The last of my cabs just went in this morning, so I'm still a little ways away from actually using my new kitchen but I do have to say that I am so glad I went with more drawers and less doors w pull-out shelves this kitchen. I also am very glad we got the BlueMotion on everything.

I agree with lynninnewmexico, lots of drawers for storage instead of cabinets with pullout shelves.

However, the best thing we did when planning our cabinets was to design our cabinets around their contents rather than designing the cabinets and then trying to fit all the stuff in afterwards. We looked at our layout and thought long and hard about where we wanted to store specific things. Once we decided what should go where, we chose our cabinets to house those specific items, making sure we picked the best storage option for that particular item. Moving into the kitchen was a breeze- no questions about what should go where.

Prep tools are in drawers under the main prep area; pots are in drawers under the rangetop; spices are in a pullout by the rangetop (which is across from the prep area); dishes are in drawers on the dining side of the DW....well you get the drift.

I love the wastebaskets in the cabinet. I can't stand to see a rubbish can in a kitchen. We have two wastebaskets in the cabinet in this new kitchen. Also, lots of drawer bases instead of cabinets.

TOe kick drawers :) EVERYWHERE!

Upper cabinets are 14" deep inside for those larger plates. Love having a pull-out trash but our dog is a bit ticked. Lots of drawers that are 30" wide x 21", drawers that are 3 stacked instead of 4 (5, 10, 10"), blumotion, having the corner of the cabinet completely accessable by having it shaped like \__/ instead of L (don't know what those are called) and being able to have a completely round lazy Susan, having the cupboards above the fridge just as deep, having lights in the upper glass part of the cabinets that can dim, having a pantry with drawers, rollouts, and adjustable shelves. Pretty much everything that I heard about from this group.

I know the drawers are favored by many because of the two steps in getting to the contents and the fact that you lose 2 inches or so on each side due to the mechanism but I want to point out that the slide out shelves can be adjustable in height whereas drawer heights are fixed when you design them.

This is all good stuff. What is a "toe kick drawer"? Thanks!
try_hard
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I have to agree on the deep pots-n-pans drawers . . . I have them almost everywhere and in my new kitchen hope to have even more. They're just so easy to get things out of . . . I even have my heavy everyday stoneware in them.

I love my angled corners -- one houses a big metal turntable and the other, a three-bin recycle center. And the prep area in the angle is more convenient than a right-angle corner.

I added an extra shelf in a mug cupboard -- mugs are stored single layer instead of stacked. Very convenient.

My favorite is the hidden trash pull-out.

But one that I don't think I've seen mentioned yet is the cabinet -narrow, but tall & deep- installed in the dead space between my range and the Corner Susan, that accommodates baking sheets, cookie pans and cooling racks, stored vertically.

No matter how many times I reorganized my old cupboards it seemed it always resulted in an avalanche when I pulled one of those out when they were stored horizontally.

Drawers, drawers and more drawers. : ) DH even made the space under the sink a drawer. After 4 homes with stationary shelves inside doored cabinets, I was over reaching into the dark for stuff. I did have a few pullouts and they serve a purpose, as well, but I much prefer drawers. As for lost space, if you plan well that doesn't have to happen unless you're really tight on storage space.

Whatever you do don't rush into the first plan presented. Think it over and virtually walk through the plan with your needs in mind before signing on that dotted line.

Have fun building! I've always enjoyed the process.

Trash pullout is one of my favourites. I detested my trash can being out in the open (it was SS and quite good looking) because you have this "thing" sitting out, know what I mean?

The best advice I found here while planning with my cabinet maker was to have a variety of drawers, cabinets and pullouts. Can't remember who said this, but everyone was going crazy over ALL deep drawers, and this rather wise individual cautioned us. I heeded the advice a little but not enough. Alas, I got too many deep drawers and a few shallower ones would have been great!

Toe kick drawers sound good, but only if you're in perfect health. I know someone who has several and she can't bend low enough to really use them. If you have back, hip or knee problems be wary of those.

One thing I had done was add a few outlets inside of cabinets. That was you can have items that need to be plugged in out of sight. Like a dustbuster or battery chargers.

Ditto on ALL of the above (lots of drawers, some pull-outs for variable height options, corner lazy susans w/o a post in the center, utensil/prep tool drawers placed where they'll be used, concealed trash and recycling, Blumotion full-extension glides) - I would also add the Blum soft-close hinges (LOVE THESE!!) and my favorite...a recessed niche in which you put hooks to hold dish towels and a vertical wall-mounted paper towel holder - it's all right next to my sink yet it's hidden w/o needing to be behind a door or pulled out on a rack - love that too.

Haven't even ordered our cabinets yet (this Friday!) But, here are a few threads that might be useful:

Best advice from this forum

Care to share your best kitchen storage ideas?

Now that I have [X], I think I could have lived without it

tray cabinets - top 1/2 wasted space

What do you wish you had done differently?

They have a lot of information on just your topic...as well as other related information.

HTH!

~Blumotion on drawers (full extension)
~Soft-close on doors (DH's favorite toy!)
~Toe kick trash cab opener (and the trash cab itself with a pullout above for towels and micro fiber cloths)
~Metal sheets/panels affixed to inside of pantry doors for magnets
~Tray divider cabinet (only room for one divider, but so much easier to access my cookie/baking sheets and cooling racks--Yay!)
~Pullout drawers in my pantry!
~Found space--narrow depth cab for kick heater switches and outlet for cordless recahargeable handi mixer, and another one for my slim step stool
~island drawer for plastic wrap, foil, and assorted storage bags
~drawers for tupperware/plasticware (could use more than two though!)

The best thing about my cabs - FRAMELESS!!!!

I will never, ever go back to framed. Ever.

All drawers in the base cabinets. The only doors are on the sink units.

We store everything in them....we only have 2 upper cabinets for glasses. All dishes and even the extra set of glasses for large parties are all in drawers.

Blumotion is terrific also.

And we upgraded to the Blum metal drawers. They hold 100 pounds each, and still have the 5/8" maple plywood bottoms and the solid cherry fronts.

And plan out where you'll put everything ahead of time. We actually have so many base drawers (deep and shallow) that we can have zones in the kitchen...baking, for example, where all the flours, sugar, and soda/powders are in the lowest drawer, all the mixing bowls in the drawer above it, and all the measuring cups/spoons and mixing utensils are in the top drawer. You don't have to walk over the the pantry and lug the heavy sugar/flour containers.

And all the pots and skillets go under the rangetop in shallow drawers. All the deep pots (stock and pasta) fit in the deep drawers to the right of the rangetop.

And all the cooking utensils for the stove are in the top drawer to the right of the rangetop.

Also...when you have that many drawers take the time to find just the right pulls. They will get used a lot, so you want something that fits your hand comfortably and can easily pull a 75 or 100 pound drawer open. And sometimes the cheaper pulls are better...I almost went for the custom $30/pull Colonial Bronze hand forged ones, until I saw the cheap $6 Amerock at my local hardware store. They worked better, were a fraction of the cost, and looked great. And in the end, you notice the beautiful cherry custom cabs, not the pulls and knobs.

When it's all over and done, you'll be shocked at how you obsessed over the silliest things, and how much the simpler and bigger items are more important. Layout, functionality, ease of cleaning, etc...take the time to get it right from the beginning.

Pull out trash/recycling bin near the sink & spice pull out spice rack near the range.... love em!

Just curious about your cabinest for the paper towel holder. I am trying to find a place for mine since I dont like the look of the tall thing on the counter. Do you have a picture you could post?

I'd love to see that paper towel holder too. I was trying to imagine it.

Blumotion soft close for drawers and cabs are the ultimate for us. I know some say they don't like this feature, but we loved it enough to put them on all the vanities as well. I love my super susan and also the appliance garage (we hide a multitude of sins in there)lol

Too many favourite things to list them all. Best part was working with a custom cab maker. You get to really set things up the way you want. I almost forgot my tall pantry which we found a space for and is only 30" w x 14" D, but goes to the ceiling!! I have lots of Christmas stuff on the highest shelves.

I really prefer my pull out to my drawer base- I hate that I have 10" of space, but my wok and big skillet either take up the entire drawer or they have to be stacked and I have to juggle to get the pan I want out. I'll probably add another pull out shelf (behind the drawer front) to that cabinet.

Oh, I forgot to add my spice drawer/insert to that list (and it's one of MY favorite things so I can't believe I'd forgotten that one)!

Our KD and I had originally planned to put spice racks on the inside of an upper cab door, but to wait on having them installed (to have the installer attach them on site). Soooo glad we did. We realized while finalizing the cabs/measurements that certain drawers would be better used for other purposes than originally intended (either because of the drawer sizes or their location relative to other things in the kitchen), and recognized this fact even more so once the cabs were delivered and being installed in our space. So, we then planned to make one of the drawers a spice drawer with an insert to hold the spice bottles and I LOVE it!!!! So nice and neat and I can get things I need without all the bottles falling down on my head or into the mixing bowl below!

Amck: But one that I don't think I've seen mentioned yet is the cabinet -narrow, but tall & deep- installed in the dead space between my range and the Corner Susan, that accommodates baking sheets, cookie pans and cooling racks, stored vertically.

Amck  could you post of picture of this? I would love to see it :-)

Mnhockeymom: a recessed niche in which you put hooks to hold dish towels and a vertical wall-mounted paper towel holder

Mnhockeymom  add me to the list that would like to see a picture of this as well :-)

I love my 30 inch deep cupboards. Having the extra countertop space is great but it is even more astonishing how much you can fit in the deeper drawers and cabinets. Wow. And the oil pullout is another favorite. Mine holds oils, large spice bottles, cooking salt & pepper, etc. So handy!

We have a 24" wide pantry cabinet next to our mixer that we use as a baking cabinet. The upper part has pull out shelves. One pull out is right at counter height and we store the most used baking supplies there--flour and sugar canisters, baking powder and soda, vanilla, etc. When baking, I pull out the shelf and when I'm done it gets pushed back in. Baking supplies are very accessible without being stored on the counter and clean up is simple.

Also, lots of shallow drawers--great for storing lids of various types.

Tray dividers in cabinet above fridge.

12" deep base cabinet for cookbooks.

I like having a mixture of drawers and pull outs. Sometimes a use can be found for the "wasted" space on the sides of the pull outs--I store extra boxes of foil and plastic wrap there.

Something I know I must have is what my mother has under one of the ovens in her '60's kitchen :) The whole, tall cupboard has thin shelves (plywood skin, or something), with a few inches between each, set in grooves, so they can be pulled out. I haven't counted, but there are maybe a dozen of them. These hold everything from place mats to cookie sheets to carving boards to china platters to big serving trays to hot trays. I can't even remember what all else is in there between those "to's". There is so MUCH in such a relatively small space, all organized and easy to get to.

This is not function. But put some glass somewhere. Glass fronts I think are essential to break up a wall of wood. I actually had some custom stained glass fronts made for two of my cabinets, to go with the upper cabinet hanging over my bar area that is double-sided, with a glass shelf, with lights inside.

As far as function goes, I love my niche for hanging my towels and hiding my step stool.

I also love the "chopping cart" I designed and had the cabinet maker make to hold knives, extra cutting boards, veggies, and etc.

Thanks for all the ideas!
try_hard
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I assume you're just seeking kitchen cabinet advice on this forum, but you mention that you're talking with the cabinet maker about custom closets as well. We just moved into our custom-built home, with on-site built custom cabinets. For our closet, I measured exactly how much hanging space I needed and husband needed, exactly how much shoe space we needed, exactly how many drawers we needed, exactly how much space my husband's huge T-shirt and baseball cap collection (sometimes I think he thinks he's still in college) takes up, etc. Although our closet is on the small side of today's master closets, it fits us perfectly ... and I had it built so that our clothing collection can grow a little over time. Space was a premium in our closet, so I wanted to make sure we used it as effectively as possible and didn't have too much hanging space when we fold a lot of our clothes. We also took shelves all the way up to our 9-foot ceilings and I keep an three-step step-stool in the closet. So, those are my suggestions for your master closet.

Thank you soonermagic! By the way, are you an Oklahoma Sooner fan? I'm located in OK, too.
try_hard
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