I dislike pullouts: things like lids always seem to be falling off of them when you pull them out and then you have to grope around behind them to find stuff. We use 5 deep drawers to house all of our pots, including several 12'' skillets and two Le Crueset dutch ovens and are very happy with them.

I have had both and much prefer drawers.

I have pullouts for my pots that I use on my cooktop and drawers for the pans I use in the oven. I like the pullouts because I find it easy to see everything and haven't had problems with lids falling off. I also like the drawers for the oven pans. This set up works for me.

Not to hijack rtmom2, but I would like to add a question to this post. I have been going back and forth over the same issue of drawers vs pullouts and my question is: What would be the *minimum* width in a drawer that you all find to be functional for storing pots or pans?
Thanks!

I love my wide deep drawers and wish I had more of them. I've never had pullouts so I can't really comment on that but I love just being to pull the drawers out in one motion. My drawers are 30 inches wide and are very useful. 36 would be amazing, I think. I actually keep my most used pots in deep drawers that are only 18-inches wide and, while that's not optimal it works.

I much prefer drawers. You simply roll the drawer out, remove the pan you need, then give it a push back in with your knee.

With pull-outs, you have to open both cupboard doors before you can pull out the shelf, not to mention the problem with lids, etc. falling off the back of the shelf. Once you've removed the pan you need, you have to push the shelf back in and then re-close the cupboard doors. The doors are a PITA.

Just my two cents.

Are pots usually kept in deep drawer and lids in a shallow drawer?
I am planning on 20-22 inch drawers and trying to figure best configuration
for pots and lids. Thanks!
vic

I store my pots & pans in drawers. I keep the lid for each pot or pan with it. My pot & pan drawers are 36" and located under my cooktop. I have 3 drawers there, a shallow drawer for my utensils (all except ladles, they don't fit there), next is my pot drawer (w/the ladles), and the bottom has my pans (frying pans).

Here's the pot drawer:

We live in a home in Seattle that we just remodeled and we put in pot drawers. (From ideas I saw on this web-site). We also own a home in Phoenix and it has the pull-outs. I FAR prefer the pot drawers. The pull outs are less handy and things fall off of them and they just are not as versatile. I LOVE the pot drawers. That was the best suggestion I got from this site. Have fun!

Cathy

How deep are your pot drawers?

1 kd suggested 1 drawer lids 1 drawer pots (in pull outs) but know am am going back to what i origannal wanted draws. Will take other suggestions, thanks.

Drawers...they are fabulous. I have two beneath my cooktop...36" wide. The fry/saute/wok pans are in the top drawer. Pots are in the bottom drawer. My roasting pans are in a drawer under my double ovens. Cookie sheets, etc. are in dividers above the ovens.

I say drawers, I complained about the number of drawers my Mom required and suggested pull-outs instead and just about everyone said the drawers are more convenient. Her layout has four 30 inch pot drawers (and 8 other standard drawers plus 4 pull out shelves in the pantry). Her compromise was no full extension but with the height of the pot drawers access didn't appear to be all that impeded by having them extend to just 75%. Having made it 68 years (exactly today in fact) without full extension drawers she felt she could live out what remains without them. You can get a lid holder that will sit in the bottom to one side of the pot drawer if lids are an issue.

My KD was really pushing a cabinet with pull outs and a drawer in the toe kick area. He said people loved using the toe kick drawer for lids and the rest of the cabinet for pans. I declined his suggestion. For me opening one drawer and finding the pans and lids that match is preferable to having to open two drawers to get out what is essentially one pan. You have to choose what makes sense to you. Don't let the KD insert his opinion too stenuously. He probably doesn't even cook!

I love my deep pot drawers! Here are some pics!

definately both! We have 2 deep pot/pan drawers under our rangetop, and every cabinet has a pull-out bottom shelf.

-Gorillla

sorry to hijack thread....

cdecker1:
I noticed your beautiful kitchen pictures. My builder suggested the same pantry door....do you like it? Are you happy with it? Is it completely frosted - can you see in it all? Thanks for any input. Do you have any wider view pictures so I can see the door within the whole kitchen?

Consider what items you want to store in the drawer/pull-out and take measurements. If you are storing some large (tall) items like a crock pot, stand mixer or stock pot, it may not fit in the drawers.

Two kitchens ago we had some drawers and some pull-outs and it worked for us. We needed the extra height clearance (and ease of removal) that the pull-outs provided for those large items. We didn't use those items often, so the double effort to open the door then pull out was not that big of an issue.

In the current kitchen (in planning stages) I have a lot of cabinet space to work with and will be using at least one set of pull-outs.

My new kitchen is all drawers, except for the two sink bases and the trash can pull-out. I LOVE drawers!! All of my larger appliances store in the pantry in a corner cabinet I had made for them so I don't miss bottom cabinets one bit.

We have one set of pull-out shelves in our existing kitchen. I really dislike them and hope to move to drawer units when we remodel. There seems to be a lot of wasted space. Items sometimes fall off the top shelves and get lodged in the back of the cabinet; other times I find myself rearranging the handles so that I can slide the tray back in. It's really annoying! I would prefer a single motion that opens and reveals the entire content.

Clinresga?
How many Le Creuset pots are you able to store in a drawer? I've got about 4 heavy, enameled items and wonder if the combined weight is a problem. Would appreciate your thoughts.

i've been thinking about this and i have to say i'm not jumping onto the "death to all pullouts!" camp. first, i don't like storing my lids with my pots and pans. it becomes a mess and more difficult to store pots inside one another.

i'm planning on a few wide, deep drawers for pots/pans but the lids are going in a pull out (behind doors ...GASP) outfitted with lid holders from rev-a-shelf. i love those things. they keep all the lids stacked standing. they are easy to access and you can see each lid. i suppose you could outfit a deep drawer with a similar gadget but i haven't come across anything like that for drawers. i think a kitchen outfitted with all drawers looks nice, but definitely not practical for me.

The nice thing about our wide pots drawer is that I have no more than two pots nested, and most are not nested at all. The lid is then stored right with the pot. With nested pots, it's no problem or mess storing two lids on top of the "nest". Yes, if you are nesting 3 or 4 I can see that it might be an issue.

With minimal nesting, it's so much nicer just reaching in and pulling out the pot w/lid in one "motion"...no more hunting for which one fits the pot. Even the couple that are nested, it's not much more of an effort and there's still the advantage of knowing the lid that's in the "nest" fits.

Jillie731...we have the same door as Cdecker1. It's a deep frost and even when the light is on in the pantry you really can't see much of anything. The design is not frosted, but someone would have to look through small areas and probably have to get really close to see anything.

My door was purchased from Home Depot (special order) from Feather River Doors.

Will be going w/ deep pull outs, because company we will use does not make draws in the size we want. I'm ok w/ it now. Finallize plans hopefully this week. Thanks all.

Like 2 sided floor to ceiling custom pegboard pullout for shallot pots/pans, lids, utensils... inspired by previous GW post of Ikeafans custom pullout broom closet.

That's awesome, Chefkev. I'll definitely be stealing that idea!

jillie731 - sorry so long in getting back to you. I have not been getting my GW responses on my email like I used to.
I love my pantry door. You can only kinda see in if you have the light on in the pantry. It actually looks really pretty back lit! I will look for some other pics and post them.

There was a post the other day that showed a pot drawer. At the front of the drawer, there is a divider for the lids. So, the lids were stored vertically in the front of the pot drawer. I showed this to my KD and we are going to do this, i think.

My previous kitchen had almost all pull-outs. Besides the two-steps required, my kids would never open the doors all the way without pulling out the pull-outs (sounds like a dance), so the inside of the doors were scratched. It is so great to be using drawers. I have most of my pans on a rack in a cabinet, but the larger ones are in the second drawer in a three-drawer stack under the cooktop. All the lids are in the top drawer. Some pans and lids are being used, the drawers hold more.

I only now noticed that you had already made your decision. Just ignore me.