I think it will be okay with the function you want. I did the same sort of thing, with the 15 inch deeper on the right. It would have looked odd, maybe, to have the different drawer depths right next to each other, so I have a cabinet with doors between them, for my vertical storage. Mine are also on a different plane. But I went for function first, and then found a way to make the function also meet form.

I'd make the right the same or close to the left. I would place spices in a completely different location. having two of the bottom drawer on left will be a good thing to do. 30 in width is not so big.....two of those would be a great advantage. spices can look good behind glass.....there are very many spice storage jars/bottles...even beautiful labels.....besides, there is glass with obscurity levels.

I have IKEA and every base cabinet has three drawers. They hold my dishes, bowls, small appliances and baking pans. The top drawer in each cabinet handles my utensils, spices, towels, placemats, etc.

I don't mean to sound contrarian, but I do like the OP's plan for a spice drawer. I have two 36" drawer units flanking my range, and the top drawer (5" opening; ~3-1/2" clearance) is FILLED with spice jars on a Rev-A-Shelf angled storage rack. I love it so much more than having spices in an upper cabinet.

Sorry I can't answer your question about which way to go - IF you prefer visual symmetry - but I'd say function over form. Also consider that you can put small stuff in a deeper drawer but you can't fit bigger stuff in a drawer that's too short. I sized my top drawers to the minimum standard height (5") and my bottom drawers to the height needed to store pans and cutting boards vertically (13" clearance, or ~14-1/2" opening).

One last consideration: I think that regardless of what you choose, it's the top drawer that often looks the most asymmetrical when they're not same height. If you had spices in your left top drawer and cooking utensils, mitts, etc., in your right top drawer, it might make sense to make them both the same height. And then they'd both be slab front drawers rather than framed panels.

People really don't notice asymmetry in cabinets and after a while neither would you. Go for the best function.

Function is always the first thing to consider. I do not like spices stored near a range so would look at a drawer across from the range for them IMO you know better than anyone how you store and use items in the kitchen so what is going to work for you best is the way to go.I too store all my every day dishes, glassware coffee cups in drawers next to my DW I have symmetyry on either side of my range only because that worked best. There is no symmetry in the island at all just good arrangement of drawers to make the whole thing functional.

Thanks all.. the kitchen is an L shaped peninsula - what's shown is the the main part, and then the peninsula will have the sink, dishwasher, and 18 inch wide garbage cabinet with a single drawer above it. There is no good alternative storage location for spices with this setup. There are additional cabinets across the room by the fridge where we will have a coffee nook and our food storage cabinets, but it would drive me nuts not having the spices stored near the stove. I'm not keen on putting the spices in the glass cabinet as I have other bowls and such to put there, and also don't trust that I could manage the spices in a way that looked nice and neat for longer than a day. We got in cabinet lighting which would only accentuate a mess in the top glass front cabinets!

seems like the general consensus is to go with function over form, or if anything, convert the right cabinet to the one with large bottom cabinet, but that does make spice storage a bit more difficult.

Converting the cabinet on the right to match the left means I lose the two tiered drawer within a single drawer panel which I had liked for spices as I have more than will fit in a single 6 inch drawer... so the overflow will go in the next drawer down which is ten inches and a bit tall for spices?

options on sides of hood.

example of no spacing

example of smaller spacing

example of wider spacing

I prefer at least 3" spacing & tiling up

Also note, by having 2 door cabinets, have to reach around door to access when cooking. Can be annoying if spices are stored there.

@HillsideHouse, is that an option to add drawers in the Ikea sektion cabinets? Or did you mean to custom build (not an option for us)

You said in your original post that you were doing drawer-within-a-drawer already, yes? There’s no rule that you have to just put one drawer inside another, you can do as many or as few as you want... that’s the beauty of IKEA.

Your left one has a 5” top drawer, 10” middle, and 15” bottom. You can put two internal drawers in the bottom one, one internal in your middle drawer, and leave the top one alone. You get six shallow drawers.

Your right example has three 10” drawers. With internal drawers in each, it gives you the same six shallow drawers.

Internal storage is the same, outdoor appearance is not.

(Having said that, internal drawers aren’t totally awesome. I have three myself, tucked behind larger fronts to maintain continuity. I would do the same again, but form is important to me.)

I didn't realize Ikea sold separate drawers as the built in drawer within drawer comes as a single unit in the Sektion cabinet.... sorry if I'm not understanding, but what product is the separate drawer you can add?

No, you’re not understanding how it works. The drawer-within-a-drawer is the exact same maximera drawer as the regular one. The glides just install differently, using different hole placement, and then you add a small face to the front. You can place them anywhere within your cabinet.

This is what Hillside House means. This is not an Ikea cabinet, but I added in two Ikea Maximera drawers on my own. If I didn't want space for 2 liter bottles on the bottom, I could have added another 1 or 2

You will just need to order the number of drawers at the correct width and depth that you want.

I built my Ikea Akrum kitchen with a cabinet that has a swing door and wire shelves. I like this setup because I can view the drawers' contents from the sides, not just the top which makes it a lot easier to find (and store) things. My sister's kitchen has deep, wood drawers and it's hard to find stuff because one can only look down into the drawers.

P.S. I don't recommend the shelf for the lids; it should also be a shallow wire drawer.

-- not really a cook with too many pots

My parents redid their kitchen with Ikea Sekiton cabinets a couple years ago and I assembled them all. You actually order all the parts separately from Ikea. The box is one part. Inside of it along the sides are a billion liitle holes where you can mount either shelf brakcets or the glides for drawer and drawers within drawers. The options really are nearly limitless. Ikea shows you a handful of options all together on the website, but when it comes time to order, you (or the Ikea person you're working with) places the order for all the piece you want. Whether you want regular doors, drawer fronts, how many, and then how many interior drawers. For those there are shallow, medium and deep sizes, etc. If you use their ktichen builder you can customize the each cabinet you place if click it after.

Yes you can do drawer-in-drawer with Ikea. I have one for my spices inside my deeper utensil drawer and I love it. Go for that, you won't regret it. If you don't have a plan for your spices yet, get the lowest Ikea drawer-in-drawer and buy the tiny mason jars from Amazon. They stand up perfectly with enough clearance and you can write the name of the spice on the lid. I'll get a photo when I get home if you'd like :-)

Have you measured your pots to see if you really need the 15” high drawer? I have two 36” wide drawer banks that have 5, 5, 10, 10 drawers and my pots fit in the 10” high drawers.

15” is good for storing fry pans on end vertically in a rack and can accommodate a 12” pan and lid, for instance.

Function is most important. That being said, I wouldn’t want glass door uppers flanking a range and presumably a range hood. We use a pair of these Ucopia spice organizers (30 each) that pull out and angle down. Come with preprinted and blank labels.

Another vote for function first, but note that IKEA has hidden drawers within drawers. So you could conceivably have the look of large drawers, with multiple drawers inside.

Here's my in-progress kitchen:

This is my drawer in drawer utensil drawer with spices. It is on the end of my island, across the aisle from my range.

thanks everyone! I spoke to Ikea. We are going to exchange two of the ten inch high drawers for the base cabinet to the right of the range for a 5 and 15 inch draw to match the left cabinet. We are going to keep the hidden drawer to install in the middle 10 inch drawer for extra spice storage. I didn't realize we could do this, and yes, it works out that we end up with both function and symmetry!

also rethought where I will store other things.. I will move Tupperware to s different spot, kitchen towels to the drawer over the garbage by the sink, and use the extra 15 inch drawer for some other stuff including bulky small applicances such as my slow cooker,. etc.

That is the one thing I don't like about Ikea, the drawer within drawer. I don't think having to open 2 drawers checks my requirements for "function". Symmetry wasn't as important as function, so my 30" drawer stacks on either side of my range are different. One is a 3-drawer and the other a 4-drawer. Also with an island blocking part of the view, the symmetry aspect becomes a bit irrelevant. I do have symmetry with the 30" upper cabinets on either side of the hood.

Update on this: Workers tried to install a five inch hidden drawer in the middle ten inch drawer of a set with too five inch drawer middle ten inch, bottom 15 inch. It doesn't work, is blocked by the five inch drawer face. Not sure yet if it really is possible as it doesn't look like it from what he showed me? He is going to move it down to the 15 inch drawer.

That doesn't make sense -- if the 5 inch drawer is going within the 10 inch drawer space, it shouldn't be blocked by any other drawer face, because it will be within the "footprint" of the 10 drawer face. . Unless the wrong front is on the inner drawer, perhaps?

Was the interior drawer face installed upside down?

print Out the plans by cabinet and give them to your workers. They need to use the ikea part numbers exactly and everything will fit.

The maximera drawers come in different heights: low, medium and high so you can adjust to the spacing you need within the main drawers and consistent with how you are going to use the drawers. https://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/usearch/?query=maximera%20drawer

Did they install it in the correct spot? Honestly, it works. Your installer has messed up.

not sure, the main drawers are all installed correctly. it works properly in the 15 inch cabinet which is where it ended up and is now storing pot lids instead of spices as I intended. I could still use an extra hidden drawer in the ten inch middle drawer though so we might try another one on our own.

I don't think it was the wrong size, it was the hidden drawer that arrives by default for the top drawer in the ten-ten-ten inch drawer base cabinet. Only difference was we switched to a 5-10-15 inch cabinet and used that hidden drawer in the middle ten inch drawer.

Well, you would be able to install one in the 10" space in about 15 minutes. It is truly that easy So it will work out for you.