how to install drawer slides on old drawers

How to Install Bottom Mount Drawer Slides

You're finally getting the update to your bathroom. Or maybe the new cabinetry will get a retrofitting this time. No matter what the case is, you would have to pass a pretty daunting time to consider a particular slide for drawer.

There are many types to be honest that serve so many different kinds of purposes. The major common categories to consider are extension type, mount, length of slide, whether there are any weight limits and preferable finish.

After going through these all, if you finally pick the bottom mount drawer slides, then comes installation phase. And for that, we would like to focus today on how to install bottom mount drawer slides.

How to Install Bottom Mount Drawer Slides with Steps.

Using bottom mount drawer slides will need you to follow a certain type of installation. There are few things to know before trying this installation for example what tools you'll require. Let's talk about all of that below.

General Idea on Bottom Mount Drawer Slide…

To use the complete drawer opening width minus 1/8 inch on each side, one may want to use mounting method particularly. You can't really get this much space with any other type of slides. And that's why bottom mount drawer slides are so much more popular than any other category.

You can avail these pretty cheap. Price falls between eight to twenty dollars per pair usually. Trying one at drawer's middle will lessen the cost even more. The overall weight gets deducted when you use a bottom-mounted slide. These are pretty popular for installing with face frame cabinets mainly.

What You Need to Get…

The few things that you would require for this tutorial apart from slides are drill or screwdriver, chisel, safety glasses, a suitable saw, hammer, some nails, a level, combination square, pencil, and a tape measure.

Many of you will already decide on excluding these safety glasses. Don't go that way, it's not safe. You must think about protective wears as one of the major tools for these procedures or DIYs.

Installation Guide…

Let's talk about the inset drawer first. You need to make the side and front of drawer in one alignment. The position should take place across width. You should think for a notch if there will be any front overlay. This way the drawer's front face will have slide sitting in an adjacent manner.

With around 1/8-inch width on each side, cut the notch for slide. This needs to be with the drawer's bottom depth. Take out any waste using the chisel next. You want to screw down the slide on back and front. Do so after centering it properly. Let one screw keeps the front side of slide retaining. Now get the measuring tape to calculate drawer side. This is to ensure that the slide is centered right and pretty parallel.

It's time to fix the slide to face frames front side. Attach the part with only one screw. You should attach with ¾ inch thick mounting block inside the face frame. So that you can screw the slide in it. This is for inset drawer of course. Now from the face frame's front part, go back around 1/32 inch to mount slide. The above frame needs to stay clear. You can use an angle if necessary, here.

Use a mounting bracket to fix the slide the cabinet's back. There should be a square with the face frame. You can also try mounting on the side in case cabinet has a dust frame. Now let's put some help to support the drawer. You can use a self-adhesive or nail-in glide pad in this case. Just put it in the face frame. The spot should be on drawer's bottom edge passing area.

Conclusion

And that was a simple tutorial one on how to install bottom mount drawer slides. Of course, this type of slide is meant for face frame cabinets in most cases. You can always try the tutorial yourself with a little idea about how such installation happens.

However, if you've never done anything this sort earlier, better get some expert help. You should not harm drawer in this process of trying to fit the slides. Also, you should be very careful with clearance, drilling, and other things related.