Most people who use drawers don't find pegs necessary, especially with soft closers.

My everyday dishes are in the corner between the fridge and microwave on one side and the sink and dishwasher then stove on the other. Very convenient. I tried putting the plates in a drawer and didn't like it. I put the containers there, instead. The flatware is in the top drawer. The glasses in one cupboard, small plates and cereal bowls on the other side, and in the corner cupboard, in the middle, are dinner plates, rimmed soups, glass lidded bowls and over sized containers, a few odd bits of Corelle for microwaving, and on the top shelf a few mugs, salt and peppers, extra cutlery holders for the DW, etc. Very compact and efficient.

There's a butler's pantry for the many many many dining room dishes, glasses, stemware, sets of flatware, etc. Still efficient, but not so compact. :)

SixtyOhno, stompoutbermuda, and pps7, thank you for letting me know since I am still trying to figure out if I should buy the pegs for the draws and store my dishes there or continue to store them in an upper cabinet that is difficult for petite me to reach. I like the door chosen on my cabinet but not the too plain drawer so I Kitchen the two big drawers back to two cabinet doors with pull-outs to keep it pretty but now I wonder if I should switch back to drawers. Wish my kitchen was bigger for an island but I know some people with smaller kitchens than me so I count my blessings.

Anybody else have time to share where they store their everyday plates?

Plllog, thanks for letting me know that any people using drawers don't find the pegs necessary. I will have soft closers.

My cabinets will be 1" lower than they are now since mine are higher than standard height at 19" right now. In the store, at 18" height, it was so much easier to reach inside the cabinets for me. It was amazing what that 1" did unless mine are even higher than I think since they were attached to the 11.5" soffit on my 8.25" ceiling and the soffit is going and I will have taller cabinets with more room on each shelf. I have the dishes in the cabinets now and I wondered if I should put them in drawers.

I do have a nice Pantry close with slide out shelves and I will have no blind corners anymore. I can excited but still need to be sure about everything before making the commitment.

Pam29011, Thanks for letting me know that you store them above the dishwasher which really is a good place to store them. I keep containers there but that is a good idea also. Maybe with the new lower cabinets (only 18" of room from the counters to the cabinets instead of 19"... I am very petite so the 1" amazingly makes a big difference in what I can reach inside the cabinet unless my current cabinets are 19.5" of space and are even higher than I think), that will be a good place for the dishes. I think I did not store them there since the dishwasher has the handle that sticks out so it makes it harder to reach inside for me. Maybe I should have went with a dishwasher without a handle.

I just had my cabinets installed this week. I have a 36 inch drawer that is 8 inches deep. I ordered the peg in drawer system prior to learning on here that it wasn't necessary with soft close drawers. GWers are correct nothing moves with the soft close drawers so you don't need the pegs to keep the dishes in place.The 36 in. drawer holds all my everyday dishes and is located across from my dishwasher. Glasses and mugs are in a 24 in. drawers next to the 36 in.

We keep ours in the upper cabinets to the right and left of the kitchen sink. One cabinet is above dishwasher. Works well. I'm not particularly tall either but can reach everything on the bottom 2 shelves in each cabinet (and all of our everyday dishes and glasses fit on those shelves.)

badgergal, my drawers will be directly across from the dishwasher also so maybe I should change the pull outs inside cabinets to drawers. Then I have to decide if I can live with such a plain drawer look or go with the fancier drawer on the cabinet style. It looks like it would be so convenient for me to put the dishes away and not have to stack the in the cabinet above so I have to remove the top smaller dishes to reach the bottom ones. That 8" depth sounds great! I am waiting for the installers to give me the estimate of removing the soffit and cabinets and installing the new cabinets this Wednesday so I need to decide if I am changing the design again. Any pictures. Congratulations on the new cabinets finally being installed. You must be excited! Thanks for letting me know that I don't need the pegs in the drawers. But is it still better with the pegs for organizing everything?

We keep plates and bowls in drawers to the right of our dishwashers and cleanup sink, and the glasses and some cups, as well as serveware in the hutch on top of the base cabinets. We keep mugs in a shelf by the coffee maker with teas, etc.

We don't have pegs in the drawers, nor do we have soft-close drawer glides... just some non-skid, soft, rubbery type of drawer liner.

cmm6797, Thank you for letting me know. I am only 4'10" tall but my cabinets will not be as high up as they are now since they are higher than standard height. I know from being in the store, the bottom shelf is easier for me to reach inside. Right now the shelf to the left of the dishwasher is a cabinet with a blind back that I hate but it will be gone and I will have a corner cabinet there with a lazy-susan on top an done under the cabinets also to help me reach everything. I wonder if I should change to drawers and just buy rubbery shelf liners and then I can decide if the drawer or cabinet would be best.

Thanks for sharing.

Rhome410, What a great idea to put the dishes and cups in less wide but deep drawers so they will not be too heavy. Maybe I do want drawers. I wish I liked my drawer better but the cabinet style that I like the drawer better has a glossier and busier door that I not sure about. I wish funds were unlimited. Thank you for sharing.

Drawers, no pegs, soft close. I have flatware in top drawer, cups in middle drawer (esp ones the kids like, I do have other "fancier" glasses in an upper cab), plates in bottom drawer:

Here is a link that might be useful: my kitchen organization

You will get more space in drawers than you will on the pull out shelves and the drawers will most likely have higher sides than the pull outs. Just something else to think about! I have not even really started using my kitchen yet since I have no countertops but already I love my drawers.
My Amish cabinet maker charged $50 dollars for the 36 in. peg in drawer insert. I would have had to send him a letter to cancel it and I never got around to it. So I have it and it looks cool but you don't need it for organizing and as I said before nothing moves if you have soft close doors .

In my old kitchen I stored the everyday dishes in the cabinet above the DW.
In my new kitchen (same house) I have two 36" wide drawers in the island across from the DW. The top drawer also has a second drawer for all my silverware. When I open the drawer, there is all the silverware and serving spoons. I push back on that and underneath is service for 16. There are small plates, dinner plates, cereal bowls, veggie serving bowls, salad plates and there is even room for a stack of paper plates.

The second deep drawer (same size) is where I stash all my plastic containers.

The cabinet above the DW holds coffee supplies and coffee mugs and some everyday glasses.

I love the setup. It is so much easier to use for setting the table and for emptying the DW.

Honeychurch, Thank you so much for sharing. I was also glad to see you had plain drawers also so maybe having three drawers where I now have a drawer and a cabinet underneath it would not look bad.. It sure looks easier to have access to dishes and cups since I am more petite than most at 4'10". I wish my style cabinet I am choosing would be in the Linen Color so I could see how the drawer looks.

My love really is the Inset Cabinets in the Polar color that will give me the fancier drawers (recessed shaker drawer) but I will have to sacrifice no trash can pull outs, no silverware organizer, no pull-outs in the pantry so I am waiting for an install price of the other cabinet that is nice also that will keep my kitchen very organized since the cost is starting to really add up needing new lighting, removal of the soffit and cabinets, installing the tiles first, removing the appliances and needing them moved back and plugged back in and the same with the plumbing. I hope the the installer is not as much as the last store since the cabinets (do not have the shaker look I really wanted but the door is pretty with a raised panel but he drawer is plain) with all the organization items added is really what I need.

The 21 year old worn oak cabinets I have now are builder grade and have blind corners and you open the cabinet to find nothing really inside to organize anything.

P.S. The drawer I liked had a recessed panel but the drawer that comes with the cabinets I am now looking at to save money that are all plywood are very plain. They did have another style with a pretty raised panel on the drawer and door that was busier but had a slight more gloss level so I am not sure.

P.S.S. The Shiloh beaded inset cabinets I loved with the square recessed panel on the drawer and door had the perfect polar color and perfect gloss level to me but I would have to live without many organization inside the cabinets and not have all the pull-outs in the pantry closet at a higher price and I am starting to really be spending more than I should. But I keep wondering if anyone sells them for less.....

Badgergal, thank you again for helping me. It looks like drawers are the way to go!

Wizardnm, thank you for letting me know that you do use the drawers frequently and you do store everything plates, etc. in there.

I think I will change to drawers but must decide if I want to stay with the style cabinet I chose or switch back to the one with the more style on the drawer. But I never really had drawers and my cabinets have such terrible storage that I was not sure what to do.

I store all my dishes in drawers also. Works perfectly and I am surprised how much the drawers hold. I only have one bank of drawers in my kitchen now. But the new kitchen we are planning will have all drawers!

All everyday china and glasses are in wall cabinets above and next to the DW (also central for the kitchen). We have a toddler and wanted to minimize rules and latches and anxiety, so we do not keep breakables below counter level.

Ours are in the upper cab above the DW (plates, bowls, and cups). Glasses are on the other side of the sink.

Thank you Mercymygft, waterdamage, and prospect711 for your input. Right now I am feeling I have my dishes in the corner cabinet away from the dishwasher which really is a bad place. I never thought about this before until looking for new cabinets.

I like the drawer idea a lot! IF that is not possible, then I like storing them in the cabinets above the dishwasher. I think I never stored them there since the dishwasher's handle made my reach more difficult but my new cabinets will be 18" above the counters instead of over 19" above as they are now.

Everything we use daily is on open shelves to the r and l of the sink/dishwasher area.

We keep our plates on shelves between the kitchen and dining area. They are easily accessible during meal prep and when setting the table. We have a variety of plates and it's important for me to be able to see the entire stack instead of just the top one. I can adjust the shelf above as our collection increases or decreases.

I'm not crazy about the idea of keeping heavy dishware in drawers. We use plates and bowls a lot over the course of a day and I don't see the advantage of putting the entire stack in motion every time I want one. I was very enthusiastic about our drawers when our kitchen was redone but I'm over heavy drawers. I prefer a nice easy shelf.

I also differ with a lot of people here in that I prefer keeping everyday dishes at point of use rather than near the dw. I unload the dw during quieter times. I use dishes during busier times and prefer to save the steps then.

I have a bank of 40" drawers to the right of the dishwasher. Flatware and some serveware miscellaneous stuff in top drawer, plate/bowls/some serving bowls/plastic cups in the middle, plastic storage containers on the bottom. Everyday glasses and mugs, coffee supplies in a wall cabinet above the drawers. I did all drawers on the lowers of my new kitchen (except for under the sinks), and I really like it. It's very easy to organize everything. No pegs, and no drawer liners, either.

Cj

Zelmar, that sounds like a great plan for you and if I had your set up. I am glad you are happy and sorry that you did not like the drawers but I am glad those that don't like drawers are coming forward also.

Since, I made my formal dining room (that has a wall that separates it from the kitchen. The kitchen is open to the family room and is not near the dining room)part of my home office and next to the kitchen/dining table (had many inserts to make it bigger and flaps to make the pretty wooden table smaller) is a sliding door so I don't have any island or any place other than my kitchen cabinets/drawers to store the dishes. I have my dishes currently in my old cabinets that I have not yet removed far away in the corner closest to the range. OF course my kitchen is only 14 feet long and 10 feet wide so it is not that far. but I chose that cabinet when I moved into my home 14 years ago but from reading these replies, that is not the best place for dishes being the farthest away from the table and from the dishwasher.

cj47, thanks for letting me know that you have drawers where you keep all the flatware, dishes, bowls, cups, storage containers, etc. and that you love your drawers with no pegs and no drawer liners. Due to my set up of my kitchen, I am now thinking drawers across the kitchen will be best since I have only a tiny cabinet next to the dishwasher before the refrigerator is there and the pantry closet. I had been keeping my silverware in the top drawer next to the dishwasher but the plates, etc. I kept on the other side of the kitchen which I guess was not the best place. I am petite so maybe I should just get the drawers and stop worrying about the look. Maybe I should choose another style if I want more of a design on the drawer like a recessed panel or a raised panel.

Trailrunner, your set up sounds like a nice idea for you but I have very short arms and the only wall space I will have is above the kitchen sink I I don't put a cabinet there and I can't reach that far so well so that would not work for me but I can see that it is a good idea to have easy access. Thanks for sharing.

lynn..I have LONG arms :) Good thing that there are so many options. I hope you can find an ideal solution for you . c

trailrunner, the way it is working for me now, I can only reach the bottom shelf in my cabinet and the farther away part of the cabinet is too far to reach. I rarely use anything on the 2nd shelf since I have to stand on my toes and can only pull a mug off that shelf that is on the end. Maybe drawers would be good for me.

You are so blessed to have long arms. Even Petite clothes on me usually have arms to long and need to be rolled up so I always look for cuffs or the shrunken look so they fit me town to my wrists and not below.

Ours are in 2 36" wide drawers near the table and across the aisle on a slight diagonal from the dw in our island. We can unload with each drawer pulled out and the dw door open, so it is so easy. Setting the table is simple or plating the dishes on the island above before moving to the table as well.
We do not need liners, pegs, dividers or any sort of accessory as the soft close feature keeps things from slamming around. I love our wide drawers and would never put our dishes in a cabinet again.
The cups are stacked in our lowest drawer because our kids are young (8.5 and almost 10) and our open shelves are not installed yet. They may stay in the drawer or move onto the open shelves. I am not sure what else I'd put on the shelves or in the drawer, so that is a good problem to have. In our last kitchen everything was jammed tight or stored outside the kitchen. The new space gives us options.
If I keep them in the island drawer, I'll put some decorative things on the shelves but I will need to figure out what or buy some, lol.... Perhaps our stemware can go on the shelves... hmmm. I sense a vote in the future for GW ;)

Lynn, with your stature, the drawers are a no-brainer. I think your only decision is depth and width.

Here's a shot that shows the overall relative setup of our dish storage drawers and cabinets, cleanup sink and DW:

Dishes are in the upper cabinet to the R of the DW. A friend of mine who is 5'-0" says very loudly, in no uncertain terms: "Oh NO, this would not work for me .... no way I could do this...: etc. She's very vocal! And those upper cabinets are 1" shorter than normal height. I can reach and make it but I certainly need a step stool for the upper shelves. It's OK with me but in your position I would not like it.

And come to think of it, what she does with her dishes is pretty interesting. I don't have a picture but she has what is essentially a tall pantry pull out with shelves inside that pullout. The shelves are metal and of varying height; she uses this whole contraption for her plates and cups storage. What's nice is that it is available at all heights; it's a unit with no countertop, if you follow. A little like Rhome's, only less decorative. Having shelves pullout separately means the whole shebang doesn't have to all roll out at once, an objection of another's above to the drawers-concept.

I thought I had a picture of the storage but evidently I need a new one...

The dishdrawers are underneath a 30" deep baking counter. I am starting to wish I had made the next bank of drawers also 30" deep, this would have resulted in the DW being set against a wall that was offset on the left, but I think it would have worked. It would have given more space in the drawers.

KDs like to tell you that if you have deep counters just to pull 24" drawers off the back wall. Don't let them talk you out of deep drawers! IME at least, they are wonderful. There is another bank of drawers to the left of my cleanup sink I let her talk me into 24" deep drawers for. I regret it. Stupid not to use every available inch if you can, in my books. The deep runners for the drawers cost a little more and are thoroughly worth it, IMO.

In the large bank (see photo above) the bottom drawer has tons of plastic, tupperware and the like. This may be the heaviest-used drawer; cooking all the time and packing lunches results in lots and lots of plastic-ware throughput. The smaller low drawer to the left of the DW also has plasticware - utensils and cups and plates and straws and the like.

The next up large deep middle drawer under the deep counter is the other workhorse. It holds drinking cups and bowls and smaller plates. I agree stuff does not move about; no need whatsoever for those pegs. Be sure to measure the height of your drinking glasses so the drawer is deep enough.

Next up in that baking counter stack is utensils and baking supplies like rolling pins. The deep drawer is nice for the rolling pins; fits em. Then immediately to the left of the DW are 4 drawers, the bottom was mentioned as holding plastic plates, etc; the next is a "baking drawer" with measuring cups and spoons, baking sodas and powders and sieves and whisks. Next up is a drawer with wraps and plastic bags. Then utensils. It's nice having the utensil drawer right next to the DW IMO.

The upper cabinet above the baking counter to the left of the DW holds mugs in its lower reaches.

All the plates are easily accessible to the passthrough for setting the table. The mugs are close-ish to the coffee pot.

My DW is at right angles to the cleanup sink and I love this configuration. I'm finding it superior, in fact, to being inline with the sink, whether to the R or L of it.

Dianalo, Thanks for letting me know that you use two drawers 36" wide which would be what my drawer would be since that is the space left on the end of the cabinets before the opening that is the walk way between the kitchen and family room. I am liking the drawer idea. Any pictures? You are blessed to have an island. I have no room but I am still happy with the layout of my kitchen and I love it opening to the family room that makes it cosy to me.

Aliris19, thank you so much for you input, your pictures and making me realize that with my height I really need to be able to access all my dishes and mugs and cups, etc. and not have to keep climbing up on a step stool for anything not in the front of the cabinet. I am going to switch back over the drawers but I need to decide if I want to pay a little more for the fancier drawer. I wish the style cabinet door I like came with a fancier matching drawer. the style drawer I like has a busier door so I have to make the decision.

Your kitchen looks so cosy and has everything right where it should be so it is easy to cook, set up dishes and put everything away. You have a functional, stylish with the shaker doors that I like and pretty kitchen.

Thanks for letting me know about your 5 feet friend that is height challenged like me. I am only 4'10" tall so I really have problems reaching into my cabinets the way they are now a little more than 19" above the counters. I can't wait to have cabinets only 18" above the counter.

Our sons are much shorter than 4'10" right now and can reach the drawers with ease as can my dh who is 5'11". In our old kitchen, our plates were in a tall but narrow cab, so we had to turn dinner plates diagonally to get them past the opening when going in or out. Some stuff was behind others and a lot was stacked on top of what we needed at any given time. The new drawers let us spread it out and pull it out towards us to get things. If the drawer is open multiple people can get something from it rather than one body blocking all access.

We have so many plates in our dishes drawer that dh said just last night that we should pare down some since we never get anywhere near the bottom of a stack. The drawer rolls just fine even though we have approx 40 or so ceramic dinner plates in addition to fewer bowls, smaller plates and plastic plates/bowls. You will find the storage to be luxuriously spacious with a 36" wide drawer in a "3 stack".

BTW - our cups are in the bottom drawer since when they are stacked upside down, they come up higher than the plates would (unless you have too many plates as we seem to have, lol). Grabbing the bottom of a cup is not very low down.

Lynn, you might consider, if it's not too late, lowering those uppers even an inch more. There were several threads on here a while back about lower-height uppers. That's another thing KDs might get edgy about; recommendations (as you know) are for 18" above the counter. But if you don't have appliances, say tall coffee makers or blenders, that need to fit, you might get away with less. There was someone here with 16" uppers who said she was fine with it. The tradeoff is a slight sense of claustrophobia cooking underneath. And lack of light that you can make up for with under-cabinet lights.

So it depends very, very much on the actual layout of your kitchen, but I think you have a powerful reason to design shorter than the norm. My kitchen is designed with lots of stuff up high and my step stool is always handy; it never gets put away! But the aisles are very large and it's OK. This is OK with me. In a tighter space and for more of the staples, it might be a problem. Obviously, YMMV.

What I'm trying to say is, these recommendations are for average norms. And they might minimize unpleasant tradeoffs. But you're not an average (or a norm), so you can and should design to what you need. The tradeoffs might well be very worthwhile for you in setting those uppers lower. And knowing the tradeoffs you might be able to design some of the problems away. For example, deep uppers are nice, deeper than the 12" norm because plates fit better, etc. But if you're going to be eclipsing some of the underneath space, you might not want to go that route of cutting additional "airspace" away. You might want to stick with 12" or possibly even less uppers, depending on your kitchen. And if you possibly can, many people have been nixing uppers altogether. At the least you might be able to assure one or two prep spaces clear of an upper and then the resulting 'claustrophobia' elsewhere can be easily worked around. In service of access, it all seems worthwhile!

In fact, with lower uppers, it might be that deeper bottom cabinets, that is deeper counters, might be especially useful. Dunno if that's an option for you.

And I'd look into this sort of storage like my friend's: I guess I can't really find her stuff but maybe it's a little bit like these metal racks at the bottom though not really. She's got a tall pullout pantry with shelves and drawers that come out; bowls and cups are upside down on this, plates in there with a slightly deeper side to the shelves that pullout. I cold never quite get used to it but I never put two and two together about the height "challenge" and how this helps.

Aliris19,

Thank you for all this useful information.

I think I was told the 18" was code for minimum height from the cabinets but if I can put the cabinets lower that would make me happier.

Thank you so much for the link! These would fit great in a pantry closet or someone's cabinet that does not have a frame in the middle. So many great organization items!

Yes, deeper and lower cabinets would be better for me so I can reach inside better.

I can agree that you may not need the full 18" but 16" is very low. Personally, I'd never go below 17.5" inches if I had a choice. I did not read everything on this thread, so this may be a repeat, but at what height are your current uppers? Is there a chance you could make your counters and base cabs shorter by an inch by working on the kickplates? It may not work by the dw run, but then again, some people raise their dws to be easier on their backs, so that can be up a few inches anyway.
I know the simplest solution is to wear comfy shoes with a little heel to them in the kitchen (clog-like). It is good to wear some sort of padded shoe if you are on your feet for good lengths of time and raising you up is easier than lowering other things.....

There's a lot of good information on this thread linked below. And someone had a thread about how their lowers were at 15" I think and she knew it was not-desired but she was completely cognizant of all the issues and chose things that way. She had lots of pictures with mea culpas about how it wasn't for everybody ... I'll look for that link and post it if I can find it. Another may remember it ... or it may be you!

Here is a link that might be useful: Are your cabinets lower than 18

Here's the link I was remembering...

Here is a link that might be useful: Super low uppers

Dianalo and aliris19, thank you for your replies giving me some more information to think about. My ceiling height is actually 18.25" and my soffit is 11.5" and somehow the bottom of my cabinets (from the longer piece to cover lighting that I never put under these cabinet) is 19.25" higher than my counter. From the counter to the bottom shelf is 21".

I think I would like my cabinets to be 17" above the counters in case I ever sell my home but I think the Kitchendesigner guy at the a few stores all told me in NJ 18" is standard by Code. I will have to look that up.If I was never going to sell my home and there was no code, I would love 15" since I could put my appliances on the counter across from the dishwasher that has no cabinets over it if I had to. Since I like looking at my pretty stainless steel blender from the open family room, I have it under the counter right now (there is 3.25" above the lid) so I can see it when sitting on the sofa. It is next tot he refrigerator.

Dianalo, Maybe keeping huge platforms in the kitchen to use would help. :) I usually wear flat shores around my home for comfort.

Lynn2006, I decided not to spend the extra money on the 5 piece drawers but ordered the flat ones. I figured it was worth it to get the beaded inset from Shiloh. I am hoping the bead will give it detail as well as the hardware. After much searching, I found photos with plain drawers that look good. Check out the Plain English website and Houzz.com

I meant 8.25 feet high the ceiling is and not an even 8 feet tall.

dreamingnh, I did find many nice pictures at Houzz.com but I could not find any cabinets on the Plain English Website that seemed to be just about English. Do you have the exact website?

Which white finish are you going with on your beaded inset cabinets from Shiloh? How much did you save by going with the flat drawers and not the 5-piece drawers? Thank you for letting me know!

dreamingnh, I found another link with some white slab inset & full overlay drawers that look nice so maybe you are right that the kitchen will still look nice. I was just trying to have a different look than I have now since my builder grade cabinet door is recessed but the drawer is slab. But I was surprised I did still like the look. Thank you!

Here is a link that might be useful: This link has several pics that have slab white drawers that look nice

lynn2006, You found some nice photos. The Plain English website www.plainenglishdesign.co.uk

I am petite also, 5'2" and with all of the drawer recommendations on GW thought I should include as many as I could. Not sure how much I saved by going with the slab drawers. We were at our limit with the budget so I didn't want to add any more expense. It is all about trade offs and figuring out what is important to you. It has taken me months of lurking on GW.

We went with Shiloh soft white.

Thanks for starting this thread. I am now thinking that I'll try the dishes in the drawers even though we didn't add the pegs.

We have several wide drawers and keep all of our everyday dishes in them. One drawer has 34 Corelle dinner plates, about 25 Corelle luncheon plates and another 15 or 20 saucers and a total of 35 or so bowls (various sizes from cereal to large serving bowls) and the drawer holds them fine. We do have pegs (gift from cabinet guy) but I don't think we necessarily need them. I will never have another kitchen without large drawers. Ours are weighted to hold up to 100 lbs. and I actually weighed all of the items in the drawer I referenced and it came to about 75 lbs.

I also love, love, love the two large drawers under my cooktop with all of my cookware. Awesome!

Our glasses and cups are in cabinets above the DW. The drawers mentioned are two or three steps away from the DW, so very easy to open the drawer, remove and stack the plates, etc., and turn to deposit them in the drawer.

I have two cabinets with pull out shelves (one has Tupperware and other storage things that I have way too much of and the other has pasta, rice, cake mixes, sauces, etc.) and while I like them, if I had it to do again I would go with more wide drawers.

My upper cabinets are inset but my drawers are all flat and I love the look. Honestly, it is less to dust when they are a flush surface so that makes cleaning a little easier.

You will love them!

What trailrunner said - open shelves just long enough to contain the dishes. Glasses and mugs are in a 5" deep open cabinet inset into a wall.

Its really no trouble to go over to cleanup and get them (10' away) - if I had more wall space and a spec more brains, I would have put the dishes in the cooking area as we tend to plate up rather than fill service pieces.

Lynn, I'm one of the folks who has lower uppers (mine are something like 16" from the counter) and I'm not even short, but I love them. I can reach EVERYthing. As others will emphasize, make sure you have some space somewhere else for tall appliances, if you use them.

There is no code that regulates the height of upper cabinets off the counter, it's not a safety issue in any way, it's just an issue of builder convenience and standardized builder-grade cabinetry heights and ceilings. If you need them lower, put them lower!

Dreamingnh, thanks for the additional website! Amazingly the inset drawers seem to look nice in both the recessed look or the slab look. I am also glad I started this thread since I think it is helping all of us and I love seeing what everyone is doing to make their lives easier.

3mutts. Thank you for letting me know that you have so many drawers and went with the slab drawer for ease of cleaning and the clean flush look.

Bmorepanic, that sounds very convenient your layout of the shelves and the recessed wall for the glasses and mugs so are easy to reach for and to put away.

circuspeanut, thanks for letting me know that you have your cabinets at 16" and you love it to reach everything. An installer was here for an estimate and I told him I wanted the cabinets lower and he said I could do it but first find out how much extra crown molding I would need and what the cost would be if I still wish for the cabinets to reach the ceiling. I am definitely going to look into this since I would love for the cabinets to be lower. I have a tall blender but I can just place the blender on the open counter that has no cabinets over it since it is open to the family room with a half of a wall in between (so far three cabinet guys want to know if I want to extend the granite counter there to put stools there but it will lessen my walk way so I prefer not to and not to increase my granite costs). Thanks for letting me know there is not code regulation for the height of cabinets over a counter and not over a range.

I put my uppers at 17" over the counter. I keep the everyday dishes and glasses on the bottom shelves of uppers, right near the dishwasher. I didn't have enough lower room to put them in drawers, and this works fine for us. "Near the dishwasher" is the important thing.

I do wish that I had made these specific cupboards 13" deep instead of 12" deep. Because of the thick back board and framed construction, they are really only about 11" deep inside. An extra inch would be great for storing larger dishes and more rows of glasses.

Ginny20, Your idea is a great idea. I like the idea of lower uppers and if you did not have room for drawers and you are tall enough to reach in the cabinets, that is a perfect spot for dishes near the dishwasher.

Thank you!