Drawer Slide Feature Guide and Information

Introduction

When you go to buy a shoe, you aren’t just looking for one that fits your feet. You want features, you want it to be durable, breathable, and comfortable. For instance, with a walking shoe, you want a roomy toe box with an Achilles tendon protector. The same concept applies to drawer slides- instead of getting one that fits your cabinet measurements and calling it a day, look into features that make it easier to use.

For example, you might want a drawer slide that locks in position. Imagine you have a workshop cabinet on an uneven floor with some heavy tools inside the drawer. If you don’t get a drawer slide with a hold-in detent, it will simply open by itself. Conversely, if you’re getting a drawer slide for a computer desk, you might want a hold-out detent to keep your keyboard planted while you type on it.

In this post, we’ll walk you through some of the most popular motion features that control how your drawer slide moves in and out. While features such as these can add complexity and cost, they shouldn’t cause maintenance problems down the line if you purchase from a reputable drawer slide manufacturer.

What is a soft close drawer?

First up, is everyone’s favorite- soft close, which uses dampers to ensure that your drawer closes nice and slow every time. If you’re buying a drawer slide set for your kitchen, this is a must-have as it will keep your expensive utensils from banging into each other and getting scratched. Soft close works by using hydraulic dampers in the base of the rail to slow down your drawer’s momentum. This is a self-regulating system, much like the shock absorbers in your car’s suspension. Inside the cylinder, you’ve got hydraulic oil and a piston that connects to the telescoping rails of your drawer slide. As soon as you push the drawer inwards, it starts to apply pressure on the piston. The faster the drawer moves, the more resistance it faces, so no matter how hard you push your drawer, it will always retract at the same speed once it approaches the final portion of its travel. Over time, the seals in the hydraulic cylinder can start to wear out, resulting in a loss of pressure. If you’re buying a soft-close drawer slide, get one with a modular design so you can swap out the damper with a new one without having to throw away the entire slide.

What is self-closing?

Self-close drawers only require a gentle push to close themselves, as they have a spring mechanism inside the telescoping members that pulls the drawer in after it crosses a certain point. When you’re cooking multiple things at the same time, it’s easy to lose your train of thought and forget to close the drawer all the way. This is where a self-closing drawer can make your life a lot easier. Just don’t push it in too hard, or you’ll hear the loud thud of your utensils banging against the inner wall. The springs are already adding force to the drawer, you don’t need to do much. Self close slides are noisier, but also come in shorter sizes which makes them ideal for small drawers or mobile carts. You can also install one of these in your appliance drawer to make sure that it closes all the way, every time. For sound-sensitive environments, you’re better off going with an easy-close slide. Check with your drawer slides supplier to see which one they have.

What are push to open drawer slides?

Push-to-open adds a magical touch to your kitchen drawers, and allows you to maintain a clean look on your cabinet face. You don’t need any handles as long as you’ve got a push-to-open drawer, and it’s possible to use without any hands. Just a light tap from your knee or hips will open the drawer, so you can get work done even when you’re holding stuff in both hands. Combined with easy-close, this can transform your kitchen into a tranquil, almost zen-like space with nearly zero noise and free flowing drawers that feel like they’re gliding on air. Several high-end modular kitchens comes with push-to-open drawers these days, and they can work with cabinets of any size.

Progressive Movement

In every telescoping drawer slide, you’ll find “members” nested within each other. The ¾th extension slides have 2 members, full-extension slides have 3 members. But in older designs, the intermediate member in a 3 member setup doesn’t activate until the final member is extended all the way outward. So the first section slides out all the way, then it latches onto the middle section and pulls that one out. This is noisy and your hands can feel the slight bump from the exact moment when the intermediate member is engaged. Progressive movement slides fix this by adding a roller between the intermediate and final member that links them together. When one moves, so does the other. This reduces friction and noise, resulting in much smoother movement and a more pleasant user experience.

Hold-In & Hold-Out (Detents)

Detents prevent your drawer slide from moving until a minimum amount of force is applied inward or outward. If you have uneven elevation in the floor or a workspace that keeps sliding around, you might want a detent in your drawer slide. A hold-out detent keeps the drawer slide from closing until you apply 2 to 4 pounds of force. Perfect for keyboard drawers, because you don’t want your keyboard retracting into the cabinet as you type on it. A hold-in detent is the opposite, it prevents your drawer from sliding out unless you apply a bit of force. This is ideal for drawers that hold appliances or tools, since you don’t want those sliding around. File cabinets can also benefit from hold-in detents.

Easy Disconnect

Every drawer will need to be removed from its rails at some point. Maybe you want to clear things out, clean the drawer, or find something buried underneath all the other stuff. But it’s not as easy as pulling your drawer all the way out, because slides have specific mechanisms in place to prevent the drawer from falling out. With a nylon roller, you have to lift the drawer upwards and out.

 With an undermount drawer slide, you have latches on the bottom that can be pressed to disconnect the drawer. Some side-mounted drawer slides also have these latches you can press to detach the drawer. Having an easy disconnect feature for your drawer is crucial to facilitate regular cleaning and item organization.

Drawer Slide Finishes & Why you should Care

Bare steel will rust and break off, so every drawer slide has some kind of protective coating, or finish applied on top of the metal bits. Usually, this is a clear zinc coating that looks nice and resists everyday wear and tear. But if you’re using the slide in a more corrosion-prone environment where it’s exposed to lots of moisture, you’ll want a black chromate coating. We at Tallsen offer a special electrophoretic black coating that’s 8 times more resistant to corrosion than a basic zinc coating. And the best part is that it even looks better.

Ball Bearings vs. Roller Bearings: What are the Key Differences?

All of our drawer slides use ball bearings for maximum smoothness and durability. But some drawer slides suppliers will use nylon rails with rollers on each end to get the job done at a lower cost. These are cheaper, sure. But also noisier, without any special features, and more prone to wear over time, so you’ll probably have to replace them in a couple of years. If you want good durability and load rating, always get a telescoping steel slide that uses ball bearings.

Conclusion

At Tallsen, we manufacture a wide range of stainless steel drawer slides that fulfill all your needs. While we primarily cater to kitchen users, you can even use these in the bathroom or basement if you get our electrophoretic black coating. At the end of the day, no matter which slide you buy, make sure it has some extra features to make your life just a little bit easier. Because a modern home deserves a modern drawer system. Features like soft-close and push-to-open are pretty much standard on all high-end drawer slides these days. While they are more complex and thus more likely to break down, in practice, they perform better than the cheap and simple slides. That’s because drawer slide manufacturers create these premium products from better materials and with a high degree of precision. Quality comes at a price, but it’s worth it in the long run.