Took me 4 hours to fix a drawer that should have taken 30 minutes.

I was building a set of kitchen cabinets for a client in Portland and one drawer kept binding on the sides. I spent an hour adjusting the slides, then another hour thinking I cut the box wrong. Turns out the issue was a tiny twist in the face frame I missed during install. After re-squaring and shimming the whole thing, it finally glided smooth. Has anyone else had a problem that snowballed into a full day fix when the root cause was something simple?

2 comments

2 Comments

rileyw721mo ago

Man, that is so painfully relatable. I had a bathroom vanity once where the drawer just kept catching on the left side. I tore the whole thing apart, replaced the slides twice, even recut the drawer box. After a full Saturday of swearing, I realized the floor underneath had a slight dip I didn't catch. One little plastic shim under the left leg and it was perfect. Makes you want to punch a hole in the drywall when you think about how many hours you wasted on something that tiny.

miles7981mo ago

I built 12 cabinets one time for a kitchen remodel and one door just would not close right. I spent a whole evening re-hanging hinges and sanding the door edge. Finally noticed the countertop guys had pushed the cabinet out of level by an eighth inch when they dropped the granite on it. Two minutes with a shim and it was fine. It's always the dumb simple stuff that eats your whole day.