Hi gharborwa..

One of the best features of my kitchen are the lower deep drawers that slide out. I chose them over cabinets wherever they could fit. Wish I had more! They hold my pots, bowls, frying pans and casserole dishes. I have cabinets above, of course, and cabinets wherever the dimensions were not right for drawers. In my old kitchen I had cabinets with slide out shelves, but you lose space with those. I say, the more drawers the better.

KA:)

I have mostly drawers (lowers), but kept some cabinets... 3 I think, of 8. I wanted the cabinet pop-up stand for my mixer. :) And we have a few pretty large "small" appliances that wouldn't fit in a drawer, but I didn't want in the pantry. Uppers are cabinets.

A lot of people opt for no or fewer drawers because they are more expensive, or they just don't think about it. Gotta love this site. :)

We kept two cabinets with pull-outs. But rather than pull-outs behind doors, our cabinet brand has an option to have a drawer at the very bottom with the cabinet front attached to that drawer -- so the whole front pulls out. Then adjustable pull-out drawers are inside. We needed these for the cat food bin and for the Kitchen Aid mixer. The Kitchen Aid is too tall to fet in the regular deep drawers, and had to go somewhere.

I'm another drawer fan. This link has a thread that talks about drawers vs. pull outs, and it has some great photos of how GWers have organized drawers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread on drawers with pics of organization

I have mostly drawers... I do have one trash pullout (I guess it's like a drawer) and one cabinet w/two roll out tray shelves (ROTS). The ROTS cabinet was a mistake...I meant to order it as a trash pullout with one ROTS included. It's the one cabinet I regret!

The cabinet w/the ROTS is our "Pet Center" with the dog food & treats on the bottom shelf (as low as I can get it) and leashes, meds, etc on the top shelf...as high as I could put it. The 6-gallon can I use for the dog food just barely fits...if the top's not on tightly, it doesn't fit. Why am I telling you this? B/c I measured and it turns out KitchenAddict is correct...the bottom of our trash pullout is 6-3/4" off the floor, the bottom of the ROTS at its lowest "setting" is 7-1/8" off the floor. I could have used that extra 1/4" or so! So, you do lose some space at the bottom with the ROTS.

Here's my Pet Center using ROTS...

Here are my many, very useful and well-liked drawers!

Pullout cabinets...

Cabinets you might want...

• Mixer Lift cabinet...If you want something like a mixer lift, you will need to get a cabinet. But, most mixer lifts really aren't sturdy enough to use the mixer while on the lift, so you will have to lift it up to the counter anyway. Besides, do you really want the flour, etc. that sometimes billows out or the splashes that sometimes occur to go all over the floor and cabinet fronts? I'd rather all that be on the counter and/or backsplash...much easier to clean plus they're "designed" for such messes!

Tray cabinet...If you don't have space over ovens or refrigerator for your cookie sheets, cooling racks, muffin tins, etc., you might consider a 12" to 18" tray cabinet with one shelf. Some people put them in pullouts or drawers, but this is one case when I think you waste space. In a regular cabinet, you can use the entire width of the cabinet; in a pullout or drawer, you lose 2 to 4 inches due to the drawer/pullout walls plus the glide space.

Check out these two threads for the tray cabinet discussion:

Thread: tray cabinets - top 1/2 wasted space

See Plllog's base tray cabinet...horizontal tray storage..in the following thread:

Thread: Do you like your tray storage? Can you share the...

I have 3 cabinets that aren't drawers (not counting sink cabs). Used to have more in the island, but changed them to drawers. LOVE drawers. HATE pullouts. My only base cabinets hold

1) baking trays, vertically

2) Baking dishes (like 10 x 15 x 3 glass lasagna type) and roasting pans...I put in several shelves, so the pans don't have to be stacked...Or at least no more than 2 tall.

3) for large and odd shaped things, specifically 13-qt stainless bowls and our portable electric deep fryer.

I think I'm the only one in the world who still prefers cabinets. I had drawers in a previous kitchen, and it was always like working a jigsaw puzzle to put the pots and pans in just right so they would fit. Since I have a jumble of stuff, that doesn't necessarily nest together well, I like having the good oldfashioned cabinets -- no pull-outs (too much lost space, too much worry with heavy stuff). Maybe if I cooked three meals a day, seven days a week, I'd feel differently about bending down to get into the cabs -- but it doesn't bother me. Neither do I have so much room that I wouldn't have to nest things or have HUGE drawers where things fit easily. Mostly I've got appliances and not-so-frequently used stuff in my cabs, and the more used pots/pans/smaller appliances are in my super-susans.

FWIW -- you know what they say, "there's one in every bunch" -- well, that's me!

Thanks for all your input, everyone. I know I want drawers, but the person helping me draw has put in more cabinets than I was thinking, so I'm just trying to get input...

I did mostly drawers---big drawers--and I like them. Notice I didn't say *love.*

The problem is that things I thought would fit in the drawers don't.

It really depends how you use your kitchen and what you are storing. Drawers are not for everyone. I have more of a "commercial/industrial" vibe going with my cooking. I order my flour in 25lb bags. Sugar in 50lb bags. Big big trays. Huge bowls.

I have (beside sink cabs) 2 base cabs in the kitchen proper. I am happy I have them. I have Schuler cabs and the drawer with tray dividers does not accommodate my cookie sheets. My cookie sheets are full size sheets--not commercial size. But they don't fit in my tray dividers. Neither do my cast iron skillets, so they live in a cabinet.

The KD assured me that the drawers held ridiculous amount of weight. Well, not enough weight for storing ridiculous amounts of grains. Look into an upgrade in this area would be my advice to someone.

I found it hard to anticipate what will fit in the interior dimensions of cabinets/drawers before they were installed but I would advise putting as much thought into this as you can. It is worth the energy.

I have lower cabs that I like for (a) trash pull-out, (b) trays/cookie sheets, (c) under sinks, (d) a shallow cab under my display shelves that holds seldom used items, and (e) one cabinet for my giant stockpots that are too tall to fit in any drawer.

I have a lot of drawers, but I also have a few other lower cabinets that I would have preferred as drawers. These include a second tray cabinet and the lower halves of two of my pantry cabinets. These spaces would have been much better utilized with drawers.

I'm a huge fan of drawers, but some lower cabs really do make sense. It all depends on how you use your kitchen.

I have drawers wherever possible in my lower cabs and really like them. However my favorite, most verstaile, most useful space in my kitchen is my shallow depth wall cabinets. It's only 12" deep so there is no need for rollouts to reach the stuff in back so you get more space. You have the flexibility that Clergychick talks about for arranging your stuff. The doors are only 12" wide and open toward each other so it's a quick grab and go. If you have a spot that lends itself to a shallow cabinet I would give it some thought.

Here's what you need to do. Figure out everything you intend to store in your lower cabs/drawers, and where you think will be the best place to store everything based on your layout.

Then measure the inside dimension of the drawers you intend to buy. And compare those dimensions to what you intend to store in them. If you have a tall item which won't fit in the drawers, do you have an alternative place to store it? Or is it essential that it be stored in that exact spot?

One KD to whom I explained that I wanted all drawers said to me, (and for some reason her exact words stuck in my mind), "what will you do when your husband gives you a tall stock pot for Christmas?"

Well, firstly my husband ain't gonna buy me any kitchen stuff! That's MY department. Anyway, I actually (coincidentally) DID end up buying MYSELF a tall stockpot a few years ago that would not fit in the drawers. BUT! I have a storage unit in my adjacent laundry room that it fit into nicely. And since I only use that pot about once or twice a year, it doesn't NEED to be stored in the most handy spot in the kitchen.

So, Why would you want cabs instead of drawers? It all depends on YOUR particular needs, your kitchen equipment, your layout, what you use and how often you use it and where the best place to store something is.

By the way, I have all drawers except two lazy susans in the corners and the cab under the sink. Almost six years after my remodel was completed, I couldn't be happier. No way would I ever want to trade those drawers in for cabinets, not a single one of them!