How to align drawers on vanity

If you need aligning the drawers on your newly installed bathroom vanity, first thing to do will be to try and adjust them using the instructions specific to the vanity. If adjusting the drawers does not work 100%, you may need to readjust the entire vanity installation.

Here's why that happens:

A bathroom vanity is essentially a perfectly square box. The drawers and their slides are precision hardware designed to fit and run perfectly parallel inside that square box.

When you force that square box against a wall that isn't perfectly flat (it might be bowed, wavy, or leaning), and screw it in tight, you are twisting the entire cabinet.

 

Why This Happens

 

Think of your vanity like a sturdy cardboard box. It starts with perfect 90-degree corners and flat sides.

  1. The Problem Wall: The wall has a high spot (a bow) or a low spot.

  2. Forcing the Install: When you drive screws to pull the vanity "tight" to this uneven wall, the back of the vanity cabinet is forced to conform to the wall's imperfections.

  3. The "Rack" or "Twist": This force transfers through the whole cabinet, pulling the entire box out of square. The front opening for the drawers might get squeezed into a slight parallelogram or trapezoid shape.

  4. The Misalignment: The drawer slides, which must be perfectly parallel to work, are now no longer parallel. One side might be slightly higher, or they might be pinched closer together at the back.

When you slide the drawers (which are still perfectly square) into this newly twisted cabinet, they will bind, stick, and the drawer fronts will look misaligned, with uneven gaps.

 

How to Prevent This (The Correct Way)

 

Installers prevent this by using shims (thin wedges of wood or plastic).

Instead of forcing the vanity to match the wall, they:

  • Place the vanity against the wall.

  • Find the highest point of the wall that touches the vanity. That's the main contact point.

  • Use a level to make sure the vanity itself is perfectly plumb (vertically straight) and level (horizontally flat).

  • Slide shims into the gaps between the wall and the vanity at the screw points.

  • Screw the vanity through the shims into the wall studs.

This way, the vanity remains a perfect, untwisted square, and the shims just fill the empty space, creating a solid connection to the imperfect wall. The drawers will then slide perfectly.

The information above is also true for modules and linen cabinets. To adjust wall mounted storage units with door, here's the instructions to do so:

PDF instruction www.pierdeco.design/Salgardooradjustment

Hettich instructions video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56cqwMnKRz0