Drawer stop options

[ear3]

A number of years ago I settled on a drawer build design that utilizes a center wooden bottom slide.  Works very well to facilitate smooth opening and closing, and allows me to build the drawer to the entire width of the opening; plus I don't have to fuss with mechanical metal slides that may deteriorate years down the road.

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The one draw(er) back is that the drawers are not captive, and can be pulled out all the way.  That's fine for me and anyone who knows their construction, but there's always the risk of someone unawares pulling it completely free of the cabinet -- and in the case of a heavy drawer, possibly spilling the contents onto the floor.

I've been looking at drawer stop options that I could attach to the drawer, but so far have come across these plastic tabs, which don't seem like they would work for my drawer design, which take up the entire height and width of the casing.

I have in my head a design solution, which I'm sure someone has made a version of, but so far I can't find anything close to it.  So I'm wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction, or suggest an appropriate alternate accessory.

The solution is this.  On the back of the drawer, there would be a wedge or sharkfin shaped tab, that was springloaded such that it would be depressed when the drawer slides back, but pop up when pulled forward once the drawer had cleared the wood in the framed shelf/stretcher above.  It would then catch on the front part of the framed shelf, preventing the drawer from being pulled out completely. 

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Is there anything out there like this?

 

[squall_line]

There are lots of options like the one you posited.  One downside is that they may not be obvious to the next person down the line who works on the dresser and a frustrated/strong individual may just try to pop the drawer out against them and break them (I know this because I did exactly that to a friend's dresser when helping him move a bunch of years ago, and I still feel guilty about it).

My son's dresser is built this way (Mid-century, nice and solid), and also doesn't have drawer catches.  He dropped a drawer on his foot when he was only about 15 months old and that's something I'd rather never go through again, so it's not just about dumping contents, it's also about safety.

The option I'm considering is as simple as a small (1/2" x 2") stop block screwed to the back of the drawer box that can be swiveled up to catch the box when it comes forward, but be swiveled down out of the way to remove it.  One big advantage for this method is that it's probably fairly obvious, and should also last decades alongside the rest of the dresser, unlike anything plastic or vinyl.

 

[Packard]

Drill two holes in the top edge of the rear of the drawer.  Drop in long dowels.  That should keep the drawer from pulling out.  But it won’t work on the top drawer as access will be limited.

I have a 1950s era woodworking book, and I will check to see if they have any vintage solutions.  You are not likely to find anything on this in a modern publication, physical or virtual.  You need to look back at “yesteryear”.

I think bottom mount hidden drawer slides probably do much of the same, allowing full width drawers and providing positive stops.  There is a learning curve for the under mount slides, and so far it has kept me away from them. 

 

[tjbnwi]

Had the same issue recently, if you have a recessed bottom, drill a hole in the cabinet rail, insert a T-nut from the top, from below thread up a bolt that catches the lip on the bottom of the drawer. Verify when laying out that the drawer will close all the way, the bolt needs to be far enough back not to hit the front of the drawer box or drawer face.

For future service, on the inside of the back of the drawer I put instructions on how to remove the drawer.

Tom

 

[Packard]

The newer tall, vertical file cabinets that we got just before I retired had a nice feature.  It only allowed you to have one drawer open at a time.

This solved a recurring problem (with just one co-worker) who would open the top two drawers and the whole thing would topple over.  We had the tool room manager make a strap to screw to the wall.

(You’d think that after it happened just once, you would learn.  But the learning curve was just too steep for that co-worker.)

I have no idea what the mechanism looked like, and for homes, where anchoring tall bookcases and furniture is de rigueur, it is probably not a concern.  But a good feature.