cabinets w/ shelves are cheaper than drawers. when I'm looking at realtor pictures, I can immediately pick out a flipster home because the brand-new kitchen is all lower cabinets w/ shelves instead of drawers.

Roll outs are a heck of a lot cheaper which is why they are done that way.

Here on this forum you'll find the majority of us strongly recommend drawers. When I built my home, I put in all lower drawers.

I've got all drawers for my lower cabinets except cleanup sink base and prep sink base. I wouldn't have it any other way.

unless you’re getting cheapy unfinished cabinets…the drawer lowers sre an utter and complete waste of space. i detest mine.

Missi you detest drawers?

Drawers are amazing!

Drawers for base cabinets are a must unless money is really tight.

Design the kitchen cabinets to accommodate the items that need to be stored in an appropriate manner. A top shallow drawer next to the dishwasher is a good spot for tableware. The bottom shelf of a base cabinet behind doors way in the back is a good spot for a fondue set. I went to one of those fondue restaurants the other night and realized I paid a lot of money to cook my own food. I digress . . .

When I remodeled the kitchen in my former home 22 years ago, I did drawers in the lower cabinets. My current kitchen has doors and shelves, and I hate them! Drawers provide so much more useful space. I can’t wait to remodel this kitchen, but it is fair,y new so I’ll live with it for a few more years! I agree with Mark, doors/shelves are handy for big or heavy items, like a KitchenAid mixer.

@Midwest (4b IA) why do you detest drawers?

I had a house that was built in 1955 (no, I did not design it, smarty pants) with a base cabinet with a pull-out/flip-up shelf behind doors designed to accommodate a mixer's storage and use. The kitchen cabinets were metal.

@Mark Bischak, Architect I am getting one of those in my new house's kitchen. I am so excited. MH isn't impressed, but loathes anything on the counter, so this is a good compromise. Although I will have to find another way of getting that weight lifting it from pulling out from the bottom cabinet all the time

The shelf I had would not accommodate the larger KitchenAid mixer.

I did drawers and a combination of drawers and shelves in three houses and loved the design/utility of each.

@Mark Bischak, Architect said, "I went to one of those fondue restaurants the other night and realized I paid a lot of money to cook my own food. I digress . . ."

Did it also take forever? I went to one of those fondue restaurants once for an anniversary and began to fear dinner might last longer than the marriage.

I don't understand how people can use the mixer on the little shelf of the shelf lift. We use many different attachments on our mixer such as sausage maker, pasta maker and cheese grater. They can't be used with the mixer hanging out in thin air. Even without using attachments and simply using it to mix stuff I would think flour, cake mixes and anything you need to add would be falling all over the floor.

bry911, We found that with a sufficient amount of good wine the time the meal took was oblivious.

vinmarks, The metal cabinets and shelf were built like a tank. They were built before it was discovered that building inferior products meant future sales.

I have shelves and they certainly weren’t cheap. I’ve never noticed a problem with them. They're solid oak and adjustable. The whole kitchen was hand built 20 odd years ago and some might consider it unfashionable, but I’m still very happy with it. imo it suits a house built in 1820.

The problem with lower cabinets with shelves is accessibility. To get anything out of the back of a cabinet with shelves requires getting on the floor. The older I get the less I want to have to do that. Drawers allow everything to be easily seen and easily reached.

The unfinisjed cabinets from Menards are what i have. theyre not full extension, so you have to watch what you put in there. its tetris time with three inch deep drawers, or like…i can store tupperware lids. Everything i had in one deep drawer and a litlle shallower drawer before, is now spread in like three times the area. Save for nicer cabinets so you have useful drawers is what I’m saying.

We just finished a kitchen remodel and went from all lower cabinets to all lower drawers. I really like the functionality of the drawers, but man, do they hold a lot less than cabinets! I'm having to cull my collections and/or find other storage spots for some things. On the other hand, there was lots of stuff I didn't use before because I couldn't see or access it easily. So I guess drawers = fewer things but you can actually see and use them. And I agree with the person above who said to take inventory of everything you want to store and where you want to store it. And then double check that the cabinet designer took your inventory into consideration when planning the dimensions of everything.

We just finished a kitchen remodel and went from all lower cabinets to all lower drawers. I really like the functionality of the drawers, but man, do they hold a lot less than cabinets!

That's odd because I found my drawers actually hold a lot more. And it's easier to stack things in the drawers and then be able to reach in and get them. But I also made sure to get the widest drawers I could and only did 3 drawer stacks.

Agree with CP our drawers are very wide and deep and we fit so so much in them!

When we remodeled our kitchen 13 years ago, the preference for drawers was not as well understood (at least by me). However, I did include mostly drawers (several 3 deep stacks, one stack of shallower drawers), and I love them. I also included a few pull-out shelf cabinets, in case I ended up not loving the drawers...at least I was more familiar with them. I really like those shelves, too. Yes, you have to open doors then pull out the shelves, but that is not really all that horrible. They work very well for serving/mixing bowls, pyrex casserole dishes. Biggest problem now: one year old grandson can open the doors when he is here, while the drawers are too heavy for him. My point: I love drawers, but pull out shelving has its advantages, too, and I am glad I have some of both.

My 2 cents...

For available cubic feet of storage, shelves will have the most space. This is because drawers typically lose 3" of depth and 1" of width. However, they are a bit more inconvenient and not all cubic feet of storage are equal.

Adjustable pull out shelves (or drawers behind doors) maximize the usable cubic feet of storage and allow a homeowner to customize the storage in their kitchen.

Most people will find they can store more items in adjustable pull outs than shelves or drawers. However, it too is less convenient and few people are going to bother with the adjustments. Pull outs lose all advantages if you just stick pull outs the same place you would have put drawers. Their beauty is a cabinet stack of short pull outs, beside a stack of tall, beside any mix you want. They are adjustable in 32mm (1.25") increments as tall or short as you want.

Drawers are the most convenient but sacrifice some customization for aesthetic appeal (No one will adjust drawers in 32mm increments throughout their kitchen)

What is best for any kitchen really depends on the person using it. I prefer drawers in most lowers and adjustable pull outs in any cabinet that will be used as a pantry. In my workshop I actually use pull outs on 16mm adjustments and adjust them regularly as my project focus and tools change.

Sorry but you're incorrect bry unless you're talking inset cabinets.

The pullouts have less usable space because they have to fit within the cabinet and then pull out whereas the draw just pulls out, And in reality, the pullout loses more than 3"

@cpartist said, "Sorry but you're incorrect bry unless you're talking inset cabinets.

The pullouts have less usable space because they have to fit within the cabinet and then pull out whereas the draw just pulls out, And in reality, the pullout loses more than 3"'

I understand why this seems correct, but it is not. Drawers and pullouts use the exact same slides and boxes. There is actually no difference, many people doing pull-outs opt for pull out shelves instead of pull out boxes, but if you opt for pull out drawer boxes then you use the exact same size drawer box.

The only difference is that the slide is mounted one hole forward of the standard 37mm mounting position.