I have an 18" stack, and it's not all that big. I definitely wouldn't

go 15".

What you need to do is lay out the items you want to go in each drawer, and measure. Remember that the drawer and hardware take up space, so a 33" stack does not give you 33? usable space. Your cabinet maker can tell you how much to allow for sides and glides.

Try arranging your current pots and pans on a counter top or table and see how wide of a drawer you need depending on the sizes of your cookware.

I've got a 36" pot and pan drawer unit and for my particular pots and pans I could have definitely gone up to 6" narrower. That's with a double set of pots and extra pans I inherited from my mom when she moved. But I should mention I'm really type A in the way I get everything to fit in there. So if you like to just toss things in, maybe you'd like the extra room and not have to be very particular about stacking things precisely.

As for the other cabinet, see what you've got right now in your kitchen and see how you would like (or not like) a door that corresponds to the 15" or 18" cabinet. I've got an 18" base cabinet on the other side of my stove (which buts up to a blind base with another 18" door) and I find that even with the 18" I'm forced to take half the cabinet stuff out in order to reach anything beyond the front 6". I couldn't imagine having something 3" narrower.

Now if you're going to make the 15"/18" cabinet a drawer cabinet, don't forget that the usable width will be less than a door cabinet because of the drawer sides. I used to have a 15" wide 4 drawer cabinet (all equal height) that I used for my cooking utensils next to the stove. It was nice to have 4 drawers because it allowed me to organize things by type a little more than 3 drawers would. But at the same time I found it wasn't enough room to store everything because it was so narrow. And I had a hard time finding organizing units to fit inside the drawers because they were just slightly too narrow for most.

I've got an 18" base cabinet with 2 roll out drawers inside. Originally I wanted to store my Rubbermaid type containers (actually Lock & Lock) in there but it wouldn't work because it was juuuust too narrow to fit more than one stacked set side by side.

I'd suggest doing the same thing with your appliances as with your pots and pans - lay them out on a counter and play around with how much room you would have and how you would store them. Would you have enough room to fit more than one item in each drawer? Will the drawers be tall enough? Etc. Take into account the actual size of usable space and not just the outer box dimensions. If there are items you don't own yet but think you'll own in the future, you can usually find dimensions online.

We went with deeper drawers than normal for our island, 23 vs 20 with a 27 vs 24 inch base cabinet.

What small appliances??

I doubt that I would go smaller than 36" for my pots n pans. Don't think I would give up the space for small appliances.

My drawers are 35-1/2". The only drawer stack that isn't 35-1/2" wide is 18" and I think 15" would be much less useful (I had a 12" drawer in my previous home that was useless)

If you are planning to store pots or lids on their sides, be sure that the internal height of your bottom drawer fits your largest pan or lid that you plan to store there. The internal height can be quite different from the drawer front height.

all but my largest pots and lids are in the equivalent of middle and lower drawers of a 30 inch wide cabinet. I had to pare down pots since I switched to induction but now use almost everything I have and don't miss anything. The largest pots are in the lazy susan cabinet next door.

I've had both 33" and 36" pot drawers that worked well for me. Different pots and pans though, so it's true that you really do need to look at what you have and how you will store it. My mother had a 15" cabinet beside her stove (with pullouts) that worked really well for her saucepans. I'm suddenly rethinking my pot drawers. :)

I realize this is an old thread, but hope that someone will respond. Our kitchen designer had designed our 48" island with 2 banks of drawers: 30" and 18". Cabinets were just delivered and for some reason they were changed to: 33" and 15". Should we have them redone? Most posters say 15" is not great, but may be manageable. Will the extra 3" in the larger bank be useful?

@CES DAC, start your own thread with this question, versus posting on various old threads... many people won't click on a re-animated thread from 2016.