Re-hanging Drawer Front Panels on a 700

Signs a drawer front has moved

The reveal above it has gone uneven, or the front brushes the face above or below as it closes. It stands proud, rocks when pressed at a corner, or needs a push to finish closing.

The drawer comes before the panel

The 700 guide lets owners lift a storage drawer out and set it back, with the holes at the front of the drawer over the pegs on the slides. A drawer that has come off a peg sits crooked, and its panel looks out of line although nothing on the panel has moved. We look at that before touching a bracket.

How the panel is held

Brackets on the back of the panel are placed from Sub-Zero’s template, set flush with the panel’s top edge. The tabbed bracket hooks over the top of the drawer, and the panel swings down until an L-bracket sits beneath it, its slots over screws in the drawer’s lower edge. The panel then has a quarter inch of travel up, down and sideways before the last screws go in. On the lower drawer the bracket is sometimes inverted to suit a taller or thicker panel.

A loose front therefore comes down to screws backed out of those slots, a bracket pulled from the panel, or a drawer out of square.

When the panel itself is the fault

A front that has split, warped or gained weight with a new pull is cabinetmaker work. Drawer handles belong near the top edge, and Sub-Zero asks for custom panels finished on every side, because the edges show when the drawer is open.