I pretty much never do it. It can be worth the cost on a pot and pan cabinet, but then again just dropping the height of the back drawer panel will do almost as much for a lot less.
I guess with a small kitchen, limited cabinets, and too much stuff it is cheaper than an addition.
No doubt others will disagree :)

I assume they are full extension glides ? Could you just use the standard depth drawer glides but on the larger drawer boxes ? Yes, you won't be able to pull out the back most bit, but isn't that what we are all used to in our 'before' kitchens anyway ? Except you will be getting a lot more drawer pulled out than in the before kitchen.

I would say go for the standard depth- you won't miss the few inches.

Travis Alfrey
Pinehurst, NC

Excellent point, angela12345!

You didn't mention what drawer slides you were planning to get. Undermounts, I presume.

We're using side mount slides on the cabs that we're building because they are so much less expensive. We used Accuride on the first cabs but have switched to Fulterer since I found them for a better price and it's a bit nicer slide than the Accurides.

I gladly gave up on the undermounts in order to afford deeper drawers. Another bonus is that the side mount slides are rated at 100# vs 75#, IIRC, for the Blum undermounts. That's a significant factor when you consider that a larger drawer is going to weigh more, further reducing the weight capacity of the drawer contents.

Just an option that you might want to consider & inquire about.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fulterer Drawer Slides

With 27 drawers, I can't imagine that you will miss the extra space by using regular cabinets. I would just pull the regular cabinets forward, so you still have the deeper counter.

Catbuilder, I only have drawers, no doors with shelves. I am thinking I will not miss that extra three inches as well. I am waiting for the exact price quote for the 27" deep over the 24" deep. I cannot find anything to store that I need 27" deep. Even my long handled utensils for the outdoor grill fit in the 24" deep drawers.
ci-lantro: I am not fond of the glides on the side of the drawer although I know you get more depth with them. It is a look thing with me. Not very practical, I know, but I like the looks of a "clean" side to the drawers when you pull them out.
Jakuval: I don't understand what you mean when you say to drop the height of the back drawer panel. Could you please explain?
Angela12345, That is a good alternative. Will run that past the cabinet maker. I really am more set on having a little deeper countertop on which to work. I know some pull their cabinets out or build them to be 30" deep, but that is a little too deep for me, being short and all. The 27" works out to give me 28.5" of counter depth and I like that.

Yes, the undermounts look cleaner. But then I realized that I never look at the sides of a drawer when I have them open because I'm looking inside of the drawer. Besides having extra weight capacity with side mounts, esp. since I have a lot of over-sized drawers (width, length & depth) and them being 1/3 of the cost of undermounts, it was a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.

How much deeper is a drawer with side glides vs. Bottom glides?

There is commonly a confusion between:

Actual surface counter depth;

Dimensions of cab carcass from front to back;

Length of drawers from front to back;

Nominal length of slider;

Counter depth includes over hang, which makes actual cab carcass dimension less which makes drawer box dimension a smaller number which makes slider "length" an even smaller number. (And interior dimensions within the drawer are even less.)

So, make sure you know which measurement you're actually talking about when assessing sizes.

For example, even with a 30" counter, you wouldn't be talking about (or speccing or paying for) drawer slides 30" long.

On a "normal" 24" cab carcass the drawer box will be shorter (measured front to back). And the sliders an inch or two shorter than the box itself.

HTH

L.

A big part of the variable is the size of your kitchen. I have a smaller galley with no pantry and the extra depth in the drawers is totally worth it. I have 28.5 drawers in 30in base cabs. And my uppers are 16inches. I have heavy duty drawer glides on my larger drawers to bear the weight.

This post was edited by GWlolo on Tue, Feb 12, 13 at 0:48

GWlolo Where did you get the drawers that deep? Everyone i have asked says no way.

TIA

quiltgirl-drawer box is say 9"- part of the back is cut downSome configurations it can be helpful, it is cheap to do. Most often I don't have this done but am putting one in the showroom, just gotta get some pots and pans for here :)

The cabinets that I have had in the past were not like that jakuvall. The ones the Amish made for my laundry room are not like that either. They are just uniform boxes. I never saw cabinets scooped down in the back. Do top of the line cabinet companies do that?

I would think that any cabinet maker would be able to do what jakuvall is suggesting to a standard box with very little effort (i.e., $$$). I would think that would just have to take a saw, come in an inch or so from the corner and "scoop" down. I'm guessing it would look similar to the attached pic on the back.

back of drawer- sides left tall where lids would be

I wanted to do extra deep throughout but it was cost prohibitive. Instead, I went through each drawer and decied if it made sense. In the end I think I am doing 3 extra deep - one drawer for pots and pans, one drawer bank for tupperware, and the other is a roll out shelf for food processor, etc.

I'm thinking that hopefully this justifies the cost and it won't be that bad.

FYI, when using under-mount slides you can't just take a slide meant for a 21" drawer and attach it to a 24" drawer. They are designed to hook around to the back of the drawer so the drawer has to be sized exactly to the slide. So you can't "cheat" and make a bigger drawer on the less-expensive shorter slides.

This can be done on side-mount slides, but the price difference for the longer slides isn't a big factor in that case, particularly as side-mounts are a good bit cheaper than undermounts anyway.

Spring planter- my custom cabinet maker made them.

My cabinet maker said the undermount glides for 27" deep drawers are twice the price. It seems that the majority opinion is that the extra three inches of drawer space is not all that big of a deal. I have a big kitchen with a walk in pantry and an island that I have not even figured into the equation yet, so I think I could forego the depth and just pull the cabinets out three inches to give me a deeper countertop which is what I was aiming for in the first place. The comments here have been really helpful and they ease my mind that I am making the right decision! I so appreciate the help that all of you have given! More questions will be coming!