Bread and Burger Buns in a deep drawer. Other than that, no, just utensils and dishtowels and non food stuff.

When I did my previous remodel (small kitchen), I had a 27" wide base cabinet with 4 roll outs that I stored my food in. I've also seen this done with 5. In both cases, there is still room for a drawer above the roll outs. Because they were adjustable and I didn't lose any height from the frame since I wasn't using drawers, I measured my cans and boxes for a laying down position. One rollout height was for ~14 oz cans, one for ~32 oz cans, one for mixes on their sides, etc. Since they were only one level deep, I could see at a glance what I had--but it took me a while to remember what I'd put on each roll out.

I know there are a lot of people on this forum who are adamant about not having any roll outs, but I loved them, and in my new kitchen have roll outs in a snack base cab by the MW, and an 18" wide base cabinet on each side of the cooktop (in my other kitchen 21" worked very well also), with roll outs adjusted to fit my pans and baking dishes. I don't mind the extra effort to open the door and then pull out the roll out that seems to bother many others, and I've almost never banged the roll out on the door.

Anne

I store canned goods in the drawers that flank the island cooktop. The drawers are 15" wide x 12" deep. I lay the cans on their sides, and three layers of 14 oz cans fit easily and the contents of each can are easy to see. When I need a can of chicken broth or tomoatoes or beans, I don't need to take a single step. I also have a baking drawer that is 30" wide x 12" deep in which I store flour, sugars,dried fruits, vanilla etc, baking soda and powders.
When I'm baking I just open the drawer and scoop out the flour or sugar that I need. Easy peasy...

You can get dedicated base pantry cabinets, usually called "super cabinets."
{{!gwi}}

Different sizes and configurations are available.

I am planning to store food in drawers. I decided to opt for more counter space instead of a tall pantry as well and plan to dedicate 2 drawer stacks for food. I will probably store them in some easy to open and scoop containers like Oxo pop canisters or clik clak canisters.

I am short and I think I will find this more convenient than pulling out a step stool for accessing the uppers.

I have a 36" set of drawers (with a 15" deep, 36" wall cabinet above). It's a great pantry setup for us. Here's what we do (interior drawer box depth noted):

Little top drawer (3.5"): linens, shallow basket with things like taco seasoning packets.

Middle (6.5": breads, rolls, basket of small items, etc.)

Bottom (9.5"): boxes and bags of chips, pretzels, crackers, nuts, etc.:

I find the drawers really keep soft items, like bread, contained. And the boxed items are easy to see. Much better than storing in my previous closet pantry -- which I now use for buly items in large containers.

We keep coffee, bread, butter, peanut butter, and things that will be used at our snack area in drawers. It works great for us.

Our cabs are frameless and we went with a standard 6/12/12 base for food storage which gives interior depths of ~4", ~10", and ~10".

Top drawer: coffee & protein bars (we don't normally have this much coffee but it had just gone on sale):

Middle drawer: bagels, fiber, bread, butter, peanut butter:

Bottom drawer is the dog's food:

I keep the kids snacks (chips, cookies, peanut butter, crackers, popcorn, etc) in two large lower drawers, the top skinnier drawer (3 drawer base cabinet) houses our kitchen tools, pizza cutter, garlic press, etc.

Ha, chester, too funny. He's either very good or just not too bright ... perhaps a bit of both! Never tried to open the drawer but he definitely knows what's in there. When I start dinner he'll sit there and stand vigil like he thinks we might forget about him otherwise or something, lol.

Handsome fellow you've got there, taggie, and your kitchen matches him nicely. :)

All our food is in 3 upper cabinets and I can't wait to get some of it down where I can reach it. I had assumed that we'd do a tall pantry pullout, but I am liking the drawers you all are posting.

Thanks for all the pictures and descriptions! It's good to know that the drawers work well for people.

Krabbypatty- I think our setup will be much like yours, except only 27" wide.

Taggie- that is one cute pup. I think our cats would tear that drawer to shreds.

May I add a question to this post? If you keep bread in a drawer, does it get moldy quicker than if it were in a cabinet? I was so excited to finally get a breadbox but the bread goes bad VERY quickly. TIA

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I keep cereal, crackers and snacks in a drawer. I did the same in my last kit too.

Like chesters_house, my dog is way too smart for my own good. I have not yet remodeled my kitchen, but I've tried storing a few food items and clean dish towels in lower cabinets, only to come home to find the cabinets open and the contents eaten (yes including clean dish towels).

Taggie, your pup is very handsome. Looks like he's a GSD? If so, I'm surprised he hasn't learned to open the drawer. My girl is a GSD as well and she's incredibly intelligent about finding and eating food and other "consumables". I have many stories of her opening cabinets, swiping loaves of bread from the back of counters, splitting garden fence sections and consuming all the fresh vegetables, and more. Jars, bags, boxes, and tins are no match for her. As a result, any food must be in the fridge, in upper cabinets, or behind a completely shut actual closet pantry door.

I have 3 drawers that are for actual food items, as opposed to staples, spices, and oils, which are in pullout cabinets.

One of the supersized drawers we have in our banquette is the "Costco" drawer. We call it that because we have the snacks and treats in there, and often they are those ginormous Costco sizes. This drawer is 36" wide and 15" high.

We also have a 30" wide deep drawer in our peninsula, which is the "pantry drawer". I keep dry stores in there (pasta, rice, dried beans, box mixes, etc) and jars/bottles of sauces, jams, condiments, and the like.

The third foodstuff drawer is the bottom drawer of a 4-drawer stack, and it is the bread/bun/cracker drawer.

With the soft-close feature on the drawers, the kitties don't seem to have enough strength to open them with their sneaky little paws. If they could, the Doritos and Cheetos would be GONE, and the telltale signs would be everywhere, including little orange pawprints.

They are cute, but very tricksy. And they "loves them some" Frito-Lay ;)

sjerin, we don't find bread goes bad any faster in the drawer. Mind you bread never lasts more than 3 or 4 days around here so we may not be the best use case.

prickly, yes he's a GSD (his left ear doesn't quite come up due to a bite he got when playing with another dog as a pup, but he's full-on Shepherd).

LOL on your foodie girl! I know what that's like. Our previous GSD wouldn't touch a morsel either, but we rehomed a Weim and man oh man everything changed, talk about a food-driven dog. One of the first nights we had him we'd cooked a big pork roast for dinner. Took it out of the oven and were just letting it rest for 10 mins and we were in the other room and our GSD at the time came in and was acting all weird, whining and yawning, etc. Needless to say we go back into the kitchen a few minutes later and the Weim had eaten the entire pork roast. We realized afterwards that our poor old GSD was trying to 'tattle' on him. LOL, we laughed hard that he was so concerned about being the 'good dog' that he didn't even stay to share the spoils!

I always thought it was a GSD thing not to steal food, but I see we just got lucky. My husband is talking about getting another Weim now too ... yipes, now I'm getting worried.

shelayne, LOL on your Frito-Lay loves-ing kitties! And little orange paw prints, ha ha. Thank goodness for soft-closing door tugs.

Before or after I cook it?

It looks like a lot of us had the same idea of a wide 36'' wide, deep snack drawer. It is located far from my cooking core so that people opening it do not get in my way. It has become one of the favorite spots in the new kitchen and one of the best ideas for kitchen planning.

The boys of all ages who visit the kitchen head straight for that drawer, only occasionally stopping along the way to grab a healthier snack out of the fruit bowl on the island.
They remind me of excited bear cubs who have just broken into a cabin, beelining for the drawer filled with marshmallows, trail mix, crackers, and cereal bars.
Staring straight down into the treasure laden drawer with all the snacks on full display, their eyes light up as they grab bars, boxes, bags, and pouches filled with things that circa 1990 I would have said I'd never let my loved ones eat!

sjerin, I think moldy bread is a regional climate-related issue. We keep our bread in a bread box (enameled steel) and it will go stale and then dry hard as a rock, ready to be smashed into breadcrumbs. It's bakery bread and is stored in paper not plastic bags. Rarely does anything mold unless it's got fruit or such in it. We're in coastal Maine with fairly low humidity in the summers.

I've heard some folks on this forum refer to actually keeping their bread in thr refrigerator, which might be a Southern custom due to the heat?

I've always heard bread goes stale faster when stored in the fridge -- but you run the risk of mold outside the fridge (at least in the South)!

With our kitchen remodel, I got an old-fashioned bread drawer (you slide a cover open after pulling out the drawer). After it was installed, I though I'd made a mistake -- it was so big for only a loaf or two of bread!

But then, I did some rethinking -- my husband wanted the toaster & coffeemaker in essentially the same area as pre-renovation, so I put both bread & coffee beans in the bread drawer just below. Then, I figured that our main use of peanut butter (plus the newer addition of almond butter for me) is for our morning toast, nearly every day. Now, bread, coffee beans, peanut butter & almond butter all reside in the bread drawer, conveniently below the toaster & coffeemaker.

I'm very happy with the bread drawer choice -- and my bread doesn't go stale or get moldy!

sjerin:

My bread does not get moldy faster in the drawer than it did in the closet pantry BUT I've only had this set up since late fall. We have very humid summers in my area, so we'll see what happens in a few months!

In my kitchen, all the kitchen storage below deck is drawer, not door. Average is 30 inches wide. There are about ten DEEP drawers, and many shallow drawers. Food is in the deep drawers. Packaged food. A number of the largest size Oxo containers hold loose stuff. (keywords "Good Grips" , "POP", Oxo, container).

Drawers don't change the bread equation. When does bread go bad: depends on the season and on the bread. Almost never happens. Like onions and potatoes, it depends.

Hth