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Measuring for Slide Out Shelf installation

The two basic types of cabinets, framed and frameless

Framed Cabinets

"Euro" or frameless style

Framed cabinets have a face frame usually made of a hardwood. When the doors of the cabinet are closed you can still see the cabinet face frames around the doors and drawer fronts and usually you can see the hinges. The interior of the cabinet is wider on both sides than the cabinet opening. The face frame usually extends into the opening about 3/4" or more. Framed cabinets are the traditional style of cabinets in the United States and they are found in more homes than the newer Euro style. Some newer newer cabinets are hybrids, meaning they have a face frame but hidden hinges like the Euro style

Frameless cabinets do not have a face frame. The front edge of the cabinet sidewall is the front of the cabinet. When the doors and drawers are closed they cover almost the entire cabinet. The hinges are totally concealed when the doors are closed. Euro style hinges are larger than the traditional framed cabinet hinge and tend to interfere more with the cabinet opening. Frameless cabinets often use a 32mm hole system for the hinge mounting and shelf support. The interior width is the same as the opening minus the door and hinge interference. Many newer homes have frameless style cabinets.

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The dimension you need is the clear opening of the cabinet, i.e. the space it takes for the slide out shelf to clear opening, door, and hinges. This is the distance from face frame to face frame minus any reduction for the hinges or door overlap. It is also important to make sure your door opens at least 90 degrees so the shelf can clear them when you slide it out. We will make the actual shelf 1" smaller than the dimension you give us to allow for the sliding hardware which uses 1/2" on each side. Always refer to the clear cabinet opening when ordering shelves not the finished shelf size, we will make the adjustment. Please measure carefully, we make our shelves in increments of 1/8".Always measure your cabinet twice using an accurate tape measure.

Measuring from the back of the cabinet to the back of the face frame in the picture above the depth is approx. 22 1/2 so you would order your pull out shelf 22 inches deep. The slide out shelves are available in depths from 12" up to 26" in 1" increments. Shelves deeper than 22" are mounted on 22" drawer slides. Watch out for electrical wires, pipes or anything that may reduce the available depth. Always round down on cabinet depth

There are four basic mounting styles, Side Mount, Rear Sockets, Half Shelf and BaseMount

Base Mount

Full shelf or base mounting is the easiest method of installing slide out shelves. When you choose the full shelf option the glide hardware will have four L brackets attached, two on each glide($8.50 option). These L brackets allow you to attach the slide out shelf hardware directly to the cabinet base for the bottom shelf or on to an existing full depth shelf. The full shelf installation is not only the easiest way to install pull out shelves, it is also one of the strongest installations. You can also mount your bottom shelf with the Half Shelf method ($4.25 option) as long as the hinge is at least 2 1/2" above the cabinet floor and it protrudes into the cabinet opening less than 1/2 inch

Half Shelf

Many base kitchen and bathroom cabinets have a short "half" shelf for the upper shelf. This shelf is usually about 10" to 12" deep. You can install a full depth slide out shelf where your half shelf is. If you choose the half shelf option we will send the drawer glides with an L bracket attached near the rear of each glide ( $4.25). These L brackets can be screwed to the existing half shelf. The front of the glides can be attached to the cabinet face frame.

Rear Sockets

As the name implies side mounting uses your cabinet sidewalls to mount your slide out shelves. If your cabinet has a large difference between the opening size and the inside dimension side mounting may not be the right choice. As the distance from the sidewall increases so does the leverage on the mounting screws. Make sure you check your sidewall thickness before placing any screws. Side mounting can be done with spacers or you can use 1x4 wood strips to build up the space as needed. The standard spacers are available in 1/8", 3/8" and 1/2". There is a Euro spacer that measures 3/4"and can be used on framed or frameless cabinets. On tall cabinets such as pantries, wood strips mounted vertically can provide great support, even with large build up areas. The advantages to the vertical wood strips are much of the load is transferred to the cabinet base and the shelves can be mounted at whatever height needed. Make sure to measure the cabinet in several locations, up and down and front and back. If the cabinet size varies you will need to adapt the shelf size paying attention to what size build up or spacers you will be using.For more information see Side Mount in the Installing Section

Measuring Frame less Cabinets

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