Drawer Slides

Drawer slides are the track hardware that lets a drawer glide in and out of its cabinet smoothly. This collection covers side-mount, center-mount, bottom-mount, and undermount styles from Hickory Hardware, in lengths from 12 to 24 inches, several with soft-close dampening built in. Measure the slide you're replacing before ordering — length and mount type both have to match, or the drawer won't track straight.

What a drawer slide actually does

A drawer slide is the track mechanism, usually two matched steel rails, that lets a drawer extend from the cabinet opening and retract back in without binding or sagging. It's functional hardware, not decorative — once the drawer front is on, the slide disappears from view. Getting the mount type, length, and clearance right matters more here than almost anywhere else in cabinet hardware, because a mismatched slide shows up immediately as a drawer that sticks, tips, or won't close.

Side-mount, center-mount, bottom-mount, and undermount

This collection is built entirely on Hickory Hardware slides, in four mount styles. Side-mount ball-bearing slides attach to the inside walls of the cabinet and the outside walls of the drawer box; they're the most tolerant of small drawer-box variations and come here in both standard full-extension and soft-close full-extension versions. Center-mount slides run a single rail down the middle underneath the drawer — including an adjustable-length mono-rail option — and suit lighter-use drawers or older cabinets built for that style originally. Bottom-mount and undermount soft-close slides sit beneath the drawer box instead of on its sides, so the drawer interior stays clean; the undermount soft-close pairs here carry a 75 lb. capacity rating.

How to measure before you order

Measure the drawer box itself front to back, using its outside dimensions, not the cabinet opening. Side-mount and center-mount slides come in 2-inch increments — most of our Hickory Hardware lines run 12 to 24 inches, with the undermount soft-close pairs sized at 18 and 21 inches — so round down to the nearest size and leave room at the back of the cabinet. Side-mount slides also need clearance on each side: Knape & Vogt's published spec sheet for its 8600 series ball-bearing slide calls for 1/2 inch of clearance per side, and that figure holds across most side-mount ball-bearing slides, ours included. Center-mount and undermount styles follow their own clearance rules, so check the spec sheet on the product page before cutting anything.

Load capacity and soft-close

Only list a load rating when it's specified for the exact slide — here, that's the 75 lb. undermount soft-close pairs; the side-mount, center-mount, and bottom-mount slides in this collection don't carry a published weight rating, so match the mount style to the job instead: side-mount and undermount for daily-use kitchen drawers, center-mount for lighter vanity or furniture drawers. Soft-close is only on the side-mount full-extension and undermount lines here — the center-mount and bottom-mount 3/4-extension slides are standard mechanical, no dampening.

Ordering the right one the first time

If you're not sure which mount type is currently on the cabinet, pull one drawer and look: a rail under the drawer's center is center-mount, rails on the side walls are side-mount, and nothing visible from inside the drawer means undermount. Replacement brackets and rear sockets are available here too, for repairing an existing slide instead of swapping the whole pair. When you're still not sure, get free design help from Kayla — she'll help you match mount type, length, and finish before you order. Every order also carries a 110% price match, so there's no reason to settle for a guess on price either.

Related guides and hardware

For step-by-step installation, see our drawer slide installation guide. If you're outfitting a kitchen with hidden, soft-close slides specifically, our undermount soft-close guide covers drawer-box sizing in more detail. And since every slide in this collection comes from one manufacturer, browse the full Hickory Hardware catalog for matching hinges, pulls, and knobs.