Does the sound of slamming drawers or cabinet doors irritate you? Well, almost everyone would agree and an easy solution to this problem is adding a soft close feature in your drawers, especially the kitchen ones.

With soft close drawer slides and a bit of skill in using tools like a drill, screwdriver, tape measure or level, this could be an amazing DIY project. Depending on the number of drawers you want to fix, installation could take an hour or less!

The slides are easy to install, affordable and can guarantee you quieter, safer kitchen space. Soft close drawer glides can also be installed on your home office, bathroom, or bedroom drawers.

Things You Need to Get Started

• Level
• Screwdriver
• Pencil
• Drill
• Mounting Plates
• Tape Measure

Installing Soft Close Drawer Slides

Step 1: Detach the Drawer from the Cabinet
After emptying the drawer, remove it from the cabinet. This process, however, can be a challenge depending on the type of drawer you’re working on. Free-rolling and wood-glide drawers come out easily with a little bit of force, but drawers fitted with stopping features are hard to remove. You first need to remove the screws before you can pull it out.

Step 2: Install Cabinet Slides
The secret to having a perfect glide installation is careful measurements. First, take the inside measurements of the cabinet floor and mark the height. On each inside wall of the cabinet, draw a level line across. Attach the mounting plates to the glide both on the frame clip and cabinet box clip.

Step 3:Install Drawer Glides
So lay the drawer on its side then align the glide to fit the exact position on the cabinet glides. Mark the placement points with a pencil. Place the glide on the pencil marks and screw mark the points again. Repeat this step on the other side too.

Step 4: Attach Clips
The face frame clip is to be attached to the cabinet using a screw and screwdriver. For perfect attachment, predrill the holes if necessary. Then connect the back mounting clip to the back of the cabinet box

Step 5: Check the Slides Once More
Before screwing in the rest of the screws, make sure the drawer glide is parallel from the front to the back. If not, simply adjust its position. Then install the drawer back into the cabinet by sliding it through the glides. After testing and everything seems to work fine, fasten the screws.

With this simple guide, you can now install soft close drawer runners on your cabinets without a problem. But how do you know which type of drawer slide to choose from? Here are some of the common types of drawer slides available.

Ball Bearing Drawer Slides are perhaps the most common type of drawer slides and they come in a range of configurations and sizes for different storage weight and drawer length. These ball bearing drawer slides made of cold rolled steel are ideal for frameless or face frame cabinets.

Soft Close Ball Bearing Drawer Slide essentially helps to prevent drawers from slamming shut. It is a great solution for reducing noise and increasing safety, especially for kitchen drawers. Ideally, soft close drawer slide can carry loads of up to 50 pounds.

Bottom Mount Drawer Slides also called under-mount drawer slide, features locking devices connected at the bottom of the drawer. If you are looking to accentuate your cabinetry, undermount drawer slides is a good option because it doesn’t show when opening the drawer. While this type of slide doesn’t require clearance at the sides, it requires some amount of clearance at the top and bottom of the cabinet.

Center Mount Drawer Slides mounts directly at the center of the drawer. It comes in two options, the classic wood version or the bell-bearing system. Depending on the thickness of slide, the clearance size could vary a lot. It features a tri-roller design on a monorail drawer slide.

So whether you are looking renovate or install new drawer slides, these tips can help you achieve a successful DIY project. Kitchen cabinets can last up to 50 years and having soft close drawer slides guarantees that.