New Base Cabinet Puzzlement
Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:31 pm
My wife went on a spending spree to outfit a rec room bathroom we're retro-vating with place holders. One of these placeholders is a newly manufactured 3-drawer base cabinet. After I unloaded it and took it into the house I noted something looked "off" about it.
The most obvious strangeness was that the drawers ended about 5" short of the back of the cabinet; about 1" short of the drawer slides. That's 3 drawers x 4" (keeping a space of 1"/drawer) = 12" of storage depth going to waste.
Looking at the interior from the open back, to see if there was something about the drawer slides that would prevent making the drawers longer (while allowing them to be tipped upward slightly for removal), I noted the drawers had been constructed as if they were for a full overlay cabinet but had been put into a full inset cabinet!
This means the drawer inset face panels are 7" tall x 10" wide but the drawers (boxes) are only 3" tall x 9" wide (the width being fine). I suppose 3" high drawer sides is fine if one is storing taller items but anything stacked, like wash cloths, are bound to end up in the drawer below it or on the floor behind the lowest drawer (to be found in some future time when the cabinet is replaced).
Rhetorical Question: Is this typical of some new cabinets manufacturers?
I pointed these things out to my wife and we agreed that, when I have some spare time, the following modifications will be made:
1) lower the drawer slides so that the bottom of the drawer is only about 1/2" above the drawer opening (instead of 1-1/2")
2) add material (in rear) to lengthen and (bottom) heighten the drawers while still allowing for removal,
3) add a sheet of luan (or similar) between each drawer so that contents don't fall,
4) re-position the inset drawer front panels onto the larger, re-built drawer (boxes).
Anywho. I just thought I'd share this in case any of you go shopping for cabinets and might not otherwise notice something, perhaps, to avoid.
The most obvious strangeness was that the drawers ended about 5" short of the back of the cabinet; about 1" short of the drawer slides. That's 3 drawers x 4" (keeping a space of 1"/drawer) = 12" of storage depth going to waste.
Looking at the interior from the open back, to see if there was something about the drawer slides that would prevent making the drawers longer (while allowing them to be tipped upward slightly for removal), I noted the drawers had been constructed as if they were for a full overlay cabinet but had been put into a full inset cabinet!
This means the drawer inset face panels are 7" tall x 10" wide but the drawers (boxes) are only 3" tall x 9" wide (the width being fine). I suppose 3" high drawer sides is fine if one is storing taller items but anything stacked, like wash cloths, are bound to end up in the drawer below it or on the floor behind the lowest drawer (to be found in some future time when the cabinet is replaced).
Rhetorical Question: Is this typical of some new cabinets manufacturers?
I pointed these things out to my wife and we agreed that, when I have some spare time, the following modifications will be made:
1) lower the drawer slides so that the bottom of the drawer is only about 1/2" above the drawer opening (instead of 1-1/2")
2) add material (in rear) to lengthen and (bottom) heighten the drawers while still allowing for removal,
3) add a sheet of luan (or similar) between each drawer so that contents don't fall,
4) re-position the inset drawer front panels onto the larger, re-built drawer (boxes).
Anywho. I just thought I'd share this in case any of you go shopping for cabinets and might not otherwise notice something, perhaps, to avoid.