I am building some furniture for my son. (Giant TV console to start with.)
He wants drawer runners in it. I have built kitchen cabinets with side mounted runners. Possibly looking for undermount runners. Looked at Blum and was stunned at the complexity of the design. What a contraption. Can't imagine it would last anywhere near the lifetime of the piece of furniture.
So, what type and brand have you used? Did you like them. Were they durable. Cost? I am leaning toward tried and true. Advice?
I have used the Blum Under Mount slides and have very happy with them. I found them pretty easy to install and I like not seeing them on the finished cabinet. you lose a little drawer height but not enough to concern me. They are really smooth operating.
I find blum bottom mounted slides easier to install and way more forgiving than side mounts. More than makes up for the cost difference . They seem complicated but really are not also get the ones with blumotion self closing, from the supplier I use they are actually cheaper than the old style.
Yes, 21" Blum Tandem plus Blumotion 563 Full Extension is what I use in all the 24" deep kitchen islands that I build these days. The locking device that screws into the bottom front corners of drawer box are sold separately right and left, so don't buy without getting those. I don't know why they don't just include them in the box. These slides are expensive at $28 ~~$30 per drawer, but they are very nice. But then my customers don't hire me because I'm cheap.
They come in 3" increments and about 1/2" of that is behind the drawer plus I mount them about 3/16"" back from the front edge of the carcass, so the closing force is still pulling when the front hits the cabinet.
I mill my drawer box sides down to 5/8" then dovetail the corners, which I want to show on the sides, so figuring the front length is easy. Just mount the slides in the cabinet, pull the rails out on both side, measure across and add 1 1/4" to the outside measure, maybe + 1/16". Then for the side length, If I'm using 21" slides, knock 3/8" off of that, so 20 5/8". The reason I highlighted the -3/8" is because it gets a little confusing to figure that length, since the slides mount behind the front of the drawer box, to the back of the drawer, then you must add the length of the dovetail into that. It is easy to get confused, so I usually make a sample of one side with the front and back out of scrap before going ahead and cutting all the parts.
The current project has a new feature that I hope doesn't catch on, although I expect it will once it shows up in the pages of the hot designer rags. It has two drawers under the sink. Both will require the backs to be cut away for the plumbing, and the middle drawer will be cutting around the disposal. This was designed by an architect, and since I'll be delivering it about 1200 miles away, and the stone top has to go on before the sink can be installed, I don't know how much to cut out so suppose will need to hire someone out there to do that. It's a hell of a lot of work for very little space gained for the kind of things most people store under our sinks.