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magic_scott

Pull-Out Drawers

magic
9 years ago

Hi All:

I need some input on installing pull-out drawers on upper cabinets, more specifically in a pantry (30" wide) and above the refrigerator cabinets. Our cabinet shop is saying most customers are not satisfied with the pull-out drawers on the upper section of the pantry cabinets. I was thinking of installing 4 pull-outs on the lower AND upper cabinets for the pantry. I don't see how a pull-out would be a bad idea for the upper, when we would be using a stool to access it. Please give me your opinions and experiences with this. Our current house is small and does not have any pull-outs so this is something new for us.

The vertical pantry has two sets of doors for the upper and lower half.

Thanks in advance.

Comments (9)

  • Swentastic Swenson
    9 years ago

    Is there a specific reason you were thinking this?

    I guess my thought would be: If you have to get on a stool to access the pull out shelf in the first place, why not skip it and just have ready access to the shelf?

    With pullouts in the uppers, you also limit the size and quantity of things you can put in there. You'll lose a couple inches just due to the hardware and the frame.

    I'm having pullouts installed in the BOTTOM of my pantries so I don't have to get on the ground to get stuff out of them. I'm trying to imagine them in the uppers and really all they would do would block the access to the cabinet from the ground and make it easy for crap to fall behind them if you pull them out too fast. Then you'd need a ladder to clean it all up! lol

  • plllog
    9 years ago

    I didn't get roll out tray shelves (ROTS) in my upper pantry for the kinds of reasons Swentastic gave. My cabinets go up to within a couple of inches of the 9' ceiling, so the top shelf is close to 8' high. I usually use a 6' painter's ladder to get up to the top couple of shelves, though I can stand on my toes and get a finger on what's in the very front of the second to top.

    My pantry is only 18" deep and I've often wished for ROTS. Reaching the back, especially of the topmost shelf, is a contortionist move. Half of it has a couple of bankers' boxes with party paper goods in them, because they're easy to get out and put back, and I think the other half also has large things.

    If you get them, do get the kind that's low in the front and tapers up the sides to a higher back. That helps prevent the topple behind, but makes it easier to see and reach into it. If the topple happens, there is still some contortion to be done, but I have a claw, which was a party favor, that works great for that kind of thing. It's smaller than the kind they make for disabled people, so better suited to tight spaces, and easier to operate if you don't have hand infirmities. I'd rather the unlikely event type of have to half crawl into the cupboard than the have to do it every time variety. (Re "clean it all up" don't put flour, sugar or any powdery thing, syrupy stuff in loose topped bottles, or any kind of tall breakable containers, where they're likely to fall over and make a mess!)

    OTOH, I don't think I'd want it on the shelf that's just above my head because I can get the things from the front easily without a stool or ladder. (And that's where I keep things like wraps with the short side front, so there's not so much in the back. And it might be awkward on the shoulder height shelf from having to reach over it. So maybe the best is to just put ROTS on the shelves you have to climb to reach anyway.

  • leela4
    9 years ago

    We did put a ROTS for one shelf in the upper part of our pantry. I can reach things in the front without pulling it out if I really stretch, but mostly I need a stool to get into that shelf anyway. I find it very functional. I also have ROTS on the bottom.

  • taggie
    9 years ago

    I agree with everything plllog wrote above (and btw is it serendipitous that apple kept trying to change plllog's name to pullout?).

    I keep paper towels, Kleenex, batteries, trays and platters in my top pantry and over-fridge cabs and I can reach all but the top two shelves of platters on tiptoe. I wouldn't want to have to grab a stepstool very time I needed a new roll of towels or a new box of Kleenex.

    I do have robot claw envy though!

  • brightm
    9 years ago

    Linked below there's a recent similar thread that had some neat ideas.

    My pantry is only 21"w. I put three drawers at the bottom. (Everyone here says you can't get enough drawers, so I put drawers.) I put a couple ROTS above that. There might end up being another regular shelf or so. Then, I'm planning divided storage for trays etc. (that are light weight.) I've ordered Omega Tra Sta dividers to be installed. Then I have a separate 18" door at the top. Not sure about that yet. The dividers may go in there rather than the top of the regular door. I'll have to see how things fit when I get to put stuff away (hopefully in

    Here is a link that might be useful: Upper cabinet roll-out shelf thread.

  • plllog
    9 years ago

    Taggie,

    They have the Robot Claw at Amazon (whence the picture). :)

    Truly yours,

    ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ ÃÂ Pullout

  • cat_mom
    9 years ago

    We put a shallow height pull-out in the upper part (of the middle section) of one of our pantry cabs. With a fixed shelf, or with the pull-out, I'd need to stand on a step stool in order to access anything behind the front few items stored there. With the pull-out, items further back are much more accessible.

  • brightm
    9 years ago

    Robot Claw is now in my cart at Amazon. Thanks!

  • suzanne_sl
    9 years ago

    Maybe it depends on what you put in those upper shelves. On my second-to-highest shelf, I have jars of jams and sauces that I've canned the previous summer. As the jars get used up, the empties go back on the shelf. I can't always find the jar I need without standing on the step stool and handing down the stuff in front to get to the stuff in back. I keep reorganizing, but I still don't know how many pints of pasta sauce are still in there. A roll-out would be very handy.

    The lower shelf doesn't matter - it's mostly cereal and mostly reachable. The highest shelf is seasonal canning stuff that comes down and goes up together, also not a problem.

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