Drawer Slides Dragging Under a Loaded Basket

What the owner notices

• A run that feels rough or catches partway, sometimes with a scrape.
• A drawer that needs a push over the last inch.
• Frost in the basket, because the drawer was resting slightly open.

The causes, in the order we rule them out

Load. We empty the basket and run the drawer again. If the drag leaves with the food, the slides are sound and weight is the story.

Ice or debris on the slides. Ice on a slide means warm air has been getting in, most likely past the drawer seal, so slide and gasket are looked at together. Spilled food set hard on a slide gives the same catch.

Level. Sub-Zero’s installation guide levels the cabinet to the floor, not to the cabinetry. A cabinet tipped forward lets a drawer drift open; one tipped back makes it run uphill as it closes.

A worn or bent slide. When the empty drawer still drags on a level cabinet, the slide is the fault and is replaced. The panel on that drawer is weighed too, since a front over Sub-Zero’s 15 lb drawer limit wears a new slide as fast as the old one.

Taking the drawer off its slides

The Designer owner’s guide describes lifting the storage drawer out: open it to its stop, raise the front slightly and draw it straight out. Refitting, the back of the drawer engages the hooks on the slides, and the white pegs at the front of each slide go into holes in the drawer. A drawer put back with a peg outside its hole can sit crooked and drag, so we look there first after anyone has had it out.