Soft Close Drawers Hard To Open (How to Adjust)

 

Having soft close drawers in your kitchen is a great benefit.

The drawers will never slam, and it can keep your drawers and the contents in the drawers in better shape for quite some time.

The soft close drawers are an excellent choice for any kitchen, but sometimes they need adjusting.

If you have not adjusted your soft close drawers and you are thinking it may be time, here are the necessary steps to get this project done.

 

Soft Close Drawers Hard to Open (How to Adjust)

 

If your soft close drawers are hard to open, you can use the following steps to figure out the issue and get them to open with ease.

 

Step 1: Assess the Situation—Determine the Tilt

 

When your drawers are hard to open, it usually means that there is a tilt somewhere.

The first step in the process is to determine where this tilt is so that you can adjust the drawer.

It is usually easy to see where the tilt is.

When the drawer is closed, you should be able to see how it looks and why it does not seem as though it is lined up correctly.

If the drawer seems to be leaning forward, it usually means that the cabinet runners are raised too high in the back.

However, when your drawers are too hard to open, it sometimes means that the drawer runners are too high up in the front.

This creates almost an incline for the drawer to open.

The incline is not going to help you when you are trying to pull the drawer open.

You also need to pay attention to how the drawer is tilting from the left to the right.

The runners are likely not lined up properly or level if the drawer is tilting to one side or the other.

It’s essential to make sure that you are analyzing the drawer prior to moving on to the next steps.

If you don’t pay attention to this prior, you may end up doing some extra work.

 

Step 2: Remove the Drawer

 

The next step is to remove the drawer.

Be careful when you do this so that you don’t cause any damage to the drawer that you are removing.

When you take the drawer out, you are going to have a much easier time adjusting the drawer and getting it back onto the track properly.

When working with drawers that are hard to open, you will need to be careful how you pull the drawer open.

If you pull really hard, you may damage the drawer and will not be able to fix it.

Most of the time, if you have a little patience, you will be able to get the stuck drawer out, especially if you have properly analyzed the issue with the tilt.

Usually, when you have to remove the drawer, you have to pull it all the way out and then lift it.

When you get it all the way out, lifting the drawer slightly is what releases it from the track.

This also depends on what type of drawer you have and how it was installed.

There are times when it gets a bit more involved than this, but you should try not to overthink the drawer removal.

 

Step 3: Cleaning Time

 

Especially when your drawers are in the kitchen, there is a chance that dirt and debris can end up getting in the way of the drawer opening and closing correctly.

You won’t need to clean your drawer slides on a regular basis, but when you have the drawers out to fix an issue, it is a good idea to clean them as well.

You can take a look and see if there are any particles in the slides.

This is especially common if you are storing any food products in the drawers that you are working on.

Our best method for cleaning the drawers is to use a vacuum.

The vacuum will suck out anything that you can’t reach with your fingers, and it will leave the track free of dust as well.

This is truly the best way to complete this part of the project.

 

Step 4: Make Adjustments

 

Here’s where your analysis in your first step is going to pay off.

If you know which way your drawer is off, you can then start adjusting the tabs to get the drawer to slide properly and freely again.

It’s easiest to do this with the drawer out, but there sometimes is a bit of trial and error involved.

Obviously, with the drawer out, you will not have as much knowledge as to how the drawer is going to tilt.

Instead, you will now want to utilize the knowledge you got from your initial inspection and make the adjustments that you need to your drawer.

If you found that the front of the drawer was a little too high up, you can then adjust it down to see if it is going to make it easier to slide out the next time you are ready to access that drawer.

The tabs on the soft close drawers are not hard to locate, and you should see them as soon as you remove the drawer.

 

Step 5: Check Fit

 

At this point, you are going to need to put the drawer back in place and see if you can open the drawer a bit more easily.

If you notice that the problem is only somewhat resolved, it is a good idea to remove the drawer and adjust it a little further.

If you find that the drawer is actually harder to open, chances are you made your adjustments the incorrect way.

You will have to repeat the same process of removing and adjusting until you get the drawer to open properly.

You will not need to clean every time, as cleaning the drawer once should be enough to have removed any of the debris or particles that could have been causing the issue.

Depending on your climate and the age of the wood that is used in your cabinets, this problem could continue to come up from time to time.

If you find that, regardless of the steps you take, you still cannot get the drawers to open properly, then you may need to call in a cabinet specialist.

The entire cabinet could be out of line if this problem continues to persist.

 

Why Do Soft Close Drawers Get Hard to Open?

 

Soft close drawers can sometimes get hard to open, and this happens for several different reasons.

One of the main reasons that you see this issue is from normal wear and tear.

You may notice that this is happening more often on your drawers that get the most use.

Do you often see your utensil drawer being the one that has the issue?

This very likely has something to do with the fact that the drawer is used the most often and developed some issues with opening and closing over time.

Another problem that you will notice is that sometimes the drawers are not installed correctly.

If they were closing fine for a short period of time and then things started to get difficult, it could be that the installation was not correct to begin with.

You can follow our steps above to rectify the issue and get the drawer working again.

Most of the time, the issue is going to be something that can be easily fixed.

If the drawer slides are not working even after the adjustments, you can always replace just the hardware on the slides and won’t necessarily have to replace the entire drawer.

Most of the time, the drawer itself will last for a very long time.

 

Are Soft Close Drawers Hard to Open?

 

Sometimes, when you evaluate the issues with soft close drawers, you need to understand that these drawers are a bit different from typical drawers.

Because of the technology used on the bottom of these drawers to keep them from slamming, they are also a bit harder to open.

As a whole, you will have to work a bit harder to get the soft close drawers to open.

Therefore, if you notice that you have this issue on one or two drawers, there is probably an adjustment that can be made.

If you find that the issue is actually on all of your drawers, then the soft-close concept may not be for you.

Typically, the first inch or two of a soft close drawer can be a bit difficult to open, and then it gets more accessible from there.

This is a great technology, but it is not something that everyone wants or needs in their kitchen.

Keep that in mind when you are remodeling your kitchen.

If you want to be able to open and close drawers quickly and easily, the soft-close may not be the right choice.

 

Are Soft Close Drawers Worth It?

 

There are several critical benefits to soft close drawers.

Of course, you will notice that the drawers close very softly, so you won’t have to worry about the slamming noises in your kitchen, but there is more to it than this.

The soft close drawers also stop people from hurting their fingers and getting them stuck in a drawer.

Since the soft close drawer stops before slamming your fingers, you have time to get your hands out of the way and remain without injury.

You will notice that the long-term impact of the soft close drawers is that your cabinets stay in better shape.

There is much less slamming and smashing, and this helps to keep the hardware and the actual wood cabinet doors from experiencing long-term issues.

This tends to be especially important for those who have families.

The more people there are using the cabinets and drawers, the more wear and tear they will be subject to.

Therefore, it is essential to make sure that your soft close drawers are in place and that they are helping to keep your kitchen working well for years to come.

The expense of adding this feature to your kitchen will be well worth the benefits.

 

Conclusion

Soft close drawers can often be difficult to open, and this comes with the technology.

However, there are sometimes other issues that can make it even more difficult.

If you are having trouble with your soft close drawers, these steps should make things quite a bit easier on you.

Always open the drawers with caution as one pull that is too hard could end up damaging one of the tabs you have in place.

This process is something you can complete without a professional’s help, yet a professional is needed at times to make sure the cabinets themselves are not out of line.