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soft close for drawers

15 years ago

I am going to be ordering some of the blumotion devices that can be affixed to the hinges on full-overlay cabinets, to give these cabinets a soft-close. Our kitchen also has a number of frequently used big drawers, some containing pots and pans. Is there any way to give kitchen drawers a "soft close" as well? If someone knows I'd appreciate any brand / item name information you could share. Thanks.

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Comments (6)

Buehl
15 years ago
It's easy to install soft-close dampers on doors after the fact; not so with drawers. As far as I know the only way to retrofit a drawer w/soft-close is to completely replace the drawer glides. Since drawer boxes are made to match the specifications of the glides, you will need to find glides w/the same specs...

What brand are your current drawer glides? Are they full-extension (more important than soft-close)?
nkkp
15 years ago
Blum also makes a soft close for drawers. You can find it on their website. I have them and love, love, love them!
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Stpindell, Thank you for your post and Ia m glad your problem was solved by your cabinetmaker. I just picked up a coffee table that I had made from a customer to fix this very problem- I had used self closing side mount slides due to the fact that the drawers are so small in height Blumotion wouldn't work. It is being used by an older person and I agree that it is hard to pull the drawer open. The work great the other way. This is the first time this has happened to my in over 35 years and thousands of drawer installs. So, I am going to try and "fix" this my grinding off that catch tab on the slide mechanism to "soften" the pull without risking a total malfunction. If it works I will post how I did it. Otherwise I am going to replace them with regular slides. All on my dime and time. No one should have to fight to get their drawer open. Yes and it is our responsibility as pros to communicate and do a great show and tell with the customer. Note: Although the home owner is the final customer--I did this for a designer here in Scottsdale Arizona-she being a pro has given me time to fix before the home owner sees it and moves in. That is a great designer to plan in her project management risks and small fixes in her timeline.
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Comments (19)
ash5181 - We bought several different slides and tested them on drawers. These were the best of what we could find (either online or in big box stores). They were a bit stiff at first, but repeated use has mellowed the resistance from the soft-close mechanism. I'm really glad we installed soft close, but I wish we had researched more before building the drawers. Turns out, undermount slides require a higher mount for the drawer base (to provide room/mounting surface for the Blum slides) - and DH was NOT going to rebuild or start again. A few slides are giving us trouble, but that could be installation error, as they are tricky to shim/balance. We learned a lot, and will be uber-prepared for the next kitchen :)
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Comments (1)
On the new Blum hinges there is a deactivation switch, looks like a little grey pyramid on the actual hinge cup. Slide it.
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Comments (2)
I thought the soft close glides were very resistant to opening also when they were first installed on one vanity we installed. Either I've gotten used to it or it's loosened up as time has gone by. Our kitchen glides aren't quite as reluctant, and they are Blum brand.
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sevrel
Original Author
15 years ago
nkkp, thanks for the information. do you by any chance have a link? on the blum website, I have only been able to find soft close for doors. I located a section for "drawer runner systems" but I think that is something different?
2ajsmama
15 years ago
There have been some other threads on this topic - try a search. What kind of glides do you have now? If they're Blum, I believe you can ass soft-close. Call them and ask about the Tip-on for drawers. That's advertised as a "push-to-open" for drawers with no pulls, but it might be an inexpensive ($11/drawer) solution for softclose too. I can't imagine they'd make something that would open with a gentle nudge but slam shut.
sevrel
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks to everyone has replied. A couple of you have asked about the type of glides. I'm not sure: I'm just learning more about all of this stuff now. The information I do have is that they are Barcelona Style Drawers made by Medallion.
2ajsmama
15 years ago
Oops - sorry about that typo! If spellchecker doesn't underline it, I don't look that closely!

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