How we make Drawers

Here is a little insight into how we make our drawers.

At Dovetail we often to make our drawers from solid American White Ash  with a natural linseed oil finish (which is both environmentally friendly and non-toxic).

The drawer bottoms are made from Ash veneered MDF.

We meld traditional techniques to make our drawers with state of the art new technology to close them!  We use 'soft close' runners which are designed and manufactured in Germany by Blum  - a system aptly named Blumotion.

The dovetail joints are made on old and faithful 1940’s Brookman 15 pin dovetail machine (which would have cost the price of a house in its day, as it automated and revolutionised the the whole dovetailing process).  Dovetail joints date back as far as the Egyptians of the First Dynasty and the ancient tombs of the Chinese Emperors.  Traditionally dovetailing was used to increase the surface area for glue to take effect.

The glue we use at Dovetail is ‘Titebond’.  It has a faster ‘grab’ time, is stronger, more rigid and heat resistant than pva or basic white glues.  We could go into molecular bonding variations between the glue types, but the deeper we go the more stuck we become, so let’s leave it at that!

Some of the drawers require cutlery partitions, which are tailor made to the specifications of our clients' utensils.  These wooden dividers are made from Ash.  In some instances we also fit matting or even green baize to the drawer bases.

Most drawers need handles or knobs. They are the icing on your kitchen cake, so to speak and play a very important role in look of a kitchen.   Take your time choosing the right ones!