Drawer Slide Conundrums

[DogwoodTales]

The project - a set of spice rack drawers in a 6" wide cabinet (no rails, open cabinet with one door).
The Department of Domestic Affairs has requisitioned there to be four drawers of specified inside height clearances.
Also requisitioned are full extension, soft close drawer slides.
Maximizing the drawer width as much as possible rules out side mount drawer slides.

The anticipate solution for drawer slides - under-mount.
Blum installation specs would bring the inside width of these drawer sides to 113mm.
The conundrum - front brackets require a minimum inside drawer width greater than 113mm.
Other undermount drawer systems I have found so far have the same conundrum.

I've never worked with undermount drawer slides like this before, so I'm not sure if I can fudge with these specs.
Since the load requirements are low, I suppose I could use side mount ball bearing slides in an under-mount configuration.
However, then I'll have to install something to support the slides from underneath and thus reduce the overall available inside height between drawers - losing at least 3 inches of current available height capacity.

I would be most grateful for your suggestions for other full extension drawer slides or other work-arounds.
Ray

[fredhargis]

I'd try to figure out a way to do your last idea: side mounts under the drawers, one per drawer in the center. Otherwise I've got nothing.

[DogwoodTales]

Thanks Fred. Short of finding undermount slides that will fit the application That’s pretty much all I can come up with as well.
Cleared the reduced available height with DDA and then figured out a way to use the shelf pins and secure the back end to keep everything stable and still fully adjustable too.

[Admiral]

I've got nothing, but at least she gave you the spec before you start a project - my bride has a penchant to inject 'change orders' in mid construction (e.g., "wouldn't this be nice... you can do that, right?"), which drives me nuts, especially after she approved the original drawings....... grrrrrrr........

[DogwoodTales]

Admiral - how do you think I got into this?
But yeah, even though this comes after the cabinet was made, at least the change orders were submitted prior to cutting for the spice rack.

[Roly]

I don't see a way to meet all the requirements.  Undermounts require a vertical space under the drawer that would probably use too much room.   There are mini ball bearing side mounts that may work but have not seen with slow close. Don't know about full extension on the mini's either.
 How big is the space it will fit in ?   6" wide but how tall and how deep ?   Maybe a pull out rack type may work.  Roly

[DogwoodTales]

A pull out rack was the original idea and easier in terms of the drawer slides. Individual drawers inside the cabinet will work better though, at least for us.
The under mount drawer slides would used less vertical space and less width than side mounts.
So going with the side mount on the side eats up 1” in height per drawer - 1/2 for the slide itself and another 1/2” for a shelf for that to mount the slide to. The bottom drawer only adds a1/2” for the slide.
The depth is 22 1/2” and the height is 27 1/2”.
Installing the side mount ball bearing drawer slides on their side under the drawers then eats up about 2.5-3” from the available height that the under mount slides would not have if they would fit the drawers.
So with four drawers there will be a couple taller items that probably won’t fit in the bottom drawer now, but everything else should be ok.
I’m probably going to do 2 slides to each drawer for more strength, but use the self closing mechanism on only one at each drawer.

[museumguy]

Ok, here's a thought. What's the load rating on the slides? The reason I ask is because I just installed a kitchen with one small drawer. The homeowner was concerned about the drawer being stiff to operate. My suggestion was to fill it with stuff and see if it helped. I now from experience that a small empty drawer does not operate well. Not sure if this applies to your design but maybe. Will the spices add enough weight to operate smoothly? Incase anyone is wondering, these were Blum undermount slides.

[DogwoodTales]

True that drawers do tend to operate a little better with some weight in them.
The weight rating on these slides is 100lbs but I’m sure a side mount configuration reduces the carrying weight.
These drawers will be full, but not nearly 100 lbs of stuff.
One slide on its side should be sufficient but knowing my family I’m going to try using two. Regardless they may require a little more effort to close to where the self closing mechanism takes hold, but I doubt it would be any more effort than closing a regular drawer.

[museumguy]

True that drawers do tend to operate a little better with some weight in them.
The weight rating on these slides is 100lbs but I’m sure a side mount configuration reduces the carrying weight.
These drawers will be full, but not nearly 100 lbs of stuff.
One slide on its side should be sufficient but knowing my family I’m going to try using two. Regardless they may require a little more effort to close to where the self closing mechanism takes hold, but I doubt it would be any more effort than closing a regular drawer.

Awesome. My comments were just food for thought and I'm glad to hear that that you gave it some thought. Please let us know how the project progresses.