IKEA Rationell Faktum Kitchen Cabinets: How to disassemble and remove the drawers

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I have recently had to tackle a problem with my IKEA Faktum kitchen and its Rationell drawers, drawer fronts, and coverpanels. The instructions in the manual were very clear on how to assemble the drawers, but they fell a little short of telling me how to disassemble the drawers again.

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I was wondering why that was because I know quite a few people who would gladly move their IKEA kitchen when they change houses (or flats or apartments, for that matter). But it seems that nobody on the company side has taken this into consideration.

So I did a bit of research (unfruitful), called the IKEA hotline (pretty helpful) and wondered why they don’t enclose disassembly instructions with the manual. Well, anyway, here it is, the answer to the question: “How do I disassemble / take apart IKEA Rationell drawers?” The answer applies to the 2008/2009 and later series. Earlier series had a different mechanism as it appears…

The shortest possible way (if you can reach the bottom of the drawer) is to use a small flat screwdriver to press on the little white nipple (or whatever you may call it) to lift it and release the drawers from the bar. I marked the nipple with a red arrow in the photograph.

Especially if you cannot easily reach the drawer bottom (for example because you’re dealing with the bottom drawer), you may want to try a different way which I will describe step-by-step fashion. First we will take off the drawer front, then we will remove the drawer from the bar. First of all, we need to open the lock at the front end of the Rationelle drawer (the grey rectangular latches on both sides of the drawer).

Turn the latch 90 degrees upward by hand.

Then you can pull it out of its lock (next picture).You will get access to the adjustment screws too, by the way.

If you remove the latches on both sides of the Rationell drawer, you can gently pull out the drawer front and thus get access to the lock that connects the drawer with the runners. If you look at it from the front, you will realize the bottom end of the white plastic “shark fin” ends in a nipple or tongue that locks with the clamp in the runners (the next photo shows it in released position before locking).

The runner bars have a fitting counterpiece in a somewhat darker grey colour.

Now the tongue will be resting in the counterpiece when you take off the cover panel, and it is this happy union which will make you sweat when traing to take the drawers apart.

To release the drawers from the bars no other method such as applying brute force, explosives or even waiting patiently will work. You will need a flat screwdriver to gently move the nipple out of its counterpiece. It will noticeably snap out, but be gentle for you don’t want the tongue to break.

Hej (my best Swedish)! We’ve done it! We can take the Rationell drawer out again! Hej!

Don’t forget to release the lock mechanism on both sides (you can do one side after the other). Have fun with your IKEA kitchen again! 🙂

Language: English. Document type: instructions / how to / FAQs.

You may notice there’s no ads or other annoying stuff on this site. That also means: no revenue. If you find this article useful though I’d be grateful if you virtually invited me for a cup of tea https://paypal.me/schlitzflitzer – thank you very much!

Source: https://gardencourte.com
Categories: Kitchens