I did two large drawers on the island. I love them! If I did again I would have more drawers than doors.

I prefer cupboards with pull out shelving. Better access imo

Have only drawers for about 15 years now and would never go back to doors.

Drawers, all the way I have them almost exclusively in my kitchen except for under sinks, as for access you have that with drawers and you don't lose space for all the hardware required to create pull out shelves. I just think about what a pain it is to look for something at the back of a standard cabinet.

Our custom kitchen has only drawers and I would never go back to lower cabinets with doors...even if they had slide outs!

So for those drawer fans.... how do you store your food items like cereal, canned goods, etc.? What types of items are you putting in the drawers. I'll have limited upper cabinets (trade-off for more glass!), but I will have a small pantry nearby.

Since I only have the two lg drawers, one is for pots/pans, and the other holds a lot of different items. To keep it organized, I purchased dollar store plastic bins in different sizes. One bin I use for lids, one has small Tupperware containers, and another has mixer accessories. I keep cereal etc in pantry and canned goods in an upper cabinet.

Consider even a 15-inch wide tall pantry cabinet with roll out trays for essentials.

Shenandoah /American Woodmark have a great base pots and pans organizer you can shoe designer for something similar.

Mostly favor drawers with selected pullouts that often would be full height base cabinets (no drawer, just door attached to pullout). These could be used for trash can, one to hold aluminum foil, ziplock a, , rollers, FTC.

Spices can go either in a drawer or narrow pullout, cooking oil can go in pullout.

A lot depends on space but these are options you may want to consider.

Depending on pantry closet consider something like this for cans.

We have big, deep drawers in our island. Love them.

divadog55
Drawers every time!!. I'd never go back to cupboards. I also have a only a small pantry with pull out shelves for cans, cereals, flour, sugar , pasta and packets which all live in matching labelled jars stored on the shelves in the pantry too. The back of the pantry door is also utilised for foil, clingwrap and roll of baking paper.
Spices live on a narrow end wall in 2 tall Ikea Billy dvd cabinets screwed together with a matching door to hide the contents. Spice jars fit on the dvd shelves perfectly.

Drawers, drawers, drawers and more draws. Current and last kitchen had only drawers except under sink. Increases storage and accessibility to your dishes etc

I have all drawers and never regretted it. Would also recommend a small pantry if you could fit one in.

Your best bet is as many drawers as possible. They really give you tons of space. Instead of your plates etc. up high, you can have them right beside you in the drawers, with easy access. Also when it comes to your plastic containers, instead of them all coming down on your head as you reach for something in particular, with drawers they are all self contained and hold a amazing amount of items. Your will have to leave your sink area with cupboards as you need the space for taps, but there are all kinds of inexpensive two tier units that will hold all you cleaning item and soaps, plus they pull out for easy access. Lowes has a great variety to choose from, assuming you have Lowes, if not any big box store will carry this type of item. Also the drawers don't have to be the size of pot drawers, smaller ones are great for your cutlery, odds and sods, and maybe even one for all your desk items you might want handy in your kitchen. Another good space grabber is corner units with a lazy Susan, they hold a lot of items. Some of my customers really like the doors that are all one piece and are attached to the lazy Susan, so the whole unit, including the doors go all the way around and then back to the original spot. I hope this give you a better idea as to how drawers can work for you. Good luck

Always had cupboards with doors until my most recent move. This place has all drawers in the lower cabinets and so far I'm not sold on it. Several of the drawers stick due to problems with the slider hardware that I plan to get fixed when I can afford it. But you lose inches of storage space for the drawers and hardware that could be used if it had a door. All those sliders and the sides of the drawers and space between the drawers adds up to a lot of lost storage space.

Regarding where to put cereal, spices, and the like: My kitchen area is small by today's standards, but I have tons of storage between drawers and upper cabinets. I also have a shallow wall, about 8 feet long, deep enough to handle dinner sized plates, that has six floor to ceiling spaces with 12 cabinet doors (upper doors are sandblasted glass and lower doors are solid wood). The wood in the kitchen is Bubinga.

Ideally a kitchen should have a mix of drawers and doors.

My kitchen has a large pantry and many cupboards. I really wish I had more drawers. I only have 6 small ones--not enough! Several of my cupboards are empty.

I built my dream kitchen two years ago. I have four very large drawers and two medium drawers. Also have two twirlers in the corners and four sliders. And a pantry. It is perfect. All food goes in the pantry plus some not used very often small appliances. Mixer and food processor in one pull out and baking supplies in the other. But the drawers are the best by far. I cook with cast iron and it is so much easier to lift those heavy pieces out of a drawer than off a slider at floor level. Also can fit so much more in because I can fill the drawer to the top.
The drawers have four sides which keep things in whereas with sliders you have to keep things from falling off the edges which limits what and how much you can store. The " lost" storage space is made up by being able to stack so much higher. I recommend a mix of storage spaces depending on what you have the most of.

Drawers!!! Some large, deep drawers for big counter top appliances, deep pots, etc... some medium size and a few small. Put drawers everywhere you can.

Drawers for pots and pans, collanders and measuring cups, spices and utensils, etc. and pull-out pantry shelves (which are really drawers in a cupboard) for food stuff. Doors for trays and racks, under sinks stuff, etc.

Drawers and more drawers. Most important to inventory every item in your kitchen before design. That way you move in and everything already has a place.

i do not recommend drawers behind doors. A total wast of time and money. Do drawers all the way. Think function. You won't regret it.

Nearly two year old thread.

I think a lot of newbies jump in and don't look at the date.