Under Counter Drawer Height and Symmetry

last year

Struggling with under counter drawer height. I would like to store various pans, cutting boards, and skillets on edge. It appears the only way to do that is with 15" tall drawers. I currently have four columns of 6/6/9/9, two on either side of the range. If I want to maintain symmetry, I would have to have four columns of 6/9/15. Not sure about the practicality of having so many 15" tall drawers, Would having the 6/9/15 columns flanking the range and the 6/6/9/9 at the bookends look ok? Or keep the 6/6/9/9 columns on one side and the 6/9/15 columns on the other side? The possibilities seem endless! Of note there will be an island with the sink and range facing each other, so I am not sure if the symmetry or lack thereof can even be really seen. Input on anything would be much appreciated.

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Comments (6)

John Liu
last year
Symmetry is overrated. Function is beauty.

If doing full overlay, you can do faux faces (a 15“ tall face, that looks like two shorter faces). A custom cabinet maker might be able to do that with part overlay or inset, maybe less convincingly.
RNmomof2 zone 5
last year
Rethink the stacks with four drawers. Those drawers are not usefull for many things, they are just too shallow. What do you plan on putting in them? Great for silverware and utensils, not great for much else.
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chispa
last year
I would choose my drawers based on function and not symmetry. I have mostly 3-drawer stacks and a few 4-drawer stacks.

In my previous house I designed a 4-drawer stack on one side of the range and a 3-drawer stack on the other side. My KD tried to argue for symmetry, but it didn't make sense for the function I needed and the island blocked part of the view from most angles. No regrets.
rebasheba
last year
Ya forget symmetry.

Do you need a bit of vertical storage for trays, sheet pans, cutting boards?

Seems you need some 3 stacks and then why not a 2 stack for your pans. Break up one of the sections with a 36" pots and pans drawer and a 14" vertical cabinet perhaps.
Buehl
last year
last modified: last year
4-drawer stacks are not useless. I had one in my previous Kitchen that was perfect for the items I stored there. No drawer was too shallow. What I stored:
- Top Drawer: Silverware drawer
- Next Drawer down: foil, wax paper, parchment paper, plastic bags, etc. All fit in a single layer - perfect for ease of access!
- Next was extension cords and other electrical items
- Bottom drawer, which was the deepest drawer: Bread
Here it is - it was a 24"W drawer base:

I really want one in my new house, but I'm not sure I'll be able to fit one in since I'm not redoing the entire Kitchen, only the island and the pantry cabinets.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Plan your storage first, then plan your cabinet types (drawers, trash pullouts, etc.).

Don't worry about "symmetry" -- as others have stated, it's overrated. Instead, plan for functionality. If you actually use your Kitchen, there's nothing worse, IMHO, than a "pretty" Kitchen that's dysfunctional! (OK, maybe an "ugly" Kitchen that's also dysfunctional would be worse! 😄)

Plan to store things in the location where they will be used.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

BTW...my cutting boards were under the prep sink. I purchased a lid/pan divider from Walmart and used it to store my cutting boards.

My cookie sheets, etc., were over the ovens. If I didn't have wall ovens to store them above, I would have stored them over the refrigerator.

Unfortunately, I don't have a good picture of under the prep sink, but here's what I did over my ovens:

Here's an example of my storage plan on the sink wall for our old house:

And the cooktop wall:
chispa
last year
Looking at the OP's plan again, depending on what I needed to store, I would also consider turning one set of 24" wide drawers into a 48" wide drawer stack. Just make sure the cabinet maker uses better drawer hardware.

A wide drawer can always be divided up with organizers, but a smaller drawer can't be made larger.