I grew up with a bread drawer; bread never got stale or mouldy in those days. I opted not to have one, since we toast our bagels, so keep the cut ones in the freezer. But yesterday, when my husband asked "where does the bread go?" I wished I had ordered a drawer with a sliding bread box cover. If you can afford the space, I think it's a great idea. Of course, he never asked me that question in the old kitchen...

They're pretty costly for what you get. (Basically a clear plastic lid.) They're mostly just kinda a PIA to deal with in real life. You still have to wrap all of your bread up in plastic or leave it in the plastic bags, so what's the point in having a second plastic lid? So you can see it? Put it in an upper cabinet, and you can mostly see it just fine. Or buy a cool vintage bread box on Ebay. Or, put it in the freezer and it'll keep longer. But don't pay $80 for a plastic lid.

I have one and love it. It is metal with a vented sliding top. It keeps the bread out of the way and fresh for much longer.

I had one in the house I got in 1991, in Pennsylvania. It was metal lined with a sliding metal top. I had no idea what it was; I had to ask the builder. Felt pretty silly, but I had never seen one before. It worked well, but I already had a bread box (which I then used to store foil and wrap), and I probably could have used the drawer for something else.

I also find that the bread box drawer works well for keeping bread fresh and crusty for several days in a paper bag or perforated plastic. Before I had a bread drawer I would have to put bread in plastic the first night in order to keep it from drying out too much and going stale. The plastic would cause the bread to lose its nice crustiness. Of course it doesn't make a difference with grocery store bread that is already sealed in plastic. But it makes a great place for keeping bread products or any other bulky items off the counter. I don't have any problems with the sliding lid--it's very easy to get used to. I'm sure I've made up for the cost with the loaves I haven't had to throw out after going stale.

There has been a great thread on this recently - you could search and find it.

We have one and I love it. Yes, it was an expensive add on for what it is, but having one big place to keep the bread and chips and crackers is a wonderful thing for us. In the old kitchen the bread stuff took up half of a wall cabinet; now, it is all in the bread box!

Have fun with the decisions!

Ellen, use the search box on the bottom of the page with the list of threads to find a particular thread. E.g., if you search on "bread drawer", you get the results linked below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Search results for:

Thanks for the advice. I'm new to the site and haven't been able to get to the right search link to hunt for specific topics. -- I think I found my answer among all the posts and have decided the extra cost for a special drawer isn't worth it.

That was my assessment as well! :-)