{"id":263,"date":"2026-07-24T14:59:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T19:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brmoulding.com\/choosing-drawer-slides\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T15:46:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T20:46:54","slug":"choosing-drawer-slides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brmoulding.com\/es\/choosing-drawer-slides\/","title":{"rendered":"Choosing Drawer Slides: Soft-Close, Undermount & Side-Mount Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drawer slides are the hardware customers touch most. Every day, hundreds of times a year. Pick the right type and drawers glide shut silently for decades; pick wrong and the whole kitchen feels cheap. Here\u2019s how cabinet shops choose between side-mount, undermount, and soft-close, and how to size them.<\/p>\n

Side-mount ball-bearing slides<\/h2>\n

The production workhorse. A ball-bearing side-mount slide<\/a> mounts on each side of the drawer box, rides on steel ball bearings, and gives you full extension, so the drawer pulls all the way out and the back is usable. They\u2019re forgiving to install (1\/2″ clearance per side), rated for heavy loads, and cost-effective in volume. The 45mm profile is the standard for kitchens and shop cabinets.<\/p>\n

Undermount slides<\/h2>\n

Undermounts hide beneath the drawer box, clipping to the bottom. You see wood, not hardware, when the drawer opens. It\u2019s the higher-end look for kitchens, baths, and closets. They need a precisely sized drawer box (usually 5\/8″ or 16mm sides, and box width about 10mm under opening width), so they reward shops with tight tolerances. Most modern undermounts are soft-close by default.<\/p>\n

What soft-close actually does<\/h2>\n

A soft-close mechanism catches the drawer in the last couple of inches and hydraulically eases it shut. No slam, no bounce, no chipped fronts. On paint-grade cabinetry it protects finishes from years of impact. It has become the default expectation in new kitchens; on a wholesale slide the upcharge is small enough that most shops no longer stock non-soft-close at all.<\/p>\n

Sizing: measure the drawer, not the opening<\/h2>\n

Slide length matches the drawer box depth, not the cabinet depth. A 24″-deep base cabinet typically runs an 18″, 20″, or 22″ slide, leaving room for the back of the cabinet and any plumbing. Round down, never up. We stock soft-close ball-bearing slides in 16″, 18″, 20″, and 22″, and soft-close undermounts in 15″, 18″, and 21″.<\/p>\n

Pair the rest of the drawer<\/h2>\n

While you\u2019re speccing hardware, match the drawer to the rest of the box: soft-close clip-on hinges<\/a> for the doors, prefinished birch plywood<\/a> for the boxes, edgebanding<\/a> for exposed edges, and cabinet screws and shelf pins<\/a> to put it all together. One supplier, one delivery, one quote.<\/p>\n

The short version<\/h2>\n

Side-mount ball-bearing for value and forgiving installs; undermount for the premium hidden look; soft-close on everything. BR Moulding stocks all of it at wholesale prices in southeast Houston, with will-call pickup and fast local delivery. Send your hardware list with your trim footage and get one free quote<\/a> for the whole job. Se habla espa\u00f1ol.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Side-mount vs. undermount vs. soft-close drawer slides \u2014 how cabinet shops choose and size them, from a Houston wholesale supplier.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/brmoulding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/18-in-x-45mm-Soft-Close-Ball-Bearing-Slide.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brmoulding.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brmoulding.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brmoulding.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brmoulding.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brmoulding.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brmoulding.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":271,"href":"https:\/\/brmoulding.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions\/271"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brmoulding.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brmoulding.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brmoulding.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brmoulding.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}