How do drawers without slides work?
On wooden runners, the drawer bottom carries the drawer. The bottom sits under the box and sticks out a little on the left and right. Those protruding edges ride in a slot in the cabinet side. The box itself never touches the side. Bosch names two wooden options for a drawer without hardware: wooden strips, or a routed groove as the runner (Bosch DIY).
There are two ways to make that slot:
- Strips: fasten two strips of thin plywood to the cabinet side, with the slot between them. All you need is a saw.
- Routed groove: rout a groove into the side, with a router along a guide or in a jig. Neater, but you need a router and you take material out of the side.
Strips or a routed groove?
| Strips | Routed groove | |
|---|---|---|
| Tools | saw, brad nailer or electric stapler, glue optional | router with a guide or jig |
| Cabinet side | stays whole; the strips take 2 × (strip + clearance) of inside width | groove at most a third of the side thickness deep |
| Does the slot wear? | you can replace the strips, if they are not glued | the groove is in the side itself |
| Visible | strips show when the drawer is open | only the groove |
For a groove: rout out at most a third of the side thickness. HolzWerken sets that limit for a grooved drawer side (HolzWerken), and in a break test in 3/4 in plywood a 1/4 in dado held better than deeper ones (Highland Woodworking). A 3/4 in side is often only about 0.71 in thick, so a third is just under 1/4 in: stay at 7/32 in or less (Home Depot lists 0.709 in actual). cutlistlab warns when you go deeper, and flags an error past half the side thickness. The groove is as tall as the slot (bottom + 1 mm); if your bit is narrower, rout it in two passes.
The sizes, worked out
Everything follows from three choices: the thickness of your bottom panel, the thickness of the strips and how much room you give the bottom. Measure your bottom panel before you set up anything: plywood sold as 1/4 in is often thinner than 1/4 in, and the slot has to fit the real panel.
| Size | Rule |
|---|---|
| Slot height | bottom thickness + play in the slot (default 1 mm, a heavy 1/32 in) |
| Slot depth | strip thickness |
| Drawer bottom, width | inside width − 2 × side clearance |
| Drawer box, width | inside width − 2 × (strip thickness + side clearance) |
| Bottom sticks out | one strip thickness per side, past the box side |
| Box side, height | opening − (bottom of the slot + bottom thickness + 6 mm room above the box) |
| Bottom of the slot | above the bottom of each drawer opening (default 30 mm, about 1 3/16 in) |
A worked example: the drawer unit behind the button on this page is built in metric, 450 mm wide, 800 mm tall and 500 mm deep (about 17 3/4 × 31 1/2 × 19 11/16 in), in 18 mm plywood with four drawers and a 6 mm bottom. The inside width is 414 mm. With 6 mm strips and 1 mm clearance, the drawer box is 414 − 14 = 400 mm wide and the bottom 414 − 2 = 412 mm, so it sticks out 6 mm on each side into a slot 6 + 1 = 7 mm tall.
Because every drawer has its slot at the same height within its opening, equal drawers put their slots on a fixed spacing and you can swap the boxes (with their fronts only if the fronts are the same height).
cutlistlab works this out for you. In the cabinet designer, pick Wood under Slide type, then Strips or Routed under Groove. The cut list gets the wider bottoms, the lower box sides and every strip as a separate part, each at its own height. The drawer settings show each slot's height above the compartment floor, and the build guide puts the strips on the loose cabinet side from the bottom up. Open the example →
Step by step: a drawer on strips
- Cut everything in one go. Cabinet sides, bottom and top, each drawer box with its wider bottom, and the strips. Keep the strips together per side: they come in different heights.
- Fit the strips to the loose cabinet side before you assemble the cabinet: it is easier flat on the bench. Measure from the top of the cabinet bottom, not from the lower edge of the side, or follow the build guide. Work from the bottom up. Fasten the strips with brads, staples or screws; glue makes them stronger, but glued strips will not come off cleanly later. Put a spacer as tall as the slot between two strips, so they stay parallel and evenly spaced (Fine Woodworking; Sawdust Girl uses glue and 18 ga brads). Check every slot with an offcut of the bottom panel: it should slide in without binding.
- Pick the right brads. Use a brad nailer or an electric stapler that takes 3/4 in fasteners. Rule of thumb from fastener maker Rapid: three times the thickness of what you are fastening. For a 1/4 in strip that is a 3/4 in brad; check that the point stays inside the side. Real plywood runs thin (about 0.2 in and 0.71 in), so that still leaves a little over 1/8 in of wood before the outside face.
- Assemble the cabinet and check that the sides are parallel. If a side is out, the drawer binds at the back or rattles at the front.
- Build the box, then glue and nail the bottom under it. Put a spacer block against the box on both sides so the bottom sticks out evenly left and right.
- Wax and slide it in. Rub paraffin or a candle on the slots and the edges of the bottom (Family Handyman; Woodgears) and slide the drawer in. No oil: it gets sticky over time (Woodgears).
- Fit the fronts and even out the gaps all around.
Building in melamine? Wood glue is made for wood; for a plastic face there is dedicated glue (Titebond Melamine; Ponal Lackleim). Simpler: screw the strips on instead of gluing them, with countersunk screws: there is only 1 mm between strip and box side, and a proud screw head rubs the box.
Which wood for the strips?
Wood on wood wears, so the running surface decides how long the drawer keeps sliding smoothly. Hardwood with small pores such as beech, maple or pear works best: hardwood on hardwood slides easier and wears less (holzwerken.de). Strips from the same sheet as the bottom are the easiest: one sheet, no extra lumber. For a shop cabinet with light contents that is a practical choice, but no source says how long such plywood strips last. If you want to replace the strips later, fasten them with brads or screws only, no glue.
How far does the drawer open?
About two thirds. A third of the drawer should stay in the runners. Pull further and the drawer acts as a lever on the last bit of strip, and the wood fibers can shear off (HolzWerken). Wood does not do full extension: the drawer sags and can fall out (Popular Woodworking). For that you need a full-extension metal slide, such as a ball-bearing slide.
Wooden runners have no built-in stop. In a face-frame cabinet you can screw a turn button to the back of the box: a hardwood block about 1/2 × 3/4 × 2 in with one screw through an off-center hole, 3/4 in from one end. Turned flat, the drawer goes in; turned upright, it catches on the face frame rail when you pull the drawer out (This Old House). A frameless cabinet has no rail between the drawers, so the block has nothing to catch on. There, keep to the two thirds yourself, and know that a full drawer can then come all the way out: mind your feet and children.
When to use metal slides after all
- Heavy contents. Bosch recommends metal slides for heavy loads (Bosch DIY), and there is no reliable weight rating for wooden runners. Use them for light things: hand tools in a shop cabinet, paper, clothes.
- The drawer has to open all the way. Wood gives you about two thirds.
- Wide, shallow drawers. A drawer much wider than it is deep racks when you pull it and binds; at twice as wide as deep that is hard to avoid (HolzWerken). The wider the drawer compared to its depth, the likelier that gets. cutlistlab tells you when your drawer is wider than it is deep.
- Damp rooms. Wood swells when it takes up moisture (holzwerken.de), and wooden runners have little play. Rule of thumb: with changing humidity, as in a bathroom, use a ball-bearing slide.
Choosing between metal slides? Building a drawer unit to size explains what side-mount, undermount and bottom-mount slides do to the box size.
Video: drawers in the cabinet designer
This video from the cabinet series covers drawers in general: how many, how to divide them and how the bottom goes into a groove. The slide types it shows are metal; you pick wooden runners in the same place, with the Wood button.
Frequently asked questions
Can you build drawers without slides?
Yes, for light contents. Make the drawer bottom wider than the box and let it ride in a slot in the cabinet side on both sides. You make the slot with two strips on the side, or you rout a groove. No metal involved.
How far does a drawer on wooden runners open?
About two thirds. A third of the drawer should stay in the runners; pull it further and the leverage puts so much force on the strip that the wood fibers can shear off. Wood does not do full extension; for that you need a full-extension metal slide, such as a ball-bearing slide.
What do you lubricate wooden drawer runners with?
Paraffin or a candle: rub it on the slots and the edges of the bottom. No oil, because it gets sticky over time.
How deep can a groove in the cabinet side be?
At most a third of the side thickness, so a little under 1/4 in in a 3/4 in side. Deeper weakens the side. With strips you avoid this, because you remove nothing from the side.
What wood should the runner strips be?
Hardwood with small pores such as beech, maple or pear wears least. A strip ripped from the same sheet as the drawer bottom is the easiest and works for light contents, but wood on wood always wears: fasten the strips so you can replace them later.
When should you use metal slides instead?
For heavy contents, when the drawer has to open all the way, when the drawer is much wider than it is deep, and in a damp room such as a bathroom. Wood swells with moisture, so there a ball-bearing slide is the sensible choice.
Sources: HolzWerken, Nutleisten als Führungen; HolzWerken, Breite Schubkästen klemmen gern; holzwerken.de, Laufleisten; Woodgears, wooden drawers; Popular Woodworking, 3 kinds of drawer slides; Highland Woodworking, ideal dado depth; This Old House, Fixing falling drawers; Fine Woodworking, Tips for drawer runners; Sawdust Girl, DIY wood drawer runners; Titebond Melamine Glue; Ponal Lackleim, data sheet; Bosch DIY, Schublade selber bauen; Rapid, brad length; Family Handyman, Gulf Wax for sticky drawers.