Help! My drawers are falling apart!.....Ask Dan The Remodeling Man.....

A lady contacted me on Face Book and said that she had kitchen cabinets that were 17 years old and still looked nice but several of the drawers were broken. She didn't want the expense of purchasing new cabinetry but wanted to know where she could purchase replacement drawers. In order to give the correct advice, the question to ask is are the drawers themselves broken or is it the glides that the drawers rest on? Nine times out of ten the glides are the first thing to go and the hardest thing to replace. When you purchase a home you should be given a list of all the different manufacturers and brand names of the products installed in your home. This list should be put away with all your important papers and kept in a safe place so that years down the road when everthing starts to age you can refer back to manufacturer. To be quite honest though, most cabinet manufacturers discontinue styles after about 10 years unless it continues to be a popular style. This includes replacement parts for door hinges, drawer glides and accessories. If the frame of the drawer is broken at the seams, it can be gluded or stapled back together. The glides are a different story. Your best bet is to contact the manufacturer of the cabinet to see if they still carry your particular style and their accessories. Aristokaft Cabinetry will keep certain hinges and accessories on hand longer than most companies. There are some home improvement warehouses in town that sell discontinued cabinet styles and accessories but there are so many brands out there that it is just a matter of luck to find what you need. What we try to do when all else fails is replace the cabinet with the damaged drawer with a new one that coordinates with the existing cabinets. Even if you are able to replace door or drawer fronts with the same style, the newer one is never the same shade. Age and sunlight darken or lighten depending on the type of wood. There is a company that we work with that custom makes cabinets and drawers and stains them to match existing colors. It can be more expensive that purchasing a orignial drawer but alot less expensive than purchasing all new cabinets.

Dan Siegel/Siegel Remodeling and Design
9016 Sutton Pl. Hamilton, Ohio 45011
513-874-7636
http://www.siegeldesigncenter.com/