Installing Drawer Fronts: A Step-by-Step Guide

To install drawer fronts, I'm using spacers to get perfect placement and then driving washer head screws through the drawer pull holes that I previously drilled. This secures the drawer front to the drawer temporarily allowing me to open the drawer and drive more washer head screws through the drawer into the drawer front from the back. Once I've done this, I can pull out those first screws and then drill the holes for the drawer pulls through the drawer box.

I use the holes in the drawer front as a guide and put a strap of wood behind the drawer box to reduce tear out when I push the drill bit through. This ensures that my workspace is clean and organized, making it easier to work on each section of the drawers.

If you run into a situation where the bolts that come with the drawer pulls are too long, don't worry! You may have a tool on hand that will cut the bolts down for you. I recently discovered that common wire strippers can also be used as bolt cutters. Simply screw it in, cut it, and unscrew it to repair the thread.

I did the bottom four drawers first, leaving the top narrowest drawers until the very end so that I could trim them down if needed. Unfortunately, one of the drawers required some adjustments after installation. To fix this, I had to sand and re-prime the area where I painted before reinstalling the drawer front. It's always a good idea to be careful when placing each drawer front as perfectly as possible as I install each one.

However, once a whole set of drawer fronts are installed, there's always some fine tune adjustments that have to be made. This is one of the benefits of using the Bloom drawer slides, which don't all have side-to-side adjustments like my other drawers did. On the right side of my pantry, I used drawer glides without these features, and didn't have enough depth to use the locking mechanisms with more adjustment capabilities.

To make fine tune adjustments, I drilled two holes near the outside edges of the front of the drawer using a quarter inch drill bit. Then, I'll use drawer front adjustment screws through these holes to temporarily secure the drawer front to the drawer. Once those screws are in, you can open the drawer and drive more washer head screws through the drawer into the drawer front from the back.

To adjust the drawer front, you take the adjustment screw with a very large washer head and drive it through the hole you just drilled and into the drawer front. By placing these holes near the outside edge, this screw will go through the style and not the panel, ensuring that they don't stick through.

After making the adjustments, I remove the temporary screws and check to see if the drawer front stayed exactly where I want it to. If there's a little slippage, I can open my drawer, loosen the screw slightly, adjust the drawer front, tighten the screws, and close it again. This process might need to be repeated several times, but it's worth it for a perfect fit.

Using this method allows you to fine tune your adjustments without having to find new holes to drive screws into every time. It may seem like a hassle at first, but trust me when I say that it's well worth the effort in the end. And when you do finally get everything just right, make sure to celebrate – by now, you definitely deserve it!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ento install these drawer fronts I'm using spacers to get perfect placement and then driving washer head screws through the drawer pull holes that I previously drilled this secures the drawer front to the drawer temporarily allowing me to open the drawer and drive more washer head screws through the drawer into the drawer front from the back then I can pull out those first screws then I can drill the holes for the drawer pulls through the drawer box I use the holes in the drawer front as the guide and put a strap of wood behind the drawer box to reduce tear out when I push the drill bit through now if you run into a situation like I did where the bolts that come with the drawer pulls are too long you've probably got a tool on hand that will cut the bolts down that you didn't even know about at least I didn't a lot of common wire strippers are also bolt cutters you screw it in cut it and unscrew it and it repairs the thread thank you to my wonderful friends on Instagram for sharing that little tidbit of knowledge with me I did the bottom four drawers and left the top narrowest drawers until the very end so that I could trim those down if needed and that was needed so I had to sand and re-prime the area where I painted then I installed those as I did the other four I'm really careful and try to place each drawer front as perfectly as possible as I install each one but once a whole set of drawer fronts are installed there's always some fine tune adjustments that have to be made which is one of the benefits of the bloom drawer slides not all of the Locking mechanisms have side to side adjustments though which is the case on the drawer Glides that I used on the right side of my pantry I didn't have enough depth to use the Locking mechanisms that give me more adjustment capabilities on these drawers I used a quarter inch drill bit and drilled two holes near the outside edges of the front of the drawer then I'll use drawer front adjustment screws through these holes I'll show you that in a second I'm using the method I just showed you to temporarily secure the drawer front to the drawer through the holes that were drilled for the drawer pulls once those screws are in you can open the drawer then you'll take these adjustment screws which have a very large washer head drive them through the holes you just drilled and into the drawer front and the reason we put those holes near the outside edge was so this screw would go through the style and not the panel you don't want them sticking through now you can remove the temporary screws and check to see if your drawer front stayed exactly where you want it to if you had a little slippage then you can open your drawer loosen the screw slightly adjust the drawer front tighten the screws and close it and check again you may have to do it several times realistically it might be a lot more than several times but the benefit to doing it this way is you don't have to find a new hole to drive a screw into every time you slightly adjust your reference who wants 45 holes in their drawer not me you just have to shimmy that dress right around until you get it in exactly the right spot and when you do make sure you celebrate because by now believe me you deserve itto install these drawer fronts I'm using spacers to get perfect placement and then driving washer head screws through the drawer pull holes that I previously drilled this secures the drawer front to the drawer temporarily allowing me to open the drawer and drive more washer head screws through the drawer into the drawer front from the back then I can pull out those first screws then I can drill the holes for the drawer pulls through the drawer box I use the holes in the drawer front as the guide and put a strap of wood behind the drawer box to reduce tear out when I push the drill bit through now if you run into a situation like I did where the bolts that come with the drawer pulls are too long you've probably got a tool on hand that will cut the bolts down that you didn't even know about at least I didn't a lot of common wire strippers are also bolt cutters you screw it in cut it and unscrew it and it repairs the thread thank you to my wonderful friends on Instagram for sharing that little tidbit of knowledge with me I did the bottom four drawers and left the top narrowest drawers until the very end so that I could trim those down if needed and that was needed so I had to sand and re-prime the area where I painted then I installed those as I did the other four I'm really careful and try to place each drawer front as perfectly as possible as I install each one but once a whole set of drawer fronts are installed there's always some fine tune adjustments that have to be made which is one of the benefits of the bloom drawer slides not all of the Locking mechanisms have side to side adjustments though which is the case on the drawer Glides that I used on the right side of my pantry I didn't have enough depth to use the Locking mechanisms that give me more adjustment capabilities on these drawers I used a quarter inch drill bit and drilled two holes near the outside edges of the front of the drawer then I'll use drawer front adjustment screws through these holes I'll show you that in a second I'm using the method I just showed you to temporarily secure the drawer front to the drawer through the holes that were drilled for the drawer pulls once those screws are in you can open the drawer then you'll take these adjustment screws which have a very large washer head drive them through the holes you just drilled and into the drawer front and the reason we put those holes near the outside edge was so this screw would go through the style and not the panel you don't want them sticking through now you can remove the temporary screws and check to see if your drawer front stayed exactly where you want it to if you had a little slippage then you can open your drawer loosen the screw slightly adjust the drawer front tighten the screws and close it and check again you may have to do it several times realistically it might be a lot more than several times but the benefit to doing it this way is you don't have to find a new hole to drive a screw into every time you slightly adjust your reference who wants 45 holes in their drawer not me you just have to shimmy that dress right around until you get it in exactly the right spot and when you do make sure you celebrate because by now believe me you deserve it\n"