I love my bread drawer. There was a bread drawer in the 1961 kitchen when I bought the house, but I never used it for bread. I put one of these in in the new kitchen, and it seems to work! Bread does stay fresher longer, although I don't know how it compares to a counter bread box. I needed a place for bread - as you say, one more thing off the counter - and this fills the bill. To clean it out, i just vacuum up the crumbs. My kitchen is small, and this little bit of organization is good.

I asked a similar question of my cabinetmaker. He just gave me a little smile and said "no". "Back in the day" before they wrapped bread in plastic to keep it fresh, this was the way that seemed to help. I still went with it because it gave me a dedicated place to keep the bread, the english muffins, etc. that wasn't on the counter, like you mentioned.

Who knows, but designate a bread drawer anyway! I put all our breads and snacks in ours. Love it!

I was told that bread drawers were to keep pests/rodents out of bread in the olden days. That said, I keep bread in a drawer and it does stay fresher longer. (I used to keep it in a basket on top of the fridge.)There is no separate cover on it.

Agree with above, just put it in a regular drawer and skip the fancy high-priced covers. I like our bread drawer, and we keep the butter in there too for one-stop shopping. :)

I did not get a dedicated bread drawer, but do keep it in a big drawer along with snacks. It stays fresh just fine..

Yum....I like Taggie's idea of keeping the butter in there too! Haven't had time to make bread in my new kitchen yet :(