Drawer and tray slides

Slides are manufactured hardware assemblies that enable cabinet components such as drawers to be extended from the carcase in smooth linear motions with minimum effort. The primary design parameters of any slide are its height, depth, extension, and weight rating. Separately, durability and serviceability are important as are the smoothness of operation and the availability of features such as soft-close buffering. Slides are used not only for drawers but also for trays and pull-out cabinets of various designs.

Drawer "extension" is the proportion of a drawer that is exposed when fully opened. Traditional drawers built with wood-on-wood runners cannot be opened beyond about three-quarters extension. Modern manufactured runners enable full-extension drawers, where specified.

The typical weight rating for a drawer or tray is 75 to 100 lbs, sufficient for ordinary use.

Slides may be mounted on the side or the bottom of the drawer. On the drawer bottom, they are completely out-of-sight, contributing to a significant gain in popularity in recent years. In the bottom-mounted configuration, drawer slides can accommodate the widest possible drawers in a frameless cabinet opening. However, the depth of the drawer must necessarily be slightly curtailed to accommodate the undermounted hardware. (Conversely, the width of the drawer is slightly reduced for sidemount installations.)