ᐅ Retrofitting Soft-Close Drawer Dampers for Ikea Faktum Cabinets

Hello everyone,

I am currently renovating my old Faktum kitchen from late 2005 / early 2006. Since the surface of the fronts has peeled off and crumbled, all cabinets and drawers will get new fronts from the Faktum replacement program. Additionally, I want to equip the drawers (in the base cabinet) as well as the full-extension base cabinet drawer with proper soft-close dampers because the screw-in dampers originally installed (those small gray, round dampers that were screwed separately to the cabinet body) have completely failed and no longer provide damping.

However, retrofitting the dampers is proving more difficult than I initially expected. By now, I am quite frustrated as I have no clear idea how to proceed or even if my plan is feasible.

Let me describe the problem: I have a base cabinet with 3 Rationell drawers. The top one is the classic cutlery drawer and measures 55 cm (width) x 52 cm (depth) x 8 cm (height); the cabinet/carcass is 60 cm wide. The two lower drawers have the same width and depth but are 13.5 cm (height) high.

Since I already suspected that I cannot simply replace the old rails attached to the cabinet with the newer rails that can accommodate dampers—but would have to change the entire drawer system because the side panels of the old Rationell drawers do not fit the "new" rails with dampers—I planned to buy completely new Rationell drawers: the package theoretically includes both the cabinet rails and the drawer/full extension itself. So far, so good.

In the Faktum replacement program, however, the full extensions with dampers are only available with a maximum length (or depth) of 45 cm, which is 7 cm less than my "old" drawers. I wonder if this is really correct and if, in the Faktum program, there are only Rationell drawers with dampers available for base cabinets with a maximum depth of 45 cm—after all, this would mean losing 7 cm of depth compared to the older drawers.

Aside from that, I cannot find any replacement for my cutlery drawer with a damper. There are only Rationell full extensions with dampers that have a height of 13.5 cm (IKEA labels these as "deep" drawers). Although I could probably use the side panels of these "deep" drawers for the cutlery drawer and just remove the upper rails (the sides themselves were always the same height for my old Rationell drawers), the back panel would be too tall (the back panel has a fixed height, i.e., 13.5 cm for "deep" drawers, not 8 cm). There are no full extensions with a height of 8 cm that have a damping function.

Could I solve this problem by ordering a full extension "deep" (with a 13.5 cm high back panel) with dampers in 60 x 45, plus a full extension 60 x 58 (without dampers) to take the back panel from the latter, and then combine both so that I get a cutlery drawer 60 (width) x 45 (depth) x 8 (height) with dampers? Or would the back panel of the 60 x 58 (without damper) not fit the side panels of the 60 x 45 (with dampers) drawer? That way, I would still lose depth (for whatever reason, only 45 cm deep drawers with dampers are available), but at least I would have a cutlery drawer with soft-close.

Or is there another (easier) solution that I have not yet considered?

Thank you very much in advance and best regards!

For the top drawer, use the drawer with soft-close dampers linked by ikeauser, designed for deep drawers. However, you can also keep your old drawers and just replace the cabinet rails. This option is cheaper but requires some tinkering and patience: If available, purchase the rails for MAXIMERA drawers from the clearance section and use those. For installation, first screw a wooden strip under the old rails. Then place the MAXIMERA rails on the wooden strip and mark new holes on the cabinet. Drill the holes with a 5mm (0.2 inch) drill bit as marked and attach the rails. If necessary, attach the dampers afterward, and you’re done.

Hello everyone,

these are really great tips, and I would like to sincerely thank you all once again, truly amazing

I think I will go with the suggestion from IKEA-Freund for the cutlery drawer, the solution costs exactly the same (21 Euro 6 Euro) as the oven drawer.

For the deeper drawers, it would definitely be more cost-effective to order the oven drawer (as suggested by IKEA-Experte) instead of buying a deep drawer and dampers separately.

Is it really 100% certain that the slides of the oven drawer with dampers will fit the side panels of my old drawers from late 2005? Or did IKEA introduce different slide systems in the meantime? In that case, I would order this solution for the deep drawers and, as IKEA-Experte suggested, keep the existing drawers themselves (the drawers are still in very good condition, so replacing the drawers themselves is not necessary).

Thanks again very much for your help and have a nice evening.

100% certain. There were only other rails before that, and from 2013 in various other countries.

Good evening IKEA expert,

I wanted to sincerely thank you once again for your great help – without the tips from you and IKEA-Freund, I would probably still be wondering how to make my plan a reality.

I have now placed the order and am looking forward to the delivery.

Have a nice evening and best regards!

Gladly, a note for other readers. Replacing the rails with those from MAXIMERA does not work with RATIONELL drawers purchased in Germany from 2007 onwards.