I called Blum about this too. But I don't think I can remember what the difference is now.

Sounds like it must negligible then if it didn't stand out?

tandembox has blumotion (soft closing) integrated in it, while Tandem Plus is a full extension version of tandem "railing" (?- what would be the proper name for it), which can (but does not need to) have the blumotion added to it.

Tandem can be in 75 and 110 lb rating, I am not sure what is the rating of the tandembox (have not researched that yet).

Thanks efs. It looked to me like tandem box has the blumotion. My cab maker hasn't gotten back to me yet, but my quote says Blum Tandem Plus soft-close. I'm trying to figure out how that's different than Tandembox.

Tandem Plus (plus blumotion, that is) is the Blum upperend drawer glides w the blumotion (soft/self-close) mechanism.

Tandembox is the tandem plus (blumotion) glides + the metal drawers. The box in tandembox *is* the drawer box (well, its sides) :-)

If you get cabinet-maker made wooden boxes with the tandem+ glides, then you're getting the Tandem+ product. If you get the blum-made box sides in the Tandem+ family, you're getting the tandembox product.
In each case, you'd get the tandem glides with the blumotion.

Blumotion is the glide system that lets the drawers open and close.

The difference is in the drawer box construction.
Metabox: uses powder coated metal drawer boxes. This is the cheapest option for Blum. Most custom cabinet companies do not use this. This is similar to Ikea boxes.

Tandem: companies typically use hardwood dovetailed boxes and uses the glides by Blum. This is the typical American cabinet system that you see with typical mid to high-end cabinets in America. You only see dovetailed wooden drawers when you open and close the drawers.

Tandembox: DO NOT use hardwood dovetailed boxes. The sides of boxes are stainless steel modules from Blum and the cabinet maker only makes the bottom and back that fits the Blum SS hardware sides and bottom. This is similar to what Ikea drawers look like but the components are made of SS instead of powder coated steel. The components are much higher grade than the metaboxes. This is more common with European cabinets. In America, there is typically an upcharge from Tandem to Tandembox. (for some companies, the charge may be the same...) This is not common in America.

Tandembox Intivo: the drawer boxes use SS and tempered glass. Tempered glass is expensive. (I have only seen a few houses with this system ever!) I have no idea what the up charge is. I think it is quite a bit higher.

If you go to higher end cabinet showrooms that have European style cabinets, they should be able to show you the difference between Tandembox and Tandem.

They all have similar opening and closing mechanism; Blumotion. The drawers give you completely different feel when you open and close since what you see is SS versus wood. The difference is really the esthetics, not drawer mechanism.

Nope sorry, kaismom, a few facts wrong there:

- Metabox : indeed the cheapest blum option (not used by IKEA, by the way) is white painted thin gauge steel boxes. It isn't (so far at least) the poser-coated grey.

- Tandembox : is the upmarket blum steel drawer box frame and comes in both the brushed stainless steel (inox) OR the powder coated grey. (This tandembox with the grey steel is what IKEA uses, btw, not metabox). It is indeed what the european cabinets use - either the inox or the powder coated grey. Thicker gauge steel utilized and generally a higher end all around to metabox regardless of whether using the inox or the grey finish.

- Blumotion : won't work with the metaboxes. Don't know when you said "they all have similar opening and closing ..." if you included metabox in "all" but the tandem systems don't work with metabox.

Thanks everyone. It makes a bit of sense now. My drawers will be dovetailed from my local, one-man show, cab maker. Bottom line is that I'm getting a good product, which is what I thought. I wanted to make sure there wasn't an upgrade I should think about now that I'd later regret not thinking about. Hope that was clear.

My glides will be the ones rated for 75 lbs. That should be fine, even for my pots and pans drawers.

I stand corrected.
However, Blum just added Blumotion to their metabox as an option.

Either way, breezygirl, if you are not sure of the difference, go look at them at a cabinet shop. Tandem and Tandemboxes look very very different. I only know less than a handful of people with SS Tandemboxes. (I have SS Tandembox)

Just about everyone I know has dovetail hardwood drawer boxes. (with some sort of soft close glide. There are many different brands of drawer glides) 90% of the cabinets that I have seen on this forum seems to have hardwood drawers. This would be the Tandem equivalent.

(let's not confuse the issue with the metaboxes... My bad!)

I was also comparing Tandem W/ Wood dovetailed drawers vs. Tandem Box. There is a large upcharge for the tandem box drawers. Is there a great reason to pick tandembox over wood dovetailed drawers with tandem undermount glides?

I don't see a large cost to Tandembox, either from a Blum distributor or from Ikea. The Ikea version is almost identical. The glides are. The sides are identical as to fit, but they show a (cosmetic) difference in the ripple on the side. There are structural differences in the interior drawer's front panel so you cannot use Blum's drawer-to-drawer clip to pull open both Ikea drawers at the same time.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40107080 A Deep Drawer 36"w for $40

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30107066 A Shallow Drawer 30"w for $30

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00132406 3 drawers for $65

Along with the drawer, Ikea gives you a pre cut chipboard floor panel.
Along with the drawer, Ikea gives you a Blum back panel (metal). I haven't yet found a Blum distributor who has access to that part. They all use wood there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Three Blum Tandembox drawers AND back and fronts

Rain? What's rain? We've only had a 10 minute sprinkle since March!

Come live in the PNW. Not only do we have rain, but I'm also still wearing wool socks every day.

For the record, I decided to stick with the Tandem Plus.