Thomas Chippendale was one of the most famous furniture makers of the 18th century. He both created fine furniture as well as documenting the contemporaneous British interior so today he is considered to be the ‘Shakespeare of English furniture’.
Many Chippendale pieces have survived and can be seen in places such as Osterley House in London (https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/houses-buildings/places-to-see-thomas-chippendales-work)
When the works of a maker such as Chippendale endure for centuries then surely that is an indication that the practices of these makers should be followed if we wish to make long-lasting furniture. Of course the answer is going to be ‘yes’ and ’no’.
18th century furniture used a range of construction techniques from low to high end. At the low end this would involve drawer boxes simply being nailed together. At the high end there would be dovetail joints and the drawer would be a ‘piston fit’ into the cabinet carcass. Piston fit means just enough space for the drawerbox to slide but not enough that it racks (binding caused by one side of the drawer moving before the other).
An 18th century elegant drawer would have thin sides for aesthetics but would have hidden ‘drawer slips’ on the bottom to support a smooth and strong gliding action.
Furniture makers today working at the very highest level would utilise all the traditional drawer construction techniques but for regular bespoke work customers prefer the results produced by a high tech metal drawer runner. For example if there is not a village cabinet maker on hand to make adjustments then you don’t want piston fit drawers as seasonal variations could cause the wood to move and then the drawer binds. Also high-end drawer runners are ‘full extension’ whereas with traditional drawers a certain proportion of the drawer must stay in the cabinet lest it falls to the floor! Push-to-open and slow closing are movements that customers love and a benefit that was introduced with the modern drawer runner.
In summary drawer runners have brought the following benefits over traditional drawers:
Wood movement due to seasonal changes has been overcome. The drawer is designed to attach to the runner and therefore the drawer width for example will be around 40mm less than the aperture into which it slides. Therefore even if the drawer box material thickness were to expand by even 5mm this would not be a problem. Also drawer runners allow the drawer box dimensions to have a tolerance of around a millimetre and probably a lot more before they stopped working
The drawer box can slide all the way out of the cabinet
Push-to-open and slow closing movements are possible