building drawer boxes to maximize (internal) space

[dicktill]

Hi all,

I'm having my sheet metal shop make one drawer box out of aluminum to see how that works. The plan is to have the bottom of the box flush with the bottom of the drawer front. The sides/top of the top drawer front will overlap the casing by 1/8". The next lower drawer front would be 1/8" below the bottom of this one, etc.. So here's the new dilemma: I haven't planned for horizontal bars (stretchers? - sorry if I don't have the right terms in all of this) between the drawers, again for the sole purpose of maximizing the useable vertical height, and thus volume. So when you look straight on at the drawer fronts, they will be covering the casing, but there will be an 1/8" air gap with nothing behind between the drawer fronts. Is this going to be ugly or is it okay as is? Would I be better off to trim the drawer fronts 1/4" where they overlap the casing so that they were 1/8" inside the casing, for a more consistent look? I could give up say 1/16-1/8" of drawer depth and "push" the drawer fronts "back", i.e., recessed slightly too, if that would help. I don't want to recess the drawer fronts all the way to be flush as that would be too big a loss of volume, and the casing already exists, so bumping it out to make the fronts flush isn't an option.

Thanks in advance, Dick

 

[Holmz]

I thought it was a Chevy based camper...? (I often am amazed at the use of lipstick and mascara, but points for trying are always given.)

I dunno... Are they held on the sides? They either need side suspension or bottom.
A euro frameless design goes better with the concept of losing no space... So the top and side would not overlap the face, like the bottom does not overlap.

That is the only way it will not lose volume.

 

[dicktill]

I thought it was a Chevy based camper...? (I often am amazed at the use of lipstick and mascara, but points for trying are always given.)

Thanks (I think) [member=40772]Holmz[/member]. Ah yes, the proverbial "lipstick on a pig"!  [tongue]  Well, you can see from the attached photos that this pig isn't too bad looking. Trying to not make it worse.

And perhaps, the photos and notes on them will give everyone an idea of what's going on here.

I dunno... Are they held on the sides? They either need side suspension or bottom.
A euro frameless design goes better with the concept of losing no space... So the top and side would not overlap the face, like the bottom does not overlap.

That is the only way it will not lose volume.

The drawers will be mounted with side-mount KV 8400 RV Full Extension with Stay Close slides which are very nice.

 

[Holmz]

For that 'bow tie' beauty I would "SC" the whole concept, and just put in the Blum tandembox/metabox , which has everything already minimised and they do the everything but the plywood base.
The wider this face frames... the more volume is being lost...

 

[dicktill]

For that 'bow tie' beauty I would "SC" the whole concept, and just put in the Blum tandembox/metabox , which has everything already minimised and they do the everything but the plywood base.

I have some IKEA cabinets in my shop that either have Blum Tandembox drawers, or clones of them. I'm not impressed! The sloped sides are are low, waste space, and make it hard to pack densely (square corners are king); the underdrawer slides waste space (height being more precious than width or depth), and the whole assembly is flimsy - okay in my shop but not in a moving vehicle IMO. Wasn't familiar with the Blum Metabox drawers but they seem similar, albeit with straight sides and Euro slides (less wasted space) - but again, flimsy looking IMO, and not suitable in a moving vehicle. And I don't see a sturdy "stay close" feature on either, like I'll have with the KV slides previously mentioned.

The wider this face frames... the more volume is being lost...

Absolutely, which is why I won't have a face frame. If you look carefully at the annotated second photo above (galley 04), you'll see a double ended arrow roughly depicting the drawer width. I mentioned on the photo that I "removed shelves, doors, right hand inner panels, left & right front panels". That's two right hand panels, one which divided the two compartments (skinny one was for a Rube Goldberg table), and the other which was the cabinet side. That side was redundant with the pantry wall which will be where the side sliders will be mounted, a gain of another 1/2" of width. I failed to mention that the bottom (a gain of 1/2" of height) and back (1" to 1-1/2" gain of depth) of the cabinet are also gone! Going back to the double ended arrow: that's only really correct for the two middle drawers, which still need about a 4" chamfer in the left rear corner to clear the vertical run of the sink drain pipe, which I've pushed back as far as it can go. The upper and lower drawers are about 3" narrower to clear the two horizontal runs of the sink drain (i.e., a sideways "U"). BTW, the upper horizontal run will incorporate a Hepvo waterless trap (http://hepvo.com/), which eliminates the previous P-trap and air gap, again saving lotsa space. Have I missed any opportunities?

 

[Holmz]

...I have some IKEA cabinets in my shop that either have Blum Tandembox drawers, or clones of them. I'm not impressed! The sloped sides are are low, waste space, and make it hard to pack densely (square corners are king); the underdrawer slides waste space (height being more precious than width or depth), and the whole assembly is flimsy - okay in my shop but not in a moving vehicle IMO. Wasn't familiar with the Blum Metabox drawers but they seem similar, albeit with straight sides and Euro slides (less wasted space) - but again, flimsy looking IMO, and not suitable in a moving vehicle. And I don't see a sturdy "stay close" feature on either, like I'll have with the KV slides previously mentioned.

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I dunno, I have some tandembox coming, but I cannot speak from experience.
(Should know more in a few weeks.)

The inside of you vehicle looks pretty nice.

 

[dicktill]

I dunno, I have some tandembox coming, but I cannot speak from experience.
(Should know more in a few weeks.)

Hope they work for you.

The inside of you vehicle looks pretty nice.

Thx, I'm hoping I don't muck that up! Appreciate your input(s).