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deedles_gw

Who has toekick drawers and do you like them?

deedles
12 years ago

In my quest to gather as much info as possible about kitchen design from all you pros,I thought I'd ask about the toekick drawers. Are they useful and worth the $$ or no? What do you guys store in them? All I can think of is cookie sheets?

Thanks. It's so nice to have found a place to ask questions and get answers based on reality and experience...it almost feels 'comforting' at the risk of sounding dramatic.

Comments (15)

  • abfabamy
    12 years ago

    I suppose whether you could use them depends on how many drawers your able to have in your bases, and what kind of things you have in your kitchen to store.

    My mom remodeled her kitchen and has 3 of them. She has a small kitchen and cooks a lot, so she absolutely LOVES them and shows them off whenever someone new comes around, LOL.

    She does put things like cookie sheets, cooling racks, and pizza pans in one. But she also uses others for small, less used utensils (cheese slicer, mushroom slicer, flat grater, shish kabob skewers, etc). She is only 5' tall, so she keeps a small folding stepstool in one.

    When I started my remodel, she urged me to get some, but I have a larger kitchen and, thanks to advice I received on GW, was able to have 18 drawers in my lowers. So when I priced the toe kick ones, I decided I could do without them.

  • melaska
    12 years ago

    Another use I've heard used for them is a kidspot to store art supplies/crafts. (Away from cooking area, of course).

  • Jodi_SoCal
    12 years ago

    I like mine. I'm short and often need a step-stool to reach things on higher shelves. Having a step-stool close by is very handy.

    Jodi-

  • nancyaustin
    12 years ago

    I have 5 toekick drawers and find them a great place to store placemats and napkins. My KD discouraged me from putting them in the kitchen, assuring me that they'd be dustcatchers. I put them in the adjacent laundry room instead and am glad to have the extra storage space. Dust has not been a problem.

  • marcolo
    12 years ago

    If you get custom cabinets, another option is to make the toe-kick space part of the drawer above it.

  • chicagoans
    12 years ago

    I was thinking what marcolo said. I saved pictures of someone's and I apologize because I can't remember whose kitchen it is. (I do remember they have GREAT cabinets!)

    This is a good side view that shows how the toe kick was cut out of (or built into) the drawer:
    {{!gwi}}

  • burntfingers
    12 years ago

    I put toekick drawers under every cabinet that I could, and I love them. One drawer is for picnic plates and things we use occasionally, another drawer has seldom-used baking tins (cupcake/muffin tins, tart pans, cookie press and decorating tips). Another keeps the pizza tray,rolling pin, pizza cutters and bread peel....

    I will be putting them under every cabinet I can in my next kitchen too!

  • puppeez
    12 years ago

    I put in two toe-kick drawers. One has the BBQ tools and is used a lot. The other I had to go look I couldn't remember what was there. It has small leftover pieces parts that I didn't know where to put them.

  • aliris19
    12 years ago

    I think toekick drawers sound way better than sliced bread except ... way more expensive too. It was pointed out to me that these are just drawers, and narrow ones at that. Drawers' cost is primarily due to the hardware, so this is injecting a lot of extra cost with not so much extra room. And while you can do that nifty toe-kick-in-drawer number from Ayr's, it's not clear to me how much extra room you gain or lose in that kind of drawer. Dunno, maybe it works with that inside ledge. But in the end that's a lot of specialized space:cost ratio. If money is not an object then definitely they seem fantastic. Else, maybe less so.

  • gr8daygw
    12 years ago

    I love the idea of them. What great "found" space for all of the items listed above. I'd say go for it! I'd love to have a space like that for a step stool, Costco size packs of batteries, extension cords and all the extra stuff that is in a junk drawer -left over parts from installation of appliances and all those instruction manuals you get with the appliances to keep there close at hand. I had not seen these before and wonder if you can add them after market? They look great and it is a wonderful idea to keep flat items that you rarely use but still need to keep around. I have some decorative casserole holders from Southern Living and Arthur Court that should be living in a space like that instead of in my pantry taking up valuable real estate. Very cool idea.

  • clvransom
    12 years ago

    I will have two of them in my new kitchen. I have a small kitchen and need all of the storage space I can get.

  • logansmum
    12 years ago

    I always thought they would be a great place to put your "real" silverware--we don't use it that often and now it's stored in the china cabinet in the DR. What thief would think to look in the toekick? Well, maybe one that reads the kitchen forum ;-)

  • muskokascp
    12 years ago

    We have 2 toe kick drawers and I love them. I have placemats, seasonal napkins in one right now. The other is empty because we are not quite done the renovation so not everything is organized yet.

  • westsider40
    12 years ago

    I have 3 of them. Chicagoans, on Sun at 21:09, posted a picture of the toe kick drawer made by Ayr Custom Cabinetry for loves2cook4six.

    I, too, used Ayr for my cabs. And as Marcolo mentioned, our toe kick drawers are part of a larger drawer. It may not be worth it for a large kitchen, but I do not know the individual cost of them. They are beautifully made.

  • deedles
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Jodi--Thanks for the pic and info.. pretty cabinets! I like your stain color.
    Marcolo/Chicagoans--what a neat idea! I'll save the pic in case.

    I too have a small kitchen to remodel and every inch is going to count. Price is a factor, of course but I could probably only get 2 or 3 toekick drawers worked in anyway. It seems they have good potential for all the baking stuff and barbeque items! I never know what to do with that stuff all winter long.

    Thanks everyone for the thoughts/ideas.