Parts of a Drawer – Front, Sides, Bottom, Slide and Stopper

All 11 parts on the diagram

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Start here: 4 main parts 4

Drawer front The face you see when the drawer is shut. Often wider than the box so it hides the end grain of the sides.
Pull The pull, or handle, on the front for pulling the drawer out. Some drawers have a knob, a hole or a finger groove instead.
Bottom The thin panel the drawer’s contents rest on. It is held in a groove cut into the four sides.
Outer channel The outer channel: the part of the slide screwed to the cabinet.

The drawer box: 6 3

Sides The sides: the two boards running from front to back.
Back The back: the board at the far end of the drawer.
Dovetail joints The dovetail joints: interlocking joints at the corners for strength. Half-blind dovetails at the front hide the joint from view.

The slide: 5 4

Internal channel The part of the slide screwed to the drawer’s side. It slides out of the outer channel.
Ball cage A strip that holds the steel balls evenly spaced between the channels. Also called the ball retainer.
Ball bearings Small steel balls that roll between the channels. The drawer then slides smoothly.
End stopper It stops the channels at the end of their travel. The drawer then does not pull right out by accident.

How this list was compiled: Read 2026-09-27. (1) Wikipedia, Drawer, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drawer : wooden drawers often have a seamless front face that hides the end grain of the side panels; dovetail joints at the corners, half-blind at the front; a groove cut into the four sides holds the bottom; one or two handles or drawer pulls on the front, or holes or finger recesses; slides often have a stop so the drawer is not pulled out by accident; a drawer slide or runner lets it move; ball bearing slides, and telescoping (3-section) slides for full extension; side-, under- and centre-mounted slides. (2) Bureau of Indian Standards, IS 17954:2023, Telescopic Ball Bearing Drawer Slide — Specification, https://archive.org/details/gov.in.is.17954.2023 : outer channel, internal channel, ball cage, balls and end stopper, each with its own requirements. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-05 by script, from plain geometry: one wooden drawer held as a small model and shown in perspective from above its left front corner, and a ball bearing slide side-on with the lips of its outer channel cut away. Nothing is traced or copied. The forms were checked by eye against photographs of an open drawer and an engraving of a dovetail joint on Wikimedia Commons. Licence: own work

How it works

These are the parts of a drawer: a wooden drawer seen from above, then the ball bearing slide it runs on, cut open. Start with the 4 main parts.

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The drawer box

The drawer front, with its pull, is the face you see. Behind it the two sides and the back make a box, and the bottom sits in a groove cut into all four. Dovetail joints lock the sides to the front.

The slide

A ball bearing slide has an outer channel fixed to the cabinet and an internal channel fixed to the drawer. Steel balls, held in a ball cage, roll between them, and an end stopper keeps the drawer from pulling out.

A drawer that pulls all the way out has telescoping slides with a third, middle channel; a two-part slide stops partway.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a drawer slide?

An outer channel fixed to the cabinet, an internal channel fixed to the drawer, steel ball bearings held in a ball cage between them, and an end stopper. Full-extension slides add a middle channel.

Why do drawers have dovetail joints?

For strength: the interlocking dovetail makes a strong corner where the sides meet the front. Half-blind dovetails at the front hide the joint, so the drawer face looks seamless.

What holds the bottom of a drawer?

A groove cut into the inside of the front, sides and back. The bottom panel slides into it.