Wow, 12" deep! That's almost 2x as deep as my pots&pans drawers! Can your cabinetmaker make a top drawer insert that will fit inside each drawer and be covered by the same drawer front (means you'd have to open both drawers to get anything out of the top one, but you could pull just the bottom out if you wanted to get something out of the bottom) if you like the look? I'm think 3-4" in some places so you have extra deep lower in those cabinets, but maybe 5" in others so drawers are about equal depth for pots & pans? I've seen them somewhere on GW - have to do some digging....

Other than having to stack everything you own a foot deep, how do you like your new kitchen?

I guess I didn't make myself clear, by modifications he meant that he could remove one or two drawers out of a cabinet and reconfigure the cabinet by making different sized drawers. It will cost money, but at least I could get a few cabinets that make sense. I'm also worried about the resale value of the house with a kitchen like this.

I can't imagine if my ex had done the kitchen while I was away. I threatened to do it while he was away (because he refused to let me do it at all), but if he had done it....it would have been dark wood, orange and brown, and wouldn't have had any counter or cabinet space but would have had a huge useless island in the middle.

Please tell me that at least your husband had decent taste, other than no drawers.

Other then choosing an unreasonable drawer size, the cabinets have a clear finish that I've always liked. However, the wood species he chose was maple when he knows that like hickory better. At least all the fronts are removable and can be replaced. Again, its going to cost money. I still am desperate for advice on how to reconfigure the cabinets.

Do you have photos or a floor plan? I know you are probably completely flipping out, but maybe there's a somewhat easy way to fix it. The people here are amazing!

Melanie that's a great idea, but it will have to wait until my husband is out of the kitchen. It is basically a galley kitchen. The cabinet maker has the plans on his computer, but he has gone home for the day. With our galley kitchen you are looking a two rows of of cabinets. The frig is at the far end of the kitchen and is surrounded by drywall so that there are no corner cabinets. Row one consists of 3 cabinets, trash compactor, cabinet with sink in it, dishwasher, two more cabinets. That makes a total of 5 and 3/4 cabinets. On the first row each cabinet is 35 inches wide with the exception of one that is appx. 30" wide. Next row has 3 cabinets with a cooktop that fits in the middle cabinet. These cabinets are all 31 inches wide. Keep in mind that every cabinet has two drawers that are both 12" deep. I hope this description makes sense.

Okay, I'm not at home, so I can't measure the drawers right now...I think the two big drawers are probably 12", is this what your kitchen has? BTW, these are 36" wide.

{{!gwi}}

I happen to love those drawers (and the size). The top drawer has pots/pans and the bottom has corningware type stuff.

I think lots of people have their dishes in those type of drawers also. Have you thought about where everything will live and what you could put in the big drawers. Maybe not all need to be redone and you could use some as is?

Marzhere, your two middle drawers are just what I have in every one of my 9 cabinets in my kitchen. The width varies from 31 to 35". I agree that I don't want every drawer redone because these drawers make sense for some uses, but not for every single cabinet. Because I haven't had a new kitchen in decades, I need help picking out good drawers sizes and innovations that have happened to drawers. I have to convince my husband why each different size or change makes sense. He's stubborn.

I think lots of people use some deep drawers. I agree with marzhere, you need to decide what is going where. Or, ask DH if he figured that out already - sorry, just kidding. I've attached a link to Kraftmaid's website; I only used them because I have one of their books. But the insides of their cabinets are much like people are having made by cabinet makers, too. There are also the drawer within a drawer to maybe use to alter some of them. Here is a link to a picture of an example: http://www.kraftmaid.com/storage/index.cfm?navigationid=42X00a&harmonyid=195 On this drawer you will see something like what ajsmama talked about.

You might also want to check out Loves2cook4six's kitchen drawers at the Finished Kitchen Blog; http://finishedkitchens.blogspot.com/2008/12/loves2cook4sixs-kitchen.html Her bottom drawer front covers the 2 upper drawers. When you go to the link you must then click on an additonal link to her pictures.

How many 12" deep drawers do you have?

Here is a link that might be useful: Kraftmaid Deep Drawers

Here are the actual pictures of the Kraftmaid cab so you don't have to go to those links:

Drawer in a drawer:
{{gwi:2106461}}

Deep Drawers:
{{gwi:2106462}}

Sorry I didn't do this to begin with.

There were several posts today on drawers so you might also do a search for drawers on this sight.

Okay - tell your DH that you need a silverware drawer, and on each side of the range you need a drawer for cooking utensils. That's 3 cabs to make a smaller top drawers. Not sure how many more you have but a couple of them would be nice for standing cereal boxes and other tall items. Good luck.

You might also want to tell him that you could use a shallow junk drawer, a trash pullout, shallow drawers for spices, dish towels, baking supplies like measuring cups, rolling pins, etc. There are plenty of small things that get stored in a kitchen that would get lost in a very deep drawer, or if anything, it's just an inefficient use of space if you are putting those small items in a giant drawer and not stacking them up (aka, piling so much crap in there you can't find the stuff at the bottom.)

That would be my argument anyways :) HTH

Thanks for the pics lyno I like the drawer within a drawer concept. Do you think it would be cumbersome to put into a lot of drawers? The wooden dividers look good and would be an easy fix for some cabinets. To answer your question I have a total of 9 cabinets with double 12 inch drawers so that makes eighteen 12" drawers. To get an idea of what I'm talking about look back at marzhere's pic except I have them in every cabinet. Am I using the word cabinet correctly or do drawers sit in another cabinet maker term?

Interesting. I wanted all drawers on the bottom cabinets, but came in shorter than I thought they would and I had a few made into doors. I do have little drawers at the top, though. Are you thinking you just need a few shallower drawers? You can use the big drawers for plates and cups. Plus, they are good for casserole dishes, Tupperware, etc. I think you just need to figure out a good way to get a few shallow drawers for silverware, etc. I think some of those inserts will be great.

Yes, Kelleg I do feel like I need some shallower drawers. Donka has some great ideas, the problem is making my husband understand how important variety in depth is.

I have a DH who is somewhat similar to yours, I know it can be very frustrating! Before talking to your DH, if I were you, IMHO, I'd figure out how many and which 12" drawers you want to keep. As others have mentioned, they can be used for lots of things. But 18 - 12" drawers (9 cabinets) are a lot of large drawers! You must have a good sized kitchen!

As far as the drawer within a drawer, I'd ask the cabinet maker about it. I have no idea how hard it would be to do and MAYBE it is something that can be added later. You might also ask him if there are other modifications that would recommend and the estimated cost of each mod.

Good luck to you!

... cabinets with only two drawers ... 12 inches deep...
Doesn't sound believable.

loves2cook4six has a bunch of the drawer in a drawer solutions because she wanted her drawer fronts to all look the same across the front. I hope she doesn't mind me posting her pics. Her cabinets were custom.

I'm glad someone else came up with pics b4 I got back to you. The 3-4" deep drawers I was talking about would be good for silverware and cooking utensils, I never thought of vertical dividers for Tupperware and such, but those wouldn't be as much $ as the inside drawers. And inside drawers would cost less than replacing the face frames and drawer fronts. Just figure out what you need to store, and I'm sure with the pics above you can work out what you need. Post pics and we'll help you with details!

Where did DH put all your stuff after the drawers were installed? Is it just piled in (silverware and all)? You should ask him if he had a plan for storage - seriously!

He's still finishing up installing the last 3 cabinets. So far he's just piled stuff in. Last night he told me that he purposely made the drawers match so that there would be 18 exactly alike. For now he seems stuck with his "masterpiece". His idea for storage is to buy hotel stainless steel pans that will sit on top of the of the drawers. He's designed the drawer so that the hotel pans will slide back and forth across the drawer. This idea for storage doesn't make any sense to me. So I guess you could say its form over function. Any an all good ideas are still appreciated. I keep bouncing them off him, maybe one or two might stick!

So he did think of the need for a shallower storage...I think it would be great to have a shallow drawer inset of each of the top drawers, but a wood one. I really hope he sees the light in this. You can do all your utensils, spices, towels, gadgets, junk drawer and such in them. I've learned here that most everything can be stored in drawers. So other than a trash pullout, all drawers (but not all deep) would work for me!

The problem with the hotel pans is that they only slide back so far (the depth of the pan). If you need to get at anything underneath, even with FE glides on the deep drawer, you need to lift the pan and everything in in out and find a place to set it while you're getting the thing down below, then put it back. And reverse the process to put things back! Point this out to him, show him the pics here, and I'm sure he'll come around to the drawer inserts with FE glides. If he doesn't, then he gets to organize the kitchen and do all the cooking and put everything back after it's washed (who does the DWing is negotiable). Good luck!

I'm not to crazy about the insert idea because its a much more fluid a movement to just open a drawer and grab something than it is to open a drawer and have to move or take out a hotel pan.

There are many uses for shallow drawers...and deep drawers will NOT work with them.

Talk to your DH about how a well-planned & thought out kitchen has all types of storage, not just big drawers for big items or things that would fit in restaurant-style pans... Don't be confrontational about it, but try to discuss it calmly & rationally...that usually works best with men (not being sexist...it's just a fact of life that most men respond better to rational explanations than feelings and emotional discussions...17+ years of marriage have taught me much!)

Shallow storage:

• Flatware/silverware

• Cooking utensils

• Prep utensils

• Linens

• Wraps, plastic bags, foils

• Extensions cords, batteries, etc.

• Pot Holders, Trivets

• Spices

• Junk (the majority of us end up with one, so plan for it--and you definitely do NOT want it to be 12" deep!)

Then there are other "specialty" cabinets:

• Trash Pullout (usually small drawer on top, the rest the trash pullout portion)

• Tray & over-size Platter storage...vertical storage. If you have an oven stack (wall ovens), you can probably put tray storage over the oven(s). But if not, it's better to have them near your range. Above the refrigerator might work, but it's pretty high up and not always tall enough.

• Spice & Oils Pullouts

Now, some pictures to show your DH....Note that most of these will not work with deep drawers nor will they work with restaurant pans.

Flatware/Silverware Drawer:

Knives & Cooking Utensils Drawer:

Baking Tools & Utensils Drawer:

Pot Holder & Trivet Drawer:

Wraps & Plastic Bags Drawer:

Serving & Oven-related Tools & Utensils:

Extension Cords Drawer: (This one is messy, it could use some dividers!)

Batteries & Flashlights Drawer:

Junk Drawer:

By "inserts" I meant the drawers within a drawer on glides like the Kraftmaid pictures. Definitely not hotel pans! But you're right, it's nicer to have to just open one drawers, not two, to grab a potholder to get the lid off as the pot is boiling over! Let us know what you work out (hope it doesn't end up being too $$).

Buehl, you have nice cabinets, very well organized. Thanks everyone, if you have anymore detailed pics and suggestions I would appreciate having them to show my husband. I've always found this forum to very helpful because of its great members.

If those pictures don't get you smaller drawers, show him THIS picture of what goes in BIG drawers (from Kitchenkelly's kitchen):

Ours aren't all that size, but we have several, and like them fine.