I had all new cabinets and drawers and tile installed in my bathroom. The cost was $4,000 for just the drawers ($24K for the whole bathroom). Everything was painted and the contractor says he wants final payment for the whole job. The problem is the drawers are sticking bad. They're really hard to open - the first 2-3" requires your body weight to pull open, then they free up. When closing sometimes they don't want to completely close. We have 16 of these drawers.

What do I do? the contractor is acting like I'm being too sensitive. This can't be how they're supposed to work, right? I vaguely remember some soft close drawers in a house we almost bought years ago and they worked smooth as silk. Did my guy use cheap hardware? Did they goof up in the install? Help!

TIA

Cheap hardware. We are going theu the same thing but a larger scale. I will try to get wife to respond she has done all kind of research and the real self closing are very expensive

Where are you located. Send me an email to Gdogprop@gmail.com. And I will send it to you the info

We had new cabinets in the kitchen installed. Everything closes smoothly. Unsure how much adjustment is needed or if properly installed. Doubtful it's the hardware on *all* guides/slides. Probably tightened something too much.

I didn't install them, but the home I bought has them installed in the bathrooms. They pop open with just the slightest bit of extra pressure over a traditional slide. They close easily, although a few will occasionally stop an inch or so short. But I'm generally pretty easy on the close anyway having never used them before and muscle memory just wont let me slam them.

the contractor has been back twice to work on details here and there. He has 'adjusted' them more than once with a hammer.

I let the guy know this morning that they're not acceptable as-is. He says for an up charge he can put in better slides.

What brand did they install?

I wonder if the rails are not square

Sounds like a guide alignment problem or the drawer is slightly too big for the drawer box opening.

Wow sometimes I imagine if I did something similar as a contractor and it makes me sick to my stomach. I wouldn't be able to do it.

03_Aggie said:

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What brand did they install?

I wonder if the rails are not square

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The brand is Repon. Since all the drawers stick the same way I would guess that it's not just a square issue.

Are the countertops granite, quartz or marble ?

If so were the sink and possibly cooktop cut out done in the kitchen ? Or were they cut outside or offsite?

Open the drawer and measure the top of the drawer box over to over from left to right, now measure in the middle left to right and the rear left to right ? What is that measurement and is it uniform ?

Now measure what your drawer box opening is on the front of the cabinet face frame, the rough opening from left to right where the guides are mounted.

What are the 2 measurements?

Towns03 said:

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03_Aggie said:

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What brand did they install?

I wonder if the rails are not square

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The brand is Repon. Since all the drawers stick the same way I would guess that it's not just a square issue.

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Blum or KV are the way to go. Most off brands are crap. It's another area where the more you pay, the better you get.

I learned after installing many drawer slides that cheap ones were not worth it to me or my customers. Cheap ones are hard to adjust, don't slide smoothly and remind you of their inferiority every time you open a drawer.

I'd pressure him to put better ones in. Blum are excellent.

Make sure there is nothing stuck in the slides like a piece of plastic or a screw.

Then take the drawers off the slides and push the slides all the way in. Measure the width between the slides. Then pull them all the way out and do the same. Then use a level to make sure they both sides are parallel.

Once you do that and what another poster suggested and measure the boxes, you can determine whether the slides are installed parallel and that the box is not pulling them out of square. .

I'd say something has to be wrong. Maybe there is a piece that's supposed to be removed before operating or something. Just a wild guess. But using body weight to open a drawer? Even if they are knock offs they shouldn't be that bad.

No way would I pay a final payment with this issue still unresolved. Realistically the contractor will never return your calls once he has that check.

Did you specify the slides used or did he? If they were his decision, it is on him to make it right. If you chose an inferior slide to save money, you should own it and pay him for the upgrade.

"Everything was painted "

Please tell me they masked them or took all the guides off before painting ?

He chose.

will some one recommend a good slide that I can buy and try side by side?

maddiedou said:

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Cheap hardware. We are going theu the same thing but a larger scale. I will try to get wife to respond she has done all kind of research and the real self closing are very expensive

Where are you located. Send me an email to Gdogprop@gmail.com. And I will send it to you the info

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Maddie, will you recommend a good slide that I can buy and try side by side?

Ideally you want undermount soft close glides. Something like this

https://www.homedepot.com/p/21-in-Soft-Close-Full-Extension-Undermount-Drawer-Slides-Kit-39-3300-21/304798453

Could be an alignment issue, damaged glides or most common is that dust got in the glides during countertop installation. You can get a dust can and spray them out.

As someone else suggested if they were exposed during painting that could royally screw them up. If cabinets were painted on site it could be the paint finish sticking to itself making it hard to initially open them.

Blum are about the best soft close slides out there, at a slight premium. You can find them locally at Woodcraft or lots of places online. You can probably get them 2 day on Amazon, once you find the right part number.

Knape & Vogt (KV) are supposed to be good as well, but I've never used them. The Woodcraft guys at my local store say the Highpoint slides are good, too.

We actually have Kingslide. They've been in our kitchen going on three years now and no real issues that I am aware of. I think they come in a little under Blum.

I'd like pics of a $24,000 bathroom please.

I'm no help with the slides; we have them on our Kraftmaid kitchen cabinets and love them.

Go to Alco in Welborn. They keep all these different slides and all hardware in stock. They are pretty competitive and very nice people.

First thought on this is if they were painted on site and the painter didn't properly cover the rails, then there is probably paint all over them. The would need to be removed, cleaned and then I typically spray them lightly with WD40 and they should operate properly, assuming the installation on them is square and true.

what does the contract say about final payment?

Also, for $250/drawer I'd think they'd use the good slides. Per the home depot link above that's only $250 for all 16.

We went through this with a kitchen update. We tried every brand of side mount soft-close and every one if them had a peak pull force over 6 pounds, some over 10. Our conclusion was that soft close only belongs on drawers built for the under mount Blum type slides. "Soft close" side mount slides should be renamed "hard open" slides.

jtp01 said:

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No way would I pay a final payment with this issue still unresolved. Realistically the contractor will never return your calls once he has that check.

Did you specify the slides used or did he? If they were his decision, it is on him to make it right. If you chose an inferior slide to save money, you should own it and pay him for the upgrade.

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This. When I was brand spanking new, I let the customer choose cheap-o "soft close" slides because he didnt want to pony up the extra 20 bucks per pair for blum slides.

I revisited his house twice a week for 4 weeks to make adjustments...he expected them to operate like sharp skates on ice. It ended with me suggesting that if he wanted them to operate like blums he could pay me to swap them out or he could grease the **** out of them every few weeks.

I now only offer Blum for soft close, and it isnt open for negotiation.