Drawer Box Cut List Calculator — Slide Clearances Into an Exact Sheet Count

The numbers a drawer box takeoff runs on, from Blum's TANDEM plus BLUMOTION (563H) installation instructions. Other slide makers and other Blum lines use different deductions, so read the sheet for the slide you're actually buying:

• Lengths: 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21" for Tandem. For longer or heavier drawers, look at Blum's Movento line or another maker's heavy-duty undermount
• Box width: Blum specifies the inside width as opening minus 1-21/32". Add your two side thicknesses back on: with 1/2" sides the outside width is opening minus 5/8"; with 5/8" sides it's opening minus 13/32"
• Box height: at most the opening height minus 25/32" (Blum's top and bottom clearances)
• Bottom recess: the 1/4" bottom sits in a groove with its underside 1/2" up from the bottom edge of the sides, leaving room for the runner
• Box length: a 21" Tandem slide takes a 21" box, and needs at least about 21-15/16" of inside cabinet depth

Pick the longest slide that fits the cabinet's inside depth with clearance for anything behind it.

Two 24"-wide frameless base cabinets (22.5" between the sides), each with three drawer openings about 10, 8, and 6" tall, on 21" Tandem slides, 1/2" plywood sides:

• Box width: 22.5" − 5/8" = 21⅞" outside, so the front and back are 20⅞" between the sides
• Box length: 21", to match the slide
• Box height: 9", 7", and 5", comfortably under each opening minus 25/32"

Construction: 1/2" plywood front, back, and two sides; a 1/4" plywood bottom in a groove, cut ½" under the box's outside width and length (21⅜" × 20½") so it seats in the groove. That's 24 pieces of 1/2" ply and 6 pieces of 1/4" ply.

Run through the optimizer on 4×8 sheets, ⅛" kerf, rotation allowed:

• 1/2" plywood: 1 sheet, 76.3% utilization
• 1/4" plywood: 1 sheet, 57.1% utilization

The narrow box parts nest tightly; the six wide bottoms don't. About a quarter of the 1/2" sheet and over 40% of the 1/4" sheet are left as usable drop, which is the kind of number a per-box estimate never shows you.

This example has 6 distinct part sizes in the 1/2" material. The free plan handles up to 5 part sizes and 3 stock sizes per job, so a job this size either runs in two passes or on Pro ($7.99/month or $79.99/year).

Match the slide to the cabinet, don't oversize it:

• Standard 24"-deep base cabinet (roughly 22–23" of inside depth): 21" slides are the usual pick
• Shallow cabinets (vanities around 21" deep, 12"-deep uppers repurposed for drawers): 15" or 18", or 9–12" for the shallow ones
• Deep islands and heavy-load drawers: check longer, higher-capacity slides from Blum or another maker

Buying one length across a whole run of cabinets keeps the hardware order simple and every box the same length, which is usually worth more in the shop than saving an inch of plywood per box.

1. Open the optimizer in sheet mode — no account needed
2. For each drawer opening, work out box height (opening minus your slide's clearance) and box width (opening minus your slide's deduction)
3. Enter fronts/backs, sides, and bottoms as separate rows, with the 1/2" (or 5/8") box stock and the 1/4" bottoms as two materials
4. Enter your sheet size (4×8 shown here)
5. Set kerf (⅛" for a typical table saw blade)
6. Run it — sheets to buy, a cut diagram per sheet, every offcut listed

Re-run it if a drawer count or opening height changes.