I'd skip the 4.5 top drawer in the 36 in wide cabinet.....my mom's similar 36-42 in pot and pan drawers are nice for the big stuff, but I don't personally like to open a 36 in wide drawer when you're after a trivet/book of matches/napkin/etc. The next biggest drawer width is 30 in...I would have at least 2 bottom drawers as deeper ones.... maybe then one shallow drawer at top......30 in is plenty wide-with dividers in the shallow drawer a lot will go in so don't worry about omitting this drawer from your 36 in stack.Then that leaves two 18 in stacks-do one of them at 3 drawers and the other at 4 drawers. Maybe others will chime in for various experiences with drawers.

herbflavor, I'll have a 34" three-drawer stack in my new kitchen. The top drawer will be split into two 16"-wide drawers. One will be utensils, next to the stove; the other will be a junk drawer. I'm with you - I didn't want to open a 34"-drawer to get a wooden spoon or screwdriver.

Deedles, is it a lazy susan (with a center pole) or a super susan (with shelves supporting the turntables)?

As for your 4-drawer stacks - the best way to decide sizes is to measure what will be going where. I know it's a bit of a shot in the dark, especially if you are making major changes from your current layout - you just don't know what will work best where. But you do know how big a roll of waxed paper is - and it doesn't need a deep drawer. Towels and plastic ware can go deeper; think about what else will go in the drawer with the hand mixer, and plan depth accordingly.

My son thought I was over the top when I listed out what I planned to put in each cabinet and drawer, but I'm glad I did! Good luck with your planning.

Well, the 36" is a set size cabinet. Maybe I should split the top drawers into 2? Herbflavor, I'm not sure I'm getting what you are meaning. Are you saying only 2 big giant drawers in the 36"?

annkh: I'm getting a lazy susan with the center pole and where the doors swing around with the susan. I had one once and liked it fine. I've measured the big stuff but the 2-18's are for the smaller stuff that I outlined above. I just don't want to cut myself short or waste height.

I wouldn't do two giant drawers in a 36" stack. What could then wind up happening is that because of the depth, you stack stuff and then you are having to pick things up to get to the one thing you want at the bottom. Splitting the top one into 2- 18" wide drawers might be a good solution.

My widest drawers are 30" and the top one in each stack is 5" deep and both have cutlery. Occasionally when I want to open it someone will have to move for me and they have to really move out of the way. But I have to admit I love that width for my cutlery. One has all the baking/prep cutlery and the other one as the eating/salad tongs/ cutlery.

Just a suggestion but I would make all the top drawers the same height just for symmetry and because that height really is useful.

My 4-drawer stack has the top 3 drawers all the same height (interior height is 5") and the bottom is 11" interior. I have in them corkscrews/barbecue stuff, then lunch bags, the water bottles and then food wrap in the lower one. All my saran wrap, tin foil, freezer bags etc all in one spot.

blfenton: I think splitting the top drawer may be a good idea. I was just having trouble following Herbflavors train of thought. I like your 5-5-5-11 set-up. That might be good for one of my 18's.... or maybe 5-5-7-9.

You know, I've lived on this forum for TWO YEARS and so how is it that I haven't gotten this part figured out yet? Duh!

is this custom?......with only one drawer stack at 36 in wide-I would at least get the bottom drawer as deep as you think you would go-there are many things I myself would want that capacity for with only one stack at 36 in.....but we do bulk and Tupperware containers full of pasta/stacks of odd sized serving bowls where they just don't line up so you need depth and width.....I don't really have the heavy weight to my cookware/serving pieces that lifting might make difficult.....much more of an issue with odd sizes so depth and width in at least the one drawer is how I'd mock it up....at least graduated depths so the bottom is the deeper-remember this is one stack only-the next drawer stack is 30 in wide-and you have 2 of those. It just depends on what goes on in your kitchen/etc.

herbflavor, your bulk drawer sounds just like the one I'm going to have. I measured my containers, and had the cabinetmaker size the bottom drawer accordingly (in a 3-stack). The top drawer is 4-1/2", to match the rest, and the middle will be whatever is left over.

That's on one side of the range, so I matched those heights on the other side.

Deedles, the interior heights on my 4-stack are (top to bottom) 4.5", 5.5", 6.5", 8.5". It's next to the sink, perpendicular to the range. My plans are 1) potholders/trivets, 2) wraps and bags, 3) towels and dish cloths, 4) I don't know - I've never had this many drawers! I am getting increasingly anxious to start putting things away!

yes, these are custom so I can get any fraction of an inch drawer that I want. The 36" will be holding my pots and pans and cast iron stuff with the small top drawer for the spatulas and cooking utensils. The toekick drawer in that one will be for my huge cast iron frying pan and a larger lid, etc.

I'll have one 30" and 2 18".

I was thinking (hoping) I wouldn't have to futz around with measuring this small stuff but maybe I do have to....

First - congrats for being to the ordering stage!!! How exciting.

I'm in the same area of planning things out now - figuring out how deep each drawer should be. And should the wide drawer stacks have one long drawer or two smaller ones? It's daunting really.

In looking at a rendering, we definitely liked all of our top drawers being the same height, so if you are thinking of varying the top drawer height, keep in mind that is where your eye notices the difference in drawer heights the most. (we're going with slab cabinetry, so the lines REALLY stick out, maybe they wouldn't as much with a different door style)

In measuring some of my stuff, I was surprised to find out that I didn't need drawers to be as deep as I was originally imagining. But, that's because I'm not planning on stacking a lot of things inside of one another in the drawers...so mostly shallower drawers were needed. I wound up deciding on a deep drawer for my towels, dish clothes, etc...I had been thinking of a shallow drawer before for them, but decided that those can stack (and probably should) up and not be an issue.

I have a lot of kitchen gadgets (a few sets of measuring spoons, a lot of turners, graters, microplanes, etc., and I hate that they are all crammed in a few deep in the narrow, shallow drawers that we have...so, with more shallow drawers, this should change so that they are spread out more and I'll be able to find what I want without rummaging. Truth be told, I probably need to get rid of some of my older stuff - some is from my "poor college student days", others are duplicates from when living in two different places and then finally getting to one...so, things will be going to Goodwill as I pack up the old kitchen...and I plan on having a box at the ready when I'm placing things in the new kitchen.

I think that we are keeping our wide top drawers (33" and 36") as single drawers rather than dividing them up. I'm in a one-cook kitchen, so it's not highly likely that there will be much "move over" requests to get into a drawer. And I didn't like the idea of losing the storage inches of having smaller drawers particularly since we plan on having dividers in the drawers...this began to really eat into the usable space. So, that's something to consider as well.

Sorry I don't have any good answers, but here's something else to consider. Someone had the toe kick integrated into the bottom drawer, so it was like one deep drawer, but with a notch in the front for the tie kick. You could consider that too, which could give you the look of three drawers slightly deeper than the top drawer, but the functionality of a deep drawer too!

I had fixed choices of one shallow/two deep or 3 equal shallow/1 deep in my stacks. I do find that the shallow depth offered (standard, not custom) is just a hair too shallow for some of my gadgets. I love my shallow drawers, but one or two with an extra inch or two would be great. I love not having to dig through stuff.

Either I haven't had enough sleep, enough caffeine, or I'm more of a visual person that I realized...but can I have a picture to go with that cabinet description??? :)

Oh sure, Lav. Here you go. I think I'm getting closer with the drawer sizes now. Think I'll keep the full 36"w upper drawer: as Andreak100 noted, I also have a one cook kitchen and I hate to lose the extra inches.

Talked to the cab guy. I have 22" of drawer space height to divvy up below the top 5" drawer. So. This is how far I've gotten. Ignore the various finishes on the surfaces, that's all TBD (although I'm pretty close!) If you click the image, it'll take you to my photobucket, then click the + magnifier and it'll get bigger. Sorry, I can't ever seem to resize images.

LL, if that's directed to me, here it is...

Deedles- I'm sorry, this isn't my area of expertise, but you seem to know what you want...and it looks good to me!

My only question...on the fridge/pantry wall, is there any way to add a pull-out cutting board or shelf, so you can set things down, as you're getting them from the fridge? You may not need it, but it seems to fit the style of your kitchen.

BTW- I love your range and window pictures...the details are incredible and your kitchen is going to be beautiful :)

William- Nice idea with the toe kick!

Thanks Lavender for the kind words. I'll have a table in front of the pantry area so that'll give me a spot for setting down if I need it. The sink cabs are right across from the fridge so just a step that way, too.