Whether you live in a house, condo, or apartment your house is bound to be filled with drawer slides. They are absolutely everywhere. Their size can vary anywhere from 20” to something as small as 12” or custom made up to 36” completely depending on the use they’re needed for in your home or even in your business.
Standardly, most drawer glides are used for drawer cabinetry either in your kitchen or bedroom closets. The free-flowing and smoothness of a glide also lends a sense of quality to a piece of cabinetry much the same as the purring of a fine car’s motor. Soft close drawer glides are also available and lend to giving you that air of quality.
Historically, drawer glides were made from wood as were most pieces of cabinetry. Due to the nature of wood, with its expansion and contracting, drawer glides would loose their ability to slide smoothly. Wood also has a tendency over time to wear a lot quicker than metal glides. Metal glides offer a variety of advantages over wooden glides such as smooth operation as well as a cost saving and time saving measure.
Generally, metal glides work on the principal of a ball bearing of some sort that the glides actually roll back and forth over. As you can imagine, the weight that a drawer is expected to carry would be a determining factor as to which metal glide you should be choosing. You should always allow an overage of 50% of weight just to make sure the glides perform to your expectations.
Drawer glides also have various grades of use. Some glides actually extend beyond the carcass of the cabinet they’re inside where other glides only show a partial size of the entire drawer.
Whatever you decide to use, keep in mind Space Age Closets and Custom Cabinetry is here to help you out.
