How to do these drawers?

[handi]

Hidden compartments on antique furniture used all sorts of mechanisms.

You could put a spring (wood or metal) behind the drawer, set so that at rest the drawer is in the closed position, but with room to press the drawer deeper into the opening which compresses the spring.

Push the drawer in, let it go quickly, it opens. Simple, effective.

And just for the record, modern push to open mechanisms are designed to be used in kitchen applications and to function over tens of thousands of opening cycles. If you buy cheap, you will be disappointed, but buying Blum or Hafele mechanisms will serve you well.

[Willyou]

This is fun to think about. How about having a pair of levers in the back mounted so that if you push on one drawer it pushes the other drawer open. The drawers could be held in their neutral position by magnets or detentes like bullet catches.

Or, as Alan S suggested, put springs behind the drawers. However, mount the catches so that when you push on one drawer, it releases the other drawer.

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks for all the replies. They really helped consolidate my thoughts. I shall comment further on these in a while.

I found the original piece on the web: https://www.coxandcox.co.uk/chevron-oak-console-table

It is sold as a flat pack, and poorly constructed. Although the advert states that it is solid oak, it looks veneered ply/mdf to my eyes (the grain on the drawer edges is more obviously veneer, not just the planted fronts, but the upper edge).

If the drawers need a push-it mechanism, to propel it out a few inches, the drawers will need to have reduced friction, and this means they need to be on metal runners. Like kitchen drawers. I have emailed my niece to explain this and that this is a low quality option.

I really liked Charlie's idea of semi circular drawers (mentioned on WoodCentral). I would like the challenge of building them (I came close to building drawers like this in the Harlequin Table). However, I think they are impractical. Fun, but impractical. I have suggested to my niece that the hall table uses more traditional drawers with unobtrusive handles.

The overall design is clean and quite nice. It could benefit from more refined details. That will be my contribution. I need to retain the look of the legs, but with a different undercarriage. The current design likely utilises metal connectors, something like these ...



They are likely quite strong, but a more refined construction would use a sliding dovetail with a staked mortice-and-tenon. This should add a lot more meat under the legs and still retain the slim profile ...



Regards from Perth

Derek

[Stwood_]

Turn some wooden pulls...............the front needs something.

[jamesglenn]

I built a mantle that was similar with drawers and 1/16" gaps. It was 14ft long and had several. I used the Blum slides with push to open mechanisms built in. They work great and hold up to my kids abuse daily.

[Alan S]

If you are concerned about wear or dirt on the drawer faces from a push-to-open method (I like Handi's) you could put a magnet at the rear of each door, and have a rotatable magnet to either pull the drawer shut, or push it open.  There are lots of mechanisms that could do this, and be accessible from different spots.  An electromagnet could work, but that seems too far from what I see as your aesthetic.

[hbmcc]

Use your pocket knife for design inspiration.... A thin metal blade can protrude from a drawer edge. Or, have it swivel; push one side, the other protrudes to grab and pull the drawer open.

[Derek Cohen]

There have been a number of ingenious ideas presented here - which I hoped for, and I'm sure we have all admired. My knee-jerk reaction to using mechanical fittings is to back away. For example, I am sure that metal under drawer slides are well made, will last forever, and run smoothly. But I am such a traditionalist at heart. I have modern taste in design, but am still strongly connected to the 18 C for construction methods. I just prefer wood-on-wood for drawers.

I do enjoy something challenging, and am so tempted to build (half) circular drawers that pivot. These would not need handles. Part of me rebels and chides myself that these might not become real drawers. Any thoughts about these to tip me one way or the other?

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Phil Thien]

I’d have suggested a single wide drawer made to look like two drawers, with the handle integrated into the bottom trim.

[Terry W]

I know it is fun to noodle about different hidden catches and so on, but I think a couple of small, but artfully discrete, drawer pulls would add to the overall look.