Using drawer slides for cabinet doors

[smartwater101]

I'm in the process of building a 90g aquarium and I would like the front doors to be flush. I think drawer slides will work well and help maintain the inner cabinet space.

My only problem is the the thickness of the slides. Would routing the inside of the doors to compensate for the thickness be wise?

I was also considering offsetting the top/front beam to compensate... but I don't want to sacrifice stability just to hide a 1/2" gap....

anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks



Blue - Plywood
Green - Pine
Brown - 2x4s
Grey - Drawer Slides

Something like this is what I was thinking. Full extension/Ball Bearing.
28 inches long x 1.75 inches wide x 0.5 inches thick

 

[williewilliams]

Looks good, I'm doing the very same thing. It looks like the slides are almost identical to the ones I got. It should make the front look really clean. Good luck with the build.

 

[smartwater101]

Looks good, I'm doing the very same thing. It looks like the slides are almost identical to the ones I got. It should make the front look really clean. Good luck with the build.

Thanks. How far into the build are you? Did you find a way to hide the gap between the frame and door?

 

[sleepydoc]

The main problem with routing a channel in the doors is there would only be about 1/4 inch left, not a whole lot to screw a glide into.

You could also add a piece of trim to the doors above the glide to fill in the gap, effectively making the door thicker, or do a combination.

 

[williewilliams]

I built out the case at the top bottom and between where the slides are so that I didn't have to take any material away from the door itself. For the exact reasons stated above. There is just a small gap for the slide to travel through barely visable from the side and not at all from the front.