I love the drawers in my lower cabinets. A lot of people like to store dishes in drawers next to the dishwasher for easy unloading. Think about how you move in your kitchen, workflow, and what makes most sense to you. Do you have back issues? Bending over might not work for you.

If you put dishes in drawers, you won't need the pegs, and shouldn't get them for the drawers. The pegs are more of a PITA than a help with storage and organization. Line the drawers with a liner like Cushy Cupboards. The liner plus the weight of the dishes will keep the dishes in place.

Haha, I sure did, damiarain! We don't have any back problems so that's luckily not a concern. One thing the contractor said was that we would also be more likely to get help unloading the dishes since we have a 7 & 4 year old ;-) But the kitchen design is very different from what it is currently so I'm not sure how I'm going to be moving around in it yet. I think I'll have to set a date to get in touch with my imagination & figure out the flow & the placement! And thanks for the Cushy Cupboards idea, I'll add that to my list!

I am remodeling with drawers in lowers for storage in lieu of cabinets with doors and pullouts.

Because my kitchen is relatively small, I also have uppers and so I will probably be storing stuff in uppers as well as lowers.

I had my cabinets done custom by a local cabinet maker so I could theoretically have had any kind of storage built into the drawers but I have opted for the most part to get internal storage accessories on the aftermarket as I see how I actually wind up using them. I did opt for built in knife storage in a drawer as well as a drawer that is lined with tarnish resistant cloth for the silver so I can take it out of the box and actually start using it. :-).

I LOVE my drawers. I can get more in them and they are easier to use. I have my dishes in my drawers and my glasses in an upper cabinet. However my outdoor plastic glasses are also in a drawer.

I have all drawers for lower cabinets except for my 2 sink bases and a super susan. All dishes are stored in drawers next to dishwasher. Glasses are in upper cabinets above dish drawers. Love it and wouldn't have it any other way. I find they stay more organized then regular cabinets.

I wouldn't trade my drawers!!!!

Jillian, it sounds like you have a great designer! We see a lot of kitchen plans here from designers that use hardly any drawers.

I don't have as many drawers as I would like - only because my kitchen isn't very big. I have one that stores cake and pie pans on their sides, with vertical dividers - no stacking! Another has canisters of sugar, flour, rice, oats, pasta, etc. One has pots and pans; another has all my storage containers (Tupperware and Pyrex).

The most important thing you can do during this process is figure out where everything is going to go. Since you are starting from scratch, think in terms of where things are used - not where you kept them in the old kitchen. Near the stove you need pots and pans, cooking utensils, potholders, spices. Near the prep sink you need knives, colanders, and cutting boards. Assign a place for small appliances, cake pans, cookie sheets, dish towels, bags and wraps. And of course plates, bowls, cups, glasses, flatware, serving dishes.

If you don't have a pantry (maybe even if you do), you need a place for food.

Good luck with your kitchen project!

Thanks to everyone for your input! I would respond directly to each of your great messages but I've got to get back to packing up our house to move out in 2 weeks to start the remodel! I appreciate all of you taking the time to respond!

Cupboards for uppers, drawers for lowers. My plates and glasses are in my uppers, my pots, pans, colanders, etc are in the lower drawers.

I personally am not a fan of the current all drawers mania. I have seen so many that look so disorganized. I have mostly cupboards with pullouts for lowers...

I don't want you to think I'm taking you to task, but pull outs are just a somewhat less efficient opening/closing of drawers. They're drawers behind doors. You have the same potential for "disorganization" as one who doesn't put them behind cabinet doors.

OP, I'm in the middle of a reno and am so excited for all of my drawers! Cabinets are okay if what you want is in front. Most of us need to use the full depth available and that means deep bends, squats, on getting on the floor to dig items out from the back. Why do that when you can pull everything toward you in one motion?

I have glasses in uppers and plates, bowls, mugs, and just about everything else in drawers. Notwithstanding the fact that I spent a couple years researching the kitchen reno, my DH has taken the credit for coming up with that idea. :)

ETA: None of my items in drawers need any help staying in place..... no pegs, no liners, and because they are so much easier to access than cupboards, it's a lot easier to keep everything neat and organized.

I do prefer my large drawers for lower storage compared to traditional cabinets on the lowers, even though I still have some traditional cabinets. (My hubby designed and built all of our kitchen cabinetry) however, I do still have four large upper cabinet doors, and I still store most of my plates, cereal bowls, glasses, and mugs in my upper cabinets. I keep most of my mixing bowls, platters, and many other odds and ends in my drawers. I did have a little problem with stuff sliding around... my drawers are really large, more like the size of a dresser... but we got some cork to lay down on the bottom of the drawers and that solved the issue completely. (It also made it quieter) I only asked my hubby to build drawer dividers for two of my drawers... one for my cooking utensils, and the other for my cutlery. Here’s a photo of my cutlery drawer before we decided to line the bottom with cork. (Oh, I also have very deep drawers, they look like doors, but pull out like drawers, and they store my skillets and the other one stores cutting boards and baking sheets... he built dividers for those drawers too. Here’s a photo of my skillet drawer) I also included a photo of one of my large drawers that doesn’t have dividers. I don’t have it organized exactly the same way anymore, hubby decided he didn’t like pulling the toaster in and out all the time, so it mostly lives on my counter after all.

We just finished up our new build and I have both drawers and doors with rollouts. I have mixed feelings about both options. I do NOT like dishes in drawers. I actually could not fit a set of oversized plates in my upper cabinets and so had to put them in a drawer. Don’t like it at all. The plates don’t slide when closing the drawer (I have them on a rubber liner), but they do rattle which really bothers me. And even with the soft close glides, you still have to be careful not to slam the drawer closed. Same thing with pots in drawers....rattling. So I much prefer my plates and dishes housed in my upper cabinets on solid stationary shelving. I also don’t like the feeling of pulling open a super heavy drawer laden with lots of glass items.

Now, on the other hand, I have some other things on rollouts that make zero sense (kcups, plasticware). It’s ridiculous to have to open cabinet doors and then pull out the rollouts to access my kcups or plasticware....a simple drawer in that case would have worked much better.

I don’t necessarily think the blanket recommendation to have ALL drawers is the best advice, nor will that setup work well for everyone...BUT, I do wish I had a few more drawers (but not ALL drawers).

I think if I would have given more thought to EXAXTLY what items need to be in drawers, on solid shelving, or on rollouts, my kitchen could be better functionally. But honestly, my brain was so fried at that point (from making so many decisions) that I just went with what took the least amount of mental energy :)

If you get drawers for the bottom cabinets and you will be putting heavy items (such as dishes) in them, make sure you get heavy duty glides.

Having the same question and appreciate the discussion. I am wondering about the weight capacity of the drawers when putting all the dishes in and if this is something specific to look for or specify in the cabinet drawer. Are there minimum recommendations?

Yes. You need to discuss this with your cabinet maker or kitchen designer. There is a range of weight limits, which includes the weight of the drawer. Once you decide on what goes where, the heavy-duty slides are used where needed.

Thanks Alex, makes sense.

All drawers....LOVE them; and I was skeptical but took other GWers’advice.

My hubby used some heavy duty Blum drawer glides with soft close. They’re great, I could load any of my drawers much heavier than what I actually do.

I have all drawers in my lower cabs and love them. Ikea cabinets with Ikea organizers. No pegs for the dishes, just Ikea's cushioned drawer liner.

We moved into the new house in June and one of my favorite things is the dish drawer right next to the dishwasher, with the mugs and drinking glasses in the upper cab above; unloading the dishwasher is a delight, and I even mentioned that to my husband the other day. He looked at me as if I'd lost my mind, but that's okay : ) .

We finished our remodel in July and have all lower drawers except the trash and trey pull out. LOVE THEM! I wouldn’t trade them for anything! We have a mix of sizes, two large 3 drawer stacks for pots and pans, baking dishes, pot holders and towels and utensils. I don’t have any issue with clanging when opening or closing. My pots are stored individually with lids on each pot which is SO MUCH BETTER than having them stacked in a pullout! With lids seperate. Skillets are stacked but still much better than in a pullout where they kept getting stuck on the sides! We have one large 2 drawer for taller things (top of it is drawer in a drawer because I don’t have that many tall things). And we have two 4 drawer stacks (lI’ve them!). One holds all our everyday dishes, bowls, ramikins, silverware and serving dishes and the other has a charging drawer in the top, then a drawer with sandwich bags, aluminum foil, wax paper, etc, then a drawer with dog and cat bowls and some spare items, bottom drawer more baking dishes. We have uppers that hold glasses and mugs, spices, oils, flour, sugar, etc.

Your contractor is right, having dishes in drawers makes it much easier for smaller kids to help. My 10 year old never could do more than the silverware before and now he can empty most the dishes. Our dish drawer is directly across from the dishwasher sonit is very handy.

As many drawers as your kitchen layout will allow!

One thing I have to add is that I have all inset cabinetry and lifting out heavy pots and pans from a full height drawer has the real potential of damaging the edges of the cabinet frames (and any damage will be visible because they are inset....this is not a problem though with overlay cabinets...a little dent on the frame edge would be covered by the drawer front). On a normal rollout, the front end of the rollout would typically be lower than a drawer front so you wouldn’t have to lift a pot all the way up and then out (like you would with a drawer).

I have five upper cabinets, and three of them are empty. One is vertical storage for cookie sheets, and one is in my pantry cupboard with backup crackers, etc. And it’s only half-full, to be honest.

I have 30 drawers, and 3-4 of them are still empty, too. The drawers just hold so. damn. much.

Drawers all the way.

jillian, this might be helpful for you,

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5500787/faq-how-do-i-plan-for-storage

and also these,

How do I prepare for demolition and remodeling?

• https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/2561931/any-tips-for-preparing-for-demolition-survival

How do I set up a temporary kitchen?

• https://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2685147/tips-for-temporary-kitchen-set-up
• https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/2704838/did-your-kitchen-installer-plumb-in-a-temporary-sink-for-you
• https://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2433816/makeshift-kitchen-what-did-you-do
• https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/2662707/temporary-kitchen-set-up

They're all part of the

New to Kitchens? Read me first! Kitchen forum FAQs

I have all bottom drawers and love them for cookware, small appliances and utensils. For my configuration, I keep dishes and glasses in the cabinets above my dishwasher. I stand on one side of the dishwasher to put dishes away and on the other side to put glassware away. I chose to not customize the drawers because I know that over time my needs and content change, as has happened already. The one thing I wish I’d done was to set aside a lower area to keep sheet pans and such completely upright. I’ve rigged a system in a drawer that works without having to maneuver, but isn’t ideal.

I think that the drawers are very nice. But, there is only so much space in any kitchen layout where drawers can be. This seems to be placing so much of the kitchen equipment on the one lower plane.

Using drawers also is best when there is not a lot of excess stuff. I could easily imagine a small stack of dishes in a drawer, but not service for a large family. I could imagine it would get rather old having to lug open a large and heavy drawer too frequently, no matter the quality and weight bearing of the drawer hangers. It seems that a number of shallow drawers would be preferable to heavy deep ones.

I like the drawers.

I wish that I had not put such a traditional arrangement in my kitchen when I put in new cabinets years ago. It was a different time then, and I had not evolved in my concepts. Also, I did what was more readily available.

I dont much care for that corner drawer arrangement. Corner spaces are fraught with logistical problems, but that looks really awkward.

i have some sliding shelfs in my lower cabinets that are like drawers. I do find that things do slide around, a lot. Since mine are shelfs and not drawers, they are open on the back. I find that things will go tumbling off the back of the shelf and land on the shelf underneath. There is a small lip, but no back side like a drawer has.

I have a pantry cabinet like artistsharonva shows in picture 6 and I suggest pullouts the whole way up. Not having pullouts up high is a regret because now I have to reach in to retrieve things and I still need a step stool. Pullouts would be easier.

I think all drawers is way more accessible than wall cabinets, you do have to get drawer dividers and inserts depending on the storage needs. the one think I would prefer to have in a wall cabinet is glassware, the movement of drawers may be a problem there, unless you have a device that keeps the glassware from moving. Ideally a shallow pantry is best for glassware or you can even do a floating shelf or small wall cabinets 54 to 60" above the floor.

best of luck

I agree that what you are going to store dictates what you need. You need to measure your stuff and get drawer dimensions. Tall things can be placed in a 2 drawer stack, but you have to know how tall your stuff is and how tall the drawer is. We have about an 8 person place setting of dishes that includes 3 different size plates, 2 different size bowls, ramekins and serving pieces, along with silverware in the top drawer, in a 27” 4 drawer stack. The key for me was that the shallower drawers allowed me to not have to stack small plates on large, etc. If I needed more space for more dishes for a larger family I personally would go for a bigger drawer before putting the dishes back in an upper because they are SO much more acccesssable in a drawer. Of course it all depends on how much room you have. We were lucky in our remodel that we had room to expand the kitchen, so we have a lot of storage. In the old kitchen we barely had room for pots and pans in lowers, let alone anything else.

One thing I will say is I had a tray cabinet like the below for 10 years and hated it with a passion! We now have a pullout and it is so much better!

Our every day service for 16 (bone china) is able to fit into a single drawer with heavy duty glides right next to the DW - six different sizes of plates and bowls. These would have taken up at least two shelves. Glasses are in the cabinet above. Not being able to reach above the second shelf, I find the drawer to be much easier.

I also recommend hidden drawers which provide two levels within one drawer front to store like items. Pic below of Corning Ware and six Pyrex dishes in the hidden drawer. Definitely stores a lot in a small footprint. The others are used for dish towels and aprons, holiday and picnic paper and plastic (drawer below our everyday dishes) and oven racks and broiler pans. If you are not absolutely certain of your storage needs, the hidden drawer provides versatility as it is easily removable so you can use the full height of the drawer.

LOVE drawers for the lower level cabinets. Still use upper cabinets for glassware but plates, bowls etc all go in drawers. Even with pullouts, you have to open the doors fully. Get nice deep pan drawers with heavy-duty, full extension hardware. That said, I do have hanging storage for some of my pans and a wooden rack in an upper cabinet to hold my large collection of stoneware pans. Figure out what YOU have. When my kids were little, I loved having plates and bowls in the drawers so they could help set the table more easily.

I like these discussions and am following.
With our new build, I have all lower drawers, except in the island I kept a cabinet across from the sink and on both sides of stove area I put slimmer roll-outs.

Not necessarily a drawers comment, but in planning think about where you will keep the garbage and recycling (and pet stuff if that pertains). We need tall cans and the designer of our kitchen (previous owners) ended up having to keep them in the separate pantry.

Kim M good point. there has to be one cabinet at least dedicated to waste bin pull outs. you will need 3 waste bins 1 metal one paper and the other regular trash.

with lids and for this you need a regular or full door cabinet

Becky Sharp, did Sophie go away?

Renov8or, hopefully both of these posts (one and two) are still available.

Apparently her account was suspended for reporting spam in the Hot Topics forum.

Probably the one thing upon which this board universally agrees: Drawers are superior to traditional cabinets.

Having said that, I strongly suggest you take time to take stock of what you need to store in your new cabinets, and then lay out where you're going to store it all. I am not going 100% drawers -- a few things make more sense in cabinets. But I know I'm making the right choice because I've "done the homework".

Related thoughts:

- Spend a little extra on your drawers and get super-heavy-duty hardware, especially if -- like me -- you lean towards heavy dishes. Especially if you're going with wider drawers, which will end up holding more. You're going to open /close these things over and over, and it's cheaper to do it right the first time rather than to replace it later.

- Keep in mind that a traditional pantry closet is exponentially cheaper than cabinets -- even before you consider expensive countertops. A well-organized pantry is a joy to use because you can see everything -- floor to ceiling -- in one fell swoop.

"you have to know how tall your stuff is and how tall the drawer is."

Actually, you have to know how much vertical space is INSIDE the drawer.

I've been frustrated by some of the drawers I have because I lose a lot of interior space; the drawer doesn't go as far down in the cabinet as it good (bottom drawer slides take up space; plus they all seem to be designed with an inch or more of clearance!).

So look into that idea as well, if you have something you'd really like to store in a drawer.

“Actually, you have to know how much vertical space is INSIDE the drawer.”

That is what I meant. How much splace you have from drawer bottom to top of the stile or frame whatever it is called. Thank you for clarifying.

Tallyley - “I've been frustrated by some of the drawers I have because I lose a lot of interior space; the drawer doesn't go as far down in the cabinet as it good (bottom drawer slides take up space; plus they all seem to be designed with an inch or more of clearance!).” - This surprises me. I agree you lose space with drawers over plain open cabinets, but I think the drawers have more usable space than cabinets with pullouts. The pullouts have the glides and they have a clearance on each side for the pull out as well.

Deep drawers for pots and pans is one of the best things that ever happened to me.....at least in the kitchen!

should you change your mind about the drawers for pots, here's another possibility

Tallyley - “I've been frustrated by some of the drawers I have because I lose a lot of interior space; the drawer doesn't go as far down in the cabinet as it good (bottom drawer slides take up space; plus they all seem to be designed with an inch or more of clearance!).” - This surprises me. I agree you lose space with drawers over plain open cabinets, but I think the drawers have more usable space than cabinets with pullouts. The pullouts have the glides and they have a clearance on each side for the pull out as well.

Oh, I agree! I just get greedy for that extra one-inch depth. And I have one place where even a half-inch back to the inside of the drawer would make a big difference in being able to store the ONE thing I want to put the (the skillet-sauté pan lid).

One other thought--not just heavy-duty slides, but FULL EXTENSION.

I think they are mostly a default in a "lower drawers" installation, but you definitely need to be sure.

Thanks again to everyone for their comments and photos! I'm feeling much more prepared to design our kitchen now!

I have a kitchen with 4 walls, no open concept. I have uppers on 3 or the 4 walls - huge bay window and back door are on the 4th wall.

I have a LOT of cookware. I have a pot rack for my most used pots/pans. I ADORE my drawers, but I would never have enough room in this 11x15 foot kitchen with three doors and one big window, to put my dishes/glassware in the bottoms drawers. I have one wall of glass-doored full-inset cabinets and that's where 2 different sets of dishes live, plus all my good crystal. The everyday glassware is in a shallow cabinet at right angle to the window wall - very easy to removed glasses from the DW and put them away. Yes, I do have to walk to put my dishes away, but dishes stack and that means only 2-3 trips to get them all there - I only run my DW once a week as I live alone, so it is always full when I run it.

I would never give up my drawers! I did opt to have European cabinets for the lowers - wanted a sleek, clean look and more "real-estate". No worry about nicks that way, either. I like the combination - I'm just not a matchy-matchy girl in any way.

I just have a LOT of stuff and you have no idea how much went to Goodwill and how much is in the garage cabinets (the ones that were original to the house) that I'm saving for DGS's first apt. Lots of duplicates from my mother's and our Maine apt when my husband was teaching up there.

Drawers all the way. There’s a post out there somewhere about me squeezing 60 drawers into my kitchen.

I planned out the height and customized the drawers to fit. As a result I got 5-6 useful drawers per cabinet.

Hardware is important. I have four different types of glides in the kitchen based on weight. You have to take into account the drawer weight as well.