I am a single retired woman who had the same problem with a pullout shelf in my 2-year old kitchen. (I agree: deep drawers are better, but I use my pullout for crockpots, stand mixer, wine carafes, pitchers.) So I emptied everything out, got down with a flashlight and eventually discovered a flat thin piece of wood laying in the middle of the cabinet. I could feel sharp points sticking up like it had been attached to the bottom of the pullout shelf and had fallen off. It was now blocking the shelf from pulling out. I pried it up with a flat screwdriver, enough to pull the shelf out. Removed the shelf completely. The flat piece looks like it is intended to brace the shelf from the underside but it was only stapled on, and it had fallen off. I think some gorilla glue should hold it in place. I guess I will do that and keep the pullout. Alternatively I could remove the sliders altogether, and use the cabinet space. That actually gives a bit more room, but then you have trouble getting things out from the back. Hope this helps someone!

olldcan I'm hoping you get this comment even though this is an old article, I'm so glad to see your experience with the drawers over the fridge. We are thinking of doing a bank of drawers instead of a all in one pull out pantry - I have been looking for someone who had drawers up high like that. are you still happy with them? What is your opinion about a bank of drawers that go up to 82"? My hubby is a bit concerned about how they might look. Opinion about that too? cabinet and drawer fronts would look much like this vanity he built for our 1/2 bath out of white oak. would love your thoughts, am I missing something to consider about having drawers up high (we will use blum ones that are low with a rail on both sides).

lobolrw, I have turned that house into a rental property and my tenant absolutely LOVES them. I miss those over the fridge drawers dearly!! If my memory serves me, the top of those drawers measured 87" and the bottom of the drawer was at 74" It works perfect for tall cereal boxes too, so don't be afraid to have a taller drawer. I think to make the bank of drawers not look odd, a consistent size of drawer face would be key. I think if you have one drawer, not two side by side like I did/do, you can access the drawer pretty easy and not have to worry about items falling off the side. That's another reason why I opted for a full height side, along with back and front, so taller items wouldn't tip over. Also it provided a lot of strength allowing me to have that third glide and put heavier items in those drawers at times.

btw, nice job on the cabinet!

I'm currently racking my brain on how to deal with the cabinets above my new fridge!!! They do have independent drawers inside, behind the cabinet door (total pain) but the bottom of the door is at 83" and the top is at 104" making them virtually useless.............for now :/ but im on it!!!

Ellessebee, this might come too late to catch you before you build........just finished that myself! Anyway, one thing I did in the bathrooms was to flip the sink basin cabinet upside down and make a drawer out of that false drawer front that's usually at the top of the cabinet. It's come in super handy.

olldcan thanks for the update, the consistent drawer front size is something DH mentioned too, great minds think alike LOL. I'm so proud of DH and the work he and

I had been struggling with figuring out the best way to use the closet that he sits in front of in the salon (it will be a mini office supply) then it dawned on me that we could do a bank of drawers for that too. File drawer on the bottom, scanner in a drawer, printer in a drawer, supplies and binders in drawers. When you are looking forward in the salon you would see both drawer banks so will work out how to make them similar enough so that the size of the drawer fronts blend together. I'm always excited to find that 'just right' solution for utilizing the little space we have. So glad that we were not able to gut and reno the place right off the bat as with time and thought and living aboard we've come up with much better storage, layout ideas than we had at first.

olldcan can you tell me again what you used to store in the over the refrigerator cabinet drawers? I just brought this idea to my cabinet guy to make for me but wasn't sure what I would be storing up that high that would be in a drawer. Thx.