Cabico response to drawer glide problems

11 years ago

A couple of weeks ago I responded to someone's thread about Cabico and mentioned that we had been having problems with the drawer glides coming loose and gouging the drawer boxes. On this thread I learned that my drawers should have Blum hardware as per Cabico's standard for this line(thanks GW!) I don't have Blum, I have the King brand hardware. This prompted me to contact our KD and ask a few more questions and again mention the glide problem. This is not the first I have contacted her about the drawers and in fact I asked her back in May '12 if the glides were Blum ( this before I took the drawers out to look). She responded that they were not Blum and I thought too bad but I should have asked this stuff before ordering. Anyway, I left it at that, no Blum, sucks for me!

Back to this March armed with the knowledge that they should be Blum and yet another email - Cabico wanted to know what drawers were involved, how many etc. I have a kitchen of mostly drawers and close to half of them have or have had a problem.

Today I heard from the regional rep and he said that Cabico's factory has two assembly lines processes' - one for Cabico which does use Blum and one for a commercial division which manufactures another brand for a totally different application and they use King slides.

It seems that for a short period of time there was a mix up at the plant floor level and some Cabico kitchens received the King slides. To top it off, some King slides were defective in this same time point and made it to market. They think the timing of all of this occurred when they made my cabinets.

They have told my KD to order all new Blum hardware for my drawers! Yay good news ....and they will cover the cost of installing them.

I still question why I was told they didn't use Blum way back last May and now they have changed their answer. The only other thing I wonder is if I actually have the other brand that they manufacture in the same plant. I am going to ask what the differences are and how I could tell. For instance, I am supposed to have plywood boxes - can I tell now that they are installed?

Is it hard to switch out the glides? I suppose this involves drilling all new holes for the hardware? Is there anything I should be aware of in this whole process?

Comments (9)

PRO
Salmon Falls Cabinetry
11 years ago
It should be perfectly fine. Most manufacturers have their own little plastic piece that fits in the back panel. Switch out the plastic piece and the slides go right in. Quite possible that King has the same extrusion shape and could be very simple. Most manufacturers try to make things interchangeable as much as possible.

Mounting the fronts are simply to the face frame, so no issues there.
jakuvall
11 years ago
I remember your problem. Frameless cabinets, yes?
With your issue could be any of a few things going on. Blums will definitely be an improvement
Possible the original holes became stripped. If the kiing and blumm have same hole pattern then use the old holes to mount the new glide BUT then drill new ones using. 5mm "Vix" bit and use euro screws.
Check the fit of the glide to the box. There is a notch and a hole at the back. It is not the same for all makes. But King is a pretty close knock off. Besides sounds like there is a good chance your boxes were made for blums and not king whcih could be the root.
Lastly check the thickness of the drawer box sides, will be either 3/4 or 5/8. . Look up blum glides, find the one made for your thickness and write down the number. That should be stamped on the glide.
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muskokascp
Original Author
11 years ago
jakuvall - sounds like you have done this before! We will have our kitchen installer change out the glides but at least I have an idea of what is going on. Why euro screws ( what are euro screws lol)
suzanne_sl
11 years ago
The only other thing I wonder is if I actually have the other brand that they manufacture in the same plant.

I noticed when I took this photo that the side of the drawer has the name of the cabs stamped on it. It's possible your cabinets also have markings. I honestly never noticed this until I was looking at the photo.
jakuvall
11 years ago
Have built, fixed, , repurposed, changed and otherwise mutilated a lot of things over the years :)
Euro Screws have a wider body and wider space between threads. They tend to work better in engineered materials AND the heads fit perfectly in blum glides.

Here is a link that might be useful: Euro Screws
muskokascp
Original Author
11 years ago
Suzanne - the odd thing about my drawers is that none of the drawers in the island or the main kitchen have Cabico stamped on them. I also had two other Cabico units installed. One was a command centre type area with drawers, filing cabinet and upper cabinets. The drawers in this unit have the Cabico stamp. This unit was delivered at the same time as the main kitchen cabinets and island. About 6 weeks later I ordered another ten feet of base cabinets with drawers. All the drawers in this unit are stamped. So only some of the drawers are stamped and the stamped/ unstamped drawers are consistent within the particular unit....ie: there is not a mixture of stamped and unstamped within the island or the main kitchen cabinets.

I have asked a couple of times why this is so, but so far no response.

One of the early theories on my glide problem was that the screw was stripped. How do you know when to stop tightening the screw?
jakuvall
11 years ago
Hand tighten, snug is enough. Only way to describe it. Also if you do use euro screws they are usually "posi-drive" they look like Phillips head but are not. Your door hinges will also be posi drive. It's a good idea to get yourself a posidrive screwdriver (I prefer the Hafele but Blum also offer one) cabinetparts dot com or the like.
I give them out to installers all the time so they don't strip screws when adjusting doors.
a2gemini
11 years ago
Way to stick with it! Can't wait til your problem is resolved. I expect my problems (not the same) to be resolved within the week!
berryjam
10 years ago
Hi muscokasrp! Just wondering if your issues were resolved. Also wondering if you live in the muscoka area and if you would recommend your kd? I live in TO but have a cottage in Gravenhurst. Thanks