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Kitchen Cabinet Drawer Glides are Important
No
matter how attractive the kitchen cabinets in a
showroom appears, its appeal will quickly
diminish in your home if its hardware is of poor
quality. Just as you would test-drive a car
before you buy it, test the kitchen cabinets
for yourself. Do the drawers open easily and
quietly? Or do they rumble, stick, or tilt down
when open them? Are they “full extension”? Do
they come all of the way out of the box? Or do
they make access more difficult by opening only
part of the way?
Features
of Various Glides for Kitchen Cabinets
The best-quality drawer glides for kitchen
cabinets operate on nylon wheels or ball
bearings made of polymer or steel. They also
have built-in bumpers to cushion the impact of
the drawer front closing against the kitchen
cabinet. The top-of-the-line glides allow
for full extension, although three-quarter
extension glides can be a practical alternative.
Higher-quality drawers are self-closing when
they are pulled out approximately an inch. Load
ratings are also important-not all slides can
support the same weight.
How
Drawer Glides are Mounted onto Kitchen Cabinets
Drawer glides are side-, bottom-, or corner
mounted. The bottom-mounted glides can be used
only on face-frame cabinets. They should include
a pair of rollers mounted to the face-frame, so
that the drawer won't tip when it's opened.
A
Few Notable Manufacturers of Kitchen Cabinet
Glides
The better
kitchen cabinet manufacturers now offer a wide
choice of drawer glides as well as hinge types.
Accuride of El Monte, California, has earned an
outstanding reputation for its ball-bearing
side-mount drawer glides. Heavy metal tracks
house lubricated rows of steel ball bearings
that provide exceptional smoothness, longevity,
and weight capacity. Some of Accuride's drawer
glides are also available with an acetal polymer
ball bearing that will never rust or lose its
smoothness. Full extension drawer glides are
also available, making it easy to extend a
drawer its full length for maximum access and
easy cleaning.
Grass America
also offers an excellent drawer glide based on a
nylon roller and epoxy-coated steel track. Novel
features include feather-touch closing, shock
absorbing closing, and detents. A number of
other manufacturers also offer quality drawer
glides for kitchen cabinets.
Another
consideration is the load-bearing amount. Some
cheaper glides can only handle 50 pounds or
less. For roll out shelves loaded with heavy
cookware, these may fail to provide the expected
strength and smoothness of operation over
extended periods of time. For extra weight
capacity, drawer glides are available for
weights in excess of 100 lb., similar to those
used on filing cabinet drawers
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