Where to get dresser drawers repaired?

January 5, 2020 12:17 PM

I've got a dresser whose drawers aren't staying in. It has side-mounted ball-bearing slides that are old and coming off their brackets – I've got tiny metal balls rolling all over my floor. Question: if I wanted someone to replace the slides with new ones, what section of the yellow pages should I be looking in?

When I google "furniture repair" it's mostly about upholstery and refinishing. When I look up dressers, I get taken to kitchen cabinetry installers or remodellers. I don't know if just a Craigslist handyman thing is reliable enough, since they might need to have a line on the proper-sized slides.

So, I'm not sure where to turn. I've looked into buying replacement slides but they seem like the wrong size – plus I'm not super handy.

I love the dresser and hope not to have to curb it, unless fixing it would be too expensive.

(This is in Vancouver, btw.)

posted by Beardman to Home & Garden (3 answers total)

Any decent hardware store will have drawer slide in 2" increments. Ask staff at the customer service desk (not the checkout) to recommend someone. It should be pretty straightforward.
posted by kate4914 at 12:43 PM on January 5, 2020 [2 favorites]

Any cabinet shop as well, if you can find one that does more than resell factory boxes. Accuride is generally the top of the line version, there are cheaper copies. In my experience, accurides are also prone to the exploding deconstruction, with the ball bearings flying out. They are generally not repairable. Google accuride full extension slides and you should be set. You can get them in self close and soft close, but for a dresser, I'd keep it simple and basic, and any reasonably competent handyman should be able to swap them out for you
posted by Redhush at 1:57 PM on January 5, 2020

Response by poster: Thanks – the accuride tip led me to a local store that actually does seem to carry the pieces that I need.
posted by Beardman at 5:05 PM on January 5, 2020