[V.I.guy]

Hi everyone am in need of some carpentry advice. Right now am in the process of building the cabinets for my van interior. My plan in one area is for there to be four drawers in a frameless cabinet. My question is how to keep them locked shut. For all the rest of my random doors and drawers I am wanting to use push button locks similar to those in the link. I really wanted to use these to avoid having any cabinet hardware hanging out the front and being able to lock them shut at the same time. These will work well for everywhere else in my build as there is a frame piece for them to work on. I was thinking I would need to add a cross piece for every drawer for them to work but then I guess that is not really a frameless cabinet if I do that?

As you can probably tell how my question is framed (haha) I am not carpenter. Like a lot of the aspects to my build I am just going on the fake it till you make it approach but I am enjoying to process and moving the dream closer to reality.

Anyway I have seen so many great builds on this site I figure people with some carpentry skill might have something to point me toward a solution that I have not thought of.

Many thanks!



https://www.amazon.ca/Geekercity-Button-Cabinet-Cupboard-Caravan/dp/B074J78CNK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509815315&sr=8-1&keywords=push+button+cabinet+latch

 

[MsNomer]

I had exactly the same dilemma for my ten forward-facing drawers in a frameless cabinet. My solution is what I call the "drawer stick" which is held on by a seatbelt from the junkyard. It actually works well and looks pretty cool, but it is something that must be remembered. Description is in my build thread, but Photobucket trashed my photos. PM me your email and I will send you some.

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

Is the frameless that important! There have been a few here who have a rod or dowel or strap slit down the front. Not as nice in my opinion as a few horizontal frame pieces and those latches you have.

 

[MsNomer]

For me, frameless is well-worth it. Two reasons:

1. I get an extra drawer for the vertical space wasted on the crosspieces.

2. Combined with flat-bottomed drawers, I never have anything in a drawer stick up and catch, so I can fill the drawers with abandon. I absolutely hate that catch.

Long live the Pinewood Derby for grown-ups.

 

[V.I.guy]

No frameless is not a deal breaker that was why I figured I would need some sort of frame cross member to make them work. I do agree with MsNomers points as it seems like the best use of space.

 

[MtDave]

My solution was a combination of gas struts and rare earth magnets. I started with the rare earth magnets which had a mounting hole in the center which I screwed to the cabinet door or the inside face of a drawer. I bought some 1/8" x 3/4" strap metal at the ACE store to mount inside the cabinet to give the magnet something to stick to. The struts both help keep the doors closed but also help support them in the open position. Magnet is shown at the upper left corner of the door and strap metal piece to the lower left of the opening below the lower strut mount. I don't plan to keep anything heavy in the upper so this should be fine.

 

[Ziggy Stardog]

I'm considering frameless for the aforementioned reasons and a few others. More options for prebuilt drawers and facing with frameless. The SO has some sort of mental block about completely pulling out framed drawers and not being able to seat them properly again. Fewer parts, simplifies changing or adjusting drawer heights, etc.

Aside from the dowel idea, I was thinking of a vertical strip that either folds on a hinge or slides over the front edge of the drawer facings to lock them in. Another approach that I've seen is to bury the drawers behind a hinged door face. Not necessarily to keep them from sliding out, but to hide them for a cleaner look in kitchen cabinets I believe.

 

[MsNomer]

That vertical strip is essentially my "drawer stick."

 

[keeponvaning]

I did exactly that on my drawers (put doors in front of them) it turned out to be a real PITA every time I wanted to acces a drawer so I just took them off and put push button latches on. The push buttons actually are designed to work on cabinets where the drawer slides in flush with the face of the frame. Frameless cabinets really only means the doors or drawers fit into the frame, not that there is no frame. The frame can be a regular cabinet front you surface mount doors to if you wanted to or something as simple as a piece of plywood with the opening cut out in them.

If you use good drawer slides (Blum, for example) you don’t have to worry about the drawers falling out of the cabinet!

 

[Ziggy Stardog]

That vertical strip is essentially my "drawer stick."

True, more of a riff than an idea. The goal is to keep said stick more captive and arguably slightly more esthetic.

In software engineering (and architecture which originated the idea), they have a notion of design patterns which are general repeatable solutions to a problem. The rest is largely elaboration and variation. Often there is very little new under the sun.

 

[Ziggy Stardog]

I did exactly that on my drawers (put doors in front of them) it turned out to be a real PITA every time I wanted to acces a drawer

I'd figured as much and am trying to talk the SO out of the idea.

(BTW, this probably would qualify as an 'anti-pattern')

 

[goldenraf]

I tried several products and found the IKEA Patrull: Very effective and less costly:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20282051/
I latched them before moving, that's all.
All my drawers are IKEA frameless.

 

[Winston]

This post is as much for MsNomer (whose drawers we love) as for the thread starter, V.I.guy. Upon returning from our maiden trip we tore-off the hinged door, cut it into two pieces, and reinstalled as the fronts of two corresponding drawers. You can still see the hinges used on the old door - - we left them there as 'trim', to hide the notches that would otherwise have been visible had the hinges been removed.

Notice that we solved the 'frameless' locking problem by limiting the number of drawers to 2 and using the floor and the 'bed base', respectively, to receive the tabs from the corresponding lower and upper drawer push-button locking latches.

 

[MsNomer]

Certainly, the options for solving this problem are quite limited, and the consequences of ignoring it are catastrophic. DAMHIKT

Excellent solution, Winston.

It matters greatly whether drawers face front or sideways, and how much weight they carry. We have small side-facing drawers with no closure except that provided by the slides. For the forward facing ones which are 28" deep, extreme measure was called for. I could not trust magnets, much as I love them, or any ordinary catch, as the force that could open them in a sudden stop would far exceed any force we could use to open them. Thus the stick.

 

[Ziggy Stardog]

Browsing the child safety section of Amazon, I found various magnetic / mechanical solutions like this one:

[ame]https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N4SKNX8/ref=sspa_dk_detail_4?psc=1[/ame]

The magnet is added to 'disarm' a mechanical latch rather than provide resistance. Some of these work in either orientation. Not sure what you do with the magnet when 'armed' or if you lose it. Seems there's usually a PITA, captivation, mechanical effectiveness or esthetic trade off for these things.

I suppose the standard 'RV push button latch' would also work on its side if there's enough room on the door faces to mount it.

 

[ShaunB]

I have frameless cabinets and I added horizontal cross members at the top of each drawer opening and then used the push/button locks. This was the best option for me as I didn't want the look of a locking stick. It turned out to be a very easy modification that I added well after building the cabinets.

 

[keeponvaning]

I have frameless cabinets and I added horizontal cross members at the top of each drawer opening and then used the push/button locks. This was the best option for me as I didn't want the look of a locking stick. It turned out to be a very easy modification that I added well after building the cabinets.

YES, 100% correct way to do it Shaun! Strictly speaking frameless vs framed front cabinets actually refers to how the door hinges are mounted. We’re talking about drawers here and there is no reason not to modify a "frameless cabinet in this way to accomadate locks. All my cabinets I made for my van are framed with the doors hinged to the frame they are simply better and stronger, BUT RD and others have simply made frameless by cutting out the door & drawer openings in a pice of plywood (the plywood is essentially a frame) it’s a quick and inexpensive way to do it especially if you don’t have the tools and experience in building frames and works very well not to mention looks great and very clean. I’m my build I made my bank of drawers as sort of framed & frameless. There is a frame but the face of the drawers is flush with the frame and there is a thim (1 ¼") horizontal framing member between the drawers to accomadate locks (not to mention its easer to build).

There is no right or wrong way to do it - mix and match styles is fine! The only thing I would caution against is KB flat pack cabinets (yes, the dreaded IKEA word) as they are simply inherently weak and have no place in a vehicle..

Personally I like framed cabinets for strength and ease of construction with flush fitting doors and drawers but it is a lot more work to build them as you have to keep very tight tolerances or they look like crap.

Here is a poor photo of what I’m talking about. The cabinet on the left is full frame with overplayed doors the drawer set on the right has inset drawers. Sorry the photo isn’t a bit better.

 

[Josh Cissell]

I have frameless cabinets and I added horizontal cross members at the top of each drawer opening and then used the push/button locks. This was the best option for me as I didn't want the look of a locking stick. It turned out to be a very easy modification that I added well after building the cabinets.

Can you post a picture and a link to the locks you used? I put handles on my cabinets so it's too late. The locks would be too much but if it is enough of a problem I could add the locks or put new fronts on the cabinets.

Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

 

[keeponvaning]

https://www.thehardwarehut.com/catalog-product.php?p_ref=320084

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

Ahh just do it- I've changed some of mine three times and the fronts have the scars to prove it. Door to Drawer then surface cabinet latch to KOV’s style. Whats a few screw holes compared to the big scrape from the Vespa scooter that fell over carrying it home from Sedona? I’m way into using my conversion not preserving a showpiece.