drawer box to be 1” narrower and 1/2” shorter than your opening. This is because the drawer slides are each 1/2” thick.
Video for Side Mount Drawers.
Installing Drawers
This video will guide you step-by-step to install your drawers in your cabinetry or furniture.
In this video I show you how to create a mounting bracket that will allow you to install the drawer slides.
This bracket will allow you to mount side-mount or under-mount drawer slides. The blue spreader is the exact width of your drawer opening. The Orange rails are the full inside depth of your cabinet.
Attach the bracket flush with the drawer opening with nails or pocket screws. Then use a square to square it up and attach it to the cabinet back.
Tools and Supplies Needed
Side Mount Drawer Slides - https://amzn.to/2Eyw5wJ
Table Saw - https://amzn.to/2CXyscj
Kreg Drawer/Cabinet Installation Kit - https://amzn.to/30jxBeR
Building Drawers for Undermount Drawer Slides
This video covers how to build drawers for undermount drawers. Follow THIS LINK (Affiliate) to get the drawer slides I use in this video and use for all of my custom furniture.
