Full Extension Drawer Slide Upgrade for Cheap Cabinets Cheap drawer slides difficult to open?

I lived with these daily annoyances for years, but when I decided to do my removable countertop extensions project, I knew the drawers would have to be dealt with—once and for all. It would have been impossible to get into the drawers at all when the countertop extensions were attached.

With that decided, I researched what options were available for center mount drawer slides and came to a surprising conclusion—full extension center slides existed only in the fertile imagination of my mind! It would have to be side mount or undermount slides to achieve my desired state of cabinet drawer bliss.

The big problem is that center mount cabinets do not have the required space between the drawer box and the sides of the cabinet opening to install full extension slides. Hmm, how to solve this dilemma?

The solution:

The way to fix these lousy drawers was to upgrade to undermount, full extension, soft-close slides.

Upgrading 5 drawers only cost me $120 or so

The drawers only had about 1/8″ clearance on each side, and needed 1/4″ per side to accommodate the undermount slides. Side mount slides require 1/2″ on either side, so those would have meant seriously hacking up the cabinet or rebuilding the drawers. These cabinets weren’t worth that amount of effort.

Using an oscillating multi-tool, I made 1/8″ cutouts the same height as the slide mounts on either side of the cabinet opening. This could also be done with a chisel, just like mortising a hinge on a door slab. That said though, if you don’t have a multi-tool, you don’t know what you are missing! It has become one of my favorite tools!

Incredibly useful tool! If you don’t have one, you NEED one!

I found that modifying the cabinets to create the space to install undermount slides was not all that difficult, and the hardware is hidden underneath the drawer for a super clean appearance. Once painted, these cutouts are not noticeable at all.

What a HUGE difference this made, and not just when the countertop extensions were attached. Now when I open the drawers, they glide as smoothly and softly as petting a rabbit lounging on silk sheets after its day at the spa.

I could never have imagined that this simple drawer upgrade would make these cabinets feel like they were high quality from the start. They make me say “ahhh” every time I open them!