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advice/critique cabinet and drawer sizes and organization

6 years ago

Posting concept images from our designer in this post and my layout in the comments
I have taken inventory and measured my kitchen items and have researched extensively. There are a few things I’m unsure about.

  1. I have my deep drawers at 12” deep but most items would be fine with 10”. Drinking glasses especially...12” seems overkill. But I’m not sure how else to arrange it.
  2. I have three drawer stacks on the long side of the island opposite the sink wall. I’m not sure with what drawer length (especially interior) I will end up until I talk to the cabinet maker. I’m hoping these won’t be too small.
  3. The short side of the island opposite the range:
    a. someone pointed out that I may want more distance between the sink wall and the island as right now it is 42” from cabinet to cabinet and that means it will be shorter from counter to counter. I could shorten the island and lose a bit of my giant pot drawer.
    b. I’m not sure what to put next to the steam oven. The only items that I’m not sure how to store are my sheet pans and roasting pans which would need 15” if stored vertically. I could potentially make room for those in that spot.
  4. I haven’t decided what to do in the corner but I could also extend the 36” drawers next to the range and not do anything with the corner.
  5. This seems silly but where do I store my oven mitts?? Up until now it always drove me crazy that I never had a good place to store them and easily grab them when needed. I don’t want to end up with that same problem after all of this.

Please, have at it!

Comments (28)

  • 6 years ago

    A. Long side of island opposite fridge and sink wall
    B. Range wall
    C. Short end of island opposite range wall
    D. Cabinet run between fridge and sink

  • 6 years ago

    If you are putting money into designing your kitchen, it would be wise to spend $2k to $4k, depending on where you live and hire a kitchen designer. Don’t think you are saving money by not bringing a professional in to help you.

  • 6 years ago

    Linda, we have used multiple kitchen designers on this project. Trust me, no money has been saved on this.

  • 6 years ago

    Do you have additional space for glasses, dishes and cutlery? Are you a minimalist in terms of those things? Looking at my kitchen (not large), those things take up far more space. It looks like you're good for pots, pans, and cooking utensils.

  • 6 years ago

    Latifolia, I have additional space in the walk in pantry that I will probably have some additional dishes/glasses/cutlery.
    I think we have a set of 12 right now? We basically use dinner plates, small plates, and bowls. I don’t really let dirty dishes pile up much.

  • 6 years ago

    Felizlady, thanks. What would the heights of the 4 drawers be? I’m unsure how to get the right amount of storage with 4.

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    The deep drawer across from the range could be used as a chef's drawer for oils, vinegars, cooking sprays, salts, peppers, cooking wines, sesame seeds, etc.

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  • 6 years ago

    Wilson, I like that but I was going to put that stuff in one of the 6” rollouts
    next to the range.

    After spending more time with my kitchen items and a tape measure, I think I’m going to change the three stacks on the long end of the island to 30”, 24”, 30”

    I just remembered I was also going to put a drawer for a knife block on the short end of the island.
    Still stuck on where to store the baking and roasting pans that are super wide.

  • 6 years ago



    The top picture is of inside my pan drawer. I have racks to hold them on their side. The next shows it when closed. The middle drawer is smaller and still large enough to hold multiple large/small casserole type dishes and a Costco foil roll. You could change your first bank of drawers on A to do the same. 12" will not be tall enough to hold them vertically.

    I keep my hot pads in the drawer you have marked as keys. You could put them further down that bank.

    As for my large roasting pans I keep them upside down in the area between the top of the pantry shelves and the ceiling.


  • 6 years ago

    You're going through the correct process; remember to consider future resale as well. That was something my kitchen designer and I discussed. For example, I don't like or use a microwave or garbage disposal, but we figured out, in advance, how they could be added.


    I have three sets of china plus four dessert sets, four demitasse sets, four coffee sets, three soup sets and tureens, several dozen coffee cups and saucers, a couple dozen platters and a lot of serving dishes. (My husband thinks this is normal, because his mother had a LOT more stuff - LOL!). I also have a lot of glasses.


    My brother is a dedicated bread baker, and has a pantry cabinet full of bread baking supplies.


    My point: design your kitchen for your needs, but such that someone with different needs could see how they could use the space, too.

  • 6 years ago

    Aziline, how deep is that drawer?
    And I’m doing inset so I’m going to lose inches. I might need to store them above my refrigerator even though it’s not very convenient. But not the end of the world. Still a world of a difference from the stack of pans in cabinets that I have to deal with now.
    Latifolia, we do have some sets of china we use for holidays but we also have lots of space for storage in other parts of the house for seldom used items.
    We also have a little kitchenette in the basement (we used our old cabinets and range) to have a useable kitchen during this arduous process. So plenty of storage and flexibility for different people’s needs.

  • 6 years ago

    T S - the face of the drawer is 27"Lx17"H. The actual drawer is 13.75" deep and my half sheet pans end up just below the top, with the rack underneath adding a bit of height. My drawer ended up being 24" wide so 2 12" racks fit perfectly. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XX188BX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    I changed my pull outs in my previous home to this configuration and it was a must for our current home.

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    I eliminated the rail between the drawers like the photos. Coming from a frameless kitchen, I didn’t want to lose height in my inset drawers. Makes a huge difference especially for vertical storage for items like frypans.

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  • 6 years ago

    Wilson, I like that!!

  • 6 years ago

    The frames in that picture also look a lot more narrow than the frames I have in my old cabinets. I lose 4” of width and 3” of height on my current drawers.

  • 6 years ago

    I found helpful information in this thread when planning my drawers.

    https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2457034/everything-i-wanted-to-know-about-drawers 

    I'd combine cabinets if possible. You will pick up additional width and eliminate the shadow lines that happen between inset cabinets. This was made as one unit.

    I added hidden drawers to utilize the airspace inside some of my deep drawers. I also have one in the towel and apron drawer and the paper, plastics and picnic drawer which helps to keep those drawers layered and organized.


  • 6 years ago

    Wilson, what’s the depth of those drawers with the hidden drawers?
    The only way I can think to combine is two 42” drawer stacks (which is actually what was in my original iteration) but then I’m not sure how to combine and organize the items I’m storing.
    I’m confused how the hidden drawers help...why not just make the drawers the correct height so that there is no air space? Help me understand how I could benefit from that. I thought it was a great idea when I first saw it but I couldn’t figure out how to utilize it to my benefit.

  • 6 years ago

    (I keep using depth and height interchangeably but I mean height)

  • 6 years ago

    From the bottom of the drawer to the bottom of the tray is 5.5". The tray itself is 3" high. The total inside height is 10". If I would have stored those six Pyrex dishes vertically they would have taken up an entire drawer. My only drawers with truly customized heights are beneath the range top so that I could store my tallest stockpots and fry pans vertically.

    As far as the hidden drawers, I wouldn't use them for items that you need to get to on a regular basis like spices and prep tools which I like to keep in a four-drawer base but they are great for organizing contents in deep drawers and can easily be removed if things change and you need to use the entire depth of the drawer. It is a very flexible option that gives you another level of storage without committing to an actual drawer with a face that can't be expanded or removed. You can specify the tray to be any height. Perhaps In your 'glasses' drawer, a tray could be inserted for coffee cups or in the 'dishes' drawer a shallow tray for placemats.

  • 6 years ago

    Wilson, that is very helpful. Thank you!!
    I think I will stick to 12”, 12”, 6” and figure out which ones could benefit from hidden drawers.
    I’m also going to have rollout pantry shelves with drawers underneath since I don’t like the rollout shelves to be low down. Hidden drawers would work great in those drawers as well.

  • 6 years ago

    Wilson, perhaps you can give me your opinion on using the hidden drawers. I was at my neighbor’s house last night and her kitchen was done by the same cabinet maker we are using. She has drawer stacks with two deep and one shallow and the deep drawers just aren’t that tall. I think it was about 8” of useable height. I just had a thought...what if I eliminated all the shallow drawers and just did two drawer stacks with hidden drawers? So my drawer for dishes would have cutlery in the hidden drawer. My baking drawer would have baking utensils in the hidden drawer...etc. Or would that be inconvenient for things needed on a daily basis?

  • 6 years ago

    You have some excellent advice re drawers. I have an old kitchen with cupboards and not drawers. Wish I could afford to change. Re oven mitts: Why not put a hook inside your right rollout near the stove and hang them there? Mine are on a hook on the outside of a cupboard beside the stove, hidden from view but very handy. Microwave pot holders are with dish towels as they are smaller and flatter.

  • 6 years ago

    Thanks lepstein! I actually was thinking about doing something like that. I think it will be a good solution. And I do have the far right drawers if I find it’s more convenient

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Hi T S, I think that you would be sorry. In theory it sounds great but I think that there would be too many motions each time you needed a fork or spoon. Since I eliminated the rails between drawers, the three-drawer stacks with one shallow and two deep drawers have usable heights of 4" and 10". The two drawer stack has 12" inside. I'd talk this over with your cabinet maker to make sure that you will have enough height in your shallow drawers so that your utensils and larger boxes of wraps will fit easily. If you need more height in the deeper drawers you might be better off going with two shallow and one deep drawer in some of your stacks. Unless you have used 6" pullouts previously and liked them, I would think about adding the space to your drawer bases instead. Some on here haven't been completely happy with them. I do like my Rev a Shelf pullout for utensils and knives. It stores a lot in a small footprint and replaced the crocks and knife holder that used to reside on my counter. Edited to add that the two drawers beneath my range top are 7" and 12" inside. The 12" drawer is for vertical storage of fry and sauté pans which I notice that you want to do as well.

  • 6 years ago

    Wilson, thank you. So it sounds like it would be good for my baking drawer where I could keep flour and sugar containers in the deep part and measuring cups and spoons etc in the shallow. But not good for dishes and cutlery which is reached into all day every day.
    I currently have 6” shallow top drawers with only a few inches of useable height and I don’t mind it at all. I’ll have to ask the cabinet guy what the max height I could get out of my two deep drawers and go from there.
    I brought up eliminating the rails between drawers and my husband made it sound like it makes the furniture stronger and is traditionally there for better structure. Thoughts? We meet with the cabinet guy Tuesday so I’ll bring it up to him.

    The 6” pullouts are there because there is a bump out on the range wall. I actually unsure of the exact measurements from the end of the range to the end of the bump out so that will be a factor.

  • 6 years ago

    I have regular inset with rails in our master bath and am so glad that I eliminated them in the kitchen. The original local cabinet maker that I spoke to mentioned it was an option so I started to look for photos to make sure that I would like the look. We ended up using another company that also offered it. Before I found this out I was considering doing inset uppers and frameless or full overlay lowers like these photos.

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  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    I prefer to use Euro cabinets to maximize usable space, but I add furniture/door panels on the ends, that extend past the door frame, to get more of a finished "inset" look. You need to look into semi-custom and custom cabinet lines that allow for this option.

    I was really surprised at how much of a difference there was in drawer sizing between different manufacturers and cabinet makers. Everyone has a different idea of what "normal" is! Good that you are looking at the details before you finalize the plans and place an order.

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