I've been researching slides to use on something I'm building myself, and the KV slides do get great reviews on Amazon.

Here is a link that might be useful: Amazon reviews of KV slides

One cabinet maker who frequented here said he preferred Hettich. Grass is also good, I don't know about Accuride - I think they are thought to be a little lower end (which doesn't mean they are not good). Issue is less the brand but using the side mount hardware. It does shrink your drawer and some folks don't like the visible hardware when drawers are opened. If your talking swapping one side mount for another brand I would let them stay in their comfort zone. If you wanted Blum under mount I would think about the issues mentioned and decide if I can live with the compromises. Most talk of Blum on here is about the undermount drawer hardware not the side mount hardware.

I assume you've seen their work or you wouldn't have hired them. If you liked the way their drawers worked, let them use what they are accustomed to using. If you have gotten so particular as to measure and dictate the sizes you need your drawer interiors to be, remember changing from side to undermount will change the interior specs of every drawer box.

Do you prefer yours drawers wider or higher? It's not a huge difference but in a small or particular space where every inch is assigned, it might matter.

Dee850, I too, read the positive reviews of the K&V slides on Amazon, but I don't think they had any reviews of the soft-close style.

Caryscott, that's exactly my dilemma, I hate to force them outside their comfort zone on something that isn't THAT important to me. I've tried the regular K&V and they seem nice. I'll confess that I'd rather not see the glides on the sides of the drawers, but I'm sure I'd forget about it in no time.

Pharaoh, I played with the Blum under-mount soft-close at Ikea and it's just so smooth and quiet! In some ways my kitchen will be elaborate - at least by local standards - but technologically it will be extremely simple. Those slides are the one modern whiz bang gizmo that really appeals to me.

Fori, I admire the Gardenwebbers who know where every spoon will go before the first nail is driven, but that's not me. I'm sure I'd never have thought about drawer glides in my pre-Gardenweb days. The cabinet maker has helped me solve some quirky problems with my layout and has been very helpful and creative. I'd like to be a good sport and just trust his judgment on what's really a small issue, but darn! Those Blums are cool.

Thanks everybody for your input. I guess I'll sleep on it.

For what it's worth, I almost canceled my cabinet order when I discovered that the cabinet maker would only side mount the slides instead of bottom mount them. That's just the way he makes his drawers. But I loved his door so much that I decided not the cancel. My husband and I consoled ourselves by ordering self close slides which cost $10.00 more per slide. Two months later when the cabinets arrived we discovered that the guys in his shop had not used the self close slides. The cabinet maker's response was that he would switch out the slides if that's what we really wanted but that he personally prefers the ones that they mistakenly used. So as a way of making the decision, he installed the self close slides on one drawer. Then I was able to feel the comparison of opening and closing drawers. Actually the non self close slide was easier to open and it was quieter. The self close slide has a kind of shock absorber at the back end. I had to pull really hard to get the drawer to open. After doing that for about 10 minutes, my arm was tired. That shock absorber also makes noise--quite a bit. That experiment convinced me that he was right. The self close slides were actually not beneficial. And now that the cabinets are in, I don't pay any notice to the slides on the side of the drawers because I'm usually in the kitchen working. The only part of the cabinets I really notice are the doors and they are absolutely lovely.

It is cool but I really don't think you will miss it. For what it is worth I think it is a reasonable thing to compromise on and it sounds like it won't be something you will regret down the line.

We have the Blum undermount soft-close slides on our drawers and a trash pullout that's KV soft-close---they actually seem pretty similar to me as far as the feel/noise/etc. I'm not sure how similar the trash slides are to the side-mount ones, but if they're roughly equivalent you'd probably be fine with those.

Statgeek,thanks so much for sharing your experience! I find myself obsessing on little things that I doubt I'll think of on a daily basis. I suspect I'll be a lot like you and focus on the beautiful cabinet details that really are important to me...as long as the hardware is functional, I can probably live with sliding the drawers closed myself. ; )

Caryscott, after sleeping on it, I think you're right. This is a relatively painless place to compromise.

Artemis! Thank you! It's great to hear from someone who's experienced both. I did a little more poking around and have decided I'm probably not enough of a princess to really mind this particular pea. Thanks again, all. Your advice has helped me over this mountainous molehill.

statgeek - if you are still out there, can you tell me what brand of side mounted glides you have? I am at this same cross roads.

My cabinet maker made a sample drawer and box and installed the side mounted self closing glides by KV. They must have been the same kind you tried because boy were they tough to open! And to close it took 3 pushes!

I have him searching for Blum side mounted self-closing but I am starting to wonder if they even exist! I know the undermounts do, but I went to the Blum webite and they seem to only reference the undermounts. I will try calling Blum tomorrow.

But I am also wondering if, like Nutherokie, I should just give up on the self-closing feature.

I'm reviving this thread to see if anyone has current info on side mount slides. DH is making drawer boxes so we can convert our base cabs into drawer bases. We will also replace slides on all existing drawers. Currently have builder grade slides from 1994.

I'm overwhelmed with options for slides. Top priority is a slide that will move smoothly with heavy Le Creuset cookware in the drawer. Everything else is optional. Amazon reviews for K&V are impressive. Thoughts?

Abbycat what did you go with and do you like it?

I have an all-drawer island. The slides are all Blum Tandem soft close..They are mounted on the sides of the cabinet, underneath the drawers.

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 :)

Abbycat, thank you! Does the higher mount affect functionality? This might be kind of hard to explain properly but I remember at some houses I've lived in you put things in a drawer and expect it to close and it won't, and then others I'll put something in and wonder if it will and it closes just fine. I wonder if the ones that you can fit more stuff in are side mount (and lower as a result)? Any comments?

Yes, we all live and learn right :-) I did read that the Undermount are much easier to adjust… Is that the main reason why you would do them in the future?

"The slides are all Blum blumotion soft close..They are monted on the sides of the boxes, obviously."

Chess, I'm not really sure what you mean by that. If you have Blumotion, then you have TANDEM slides, which are undermounted. Side-mounted slides don't have Blumotion, but you can get them with Blumatic (which won't be full extension). But nothing is obvious with your description, since it contradicts itself. By default, Blumotion means undermount.

I also used the Blum undermount slides and had extra heavy duty ones installed on my drawers holding my dishes and the ones holding my pots/pans. it takes a little extra effort to open them, but they glide beautifully and easily.

That can be perceived as a positive by people who have toddlers, lol!

catbuilder, I meant that the slides were mounted on the side of the CABINET boxes. They are definitely Tandem Bluemotion.