Until others who know the actual difference between the rollout and regular drawer, I’m going to venture to say that drawers probably of any sort are most functional .

People are always encouraged to get all drawers.

All drawers. Who wants to have to open a cabinet door and then pull out the roll out? All my lower cabinets are drawers except 2 sink bases and a super susan. I have a trash pullout and sheet pan/tray pull out which basically are like drawers in that they pull out.

Drawers. Maybe a narrower door cabinet for sheet pans and trays, but drawers otherwise.

I prefer cabinet doors with a drawer roll-out (built that way, not an after-market add-on). It's an aesthetic I prefer (a smoother and undivided front) and probably based on familiarity. There's no wrong answers - which look do you prefer?

Best: Drawers

Second best: Pull-out shelves

Okay: Traditional cabinets

Regardless of what you choose, do take time to think through what you want to store and where you'll store it. You might decide you need a traditional cabinet here or there -- as someone mentioned above, you might want a narrow door for baking sheets -- or you might want something like a Chef Drawer here or there.

Best starting place: Lowes (not that I'm suggesting you buy at Lowes). Go in and wander, check out some drawers. And take your measuring tape along.

A two-drawer base would allow you to store your fry pans upright. There's also plenty of room to store your pots with their lids. I just use an off the shelf pan divider. It is much easier than wrestling a pan from the bottom of a stack.

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Hi @jk113, the look of drawers over cabinet doors is classic, so if you are building a traditional kitchen, that’s the look that should predominate, with perhaps a few drawer stacks. If you are building a contemporary or modern kitchen, go for drawers. In terms of functionality, drawers have it over pull-outs because there’s no cabinet door to open. That said, this is usually a decision based on appearances, not function.

@eam44 thank you - it’s an older home and will be traditional- thank you for that input!

And thank you everyone else for taking the time to respond

I must respectfully disagree about the "traditional" look. One drawer over cabinet doors is not a traditional look. It's just the most common you see since it's cheaper to do cabinet doors than drawers...whether it's roll out tray shelves (ROTS) behind doors or stationary shelves behind doors.

Drawers are definitely a traditional as well as transitional and even contemporary look. It's the style of the drawer front or door that says "traditional", "transitional", or "contemporary".

Definitely all drawers! The only exceptions:

• If the space is too narrow for a drawer (e.g., 12" or less)
• Trash pullouts -- but they are a sort of drawer as the pullout base is attached to the door and still pulls out with when the door is opened
• Sink bases -- but you can sometimes put in a drawer on the very bottom of the sink base
• Possibly, mixer lift...but you really shouldn't be using the mixer on a "lift shelf" due to the vibrations and weight of most stand mixers, so you still need to lift it onto the counter.

For those interested:

• Drawer -- drawer box attached to a drawer front that pulls out when you open it
• Pullout -- "shelf" attached to the door that pulls out automatically when the door is opened (think trash pullout or filler pullouts)
• Roll out tray shelves (ROTS) -- "drawer box" or rolling shelf that is not attached to anything. You have to first open the doors and then, once the doors are fully open, pullout the shelf. When closing, close the shelf, wait for all shelves in the cabinet to fully close, then close each door. (Why do I stress to wait? Because if you roll out a shelf too soon or try to close the cabinet doors too soon, you will ding the cabinet doors.)

Does this look "contemporary"?

(FYI...I strongly dislike the "sleek" contemporary look. But that's my personal preference.)

I have all drawers, mostly 3-stack and a couple of 4-stack. The only cabinets with doors are the sink cabinets and a tray cabinet.

The houses with all cabinet doors are usually spec homes, where the builder mostly cared about building for the lowest cost. Sometimes it is just that people don't know any better, specially if they have only lived in houses with standard cabinet doors.

Drawers have nothing to do with a kitchen being traditional or modern.

We have all drawers, a corner super Susan (no center pole), a vertical door cabinet for cutting boards and cooking sheets, and one large double door cabinet without a center divider with rollout shelves in which we keep large frying pans, large Dutch ovens, and soup and stock pots. The shelves have more room than the drawers.