You just about described all of the cabinets surrounding our rangetop:

We have a 4-drawer bank that holds cooking utensils in the top two drawers, a 3" spice pullout (behind the column), the 36" rangetop base that has 2 deep drawers where we store pots, another 3" spice pullout, and then a 6" cabinet that was supposed to be an oil pullout (cabinet guy is trying to fix his error).

Thank you so VERY much for the photo. I love it. What are your cabinets?

It looks like at the rangrtop you had to bump out a bit beyond 24". How much deeper is it?

What do you put in the lower two drawers to the left?

Debbie

I would recommend a 42" hood (which would mean a 42" cabinet if you put in a cabinet as well), especially since you are using gas.

There is a thread going right now discussing storage in a cabinet above a cooktop w/the vent going through it. There is at least one picture showing how much room someone has in their cabinet. If you get a cabinet you should be able to have some storage there; if you get a decorative hood cover, however, I don't think there's usually storage inside.

Our kitchen hasn't been installed yet (cabinets ordered), but I have already planned every drawer and shelf! My cooktop will have to the:

* left, baking center side: 9" tray cabinet w/cooling racks, cookie sheets, & muffin tins

* under the cooktop: utensils in top, shallow drawer and pots & pans in two deeper drawers

* right, prep side: 9" tray cabinet w/cutting boards, pizza pans, griddle

* above and to the right: spices and oils

I was originally going to have 9" pullouts on either side of the cooktop for spices and oils, but like you, we ran into budget issues so we eliminated the pullouts and will have simple tray cabinets (no inserts, I can get them much cheaper after market). [That change alone saved us $700 ($350 each)!]

If you haven't already done so, my suggestion to you is to:

1. Make a list of everything you plan to store in your kitchen (regardless of where it's stored now).

2. Then, determine where each of your zones is (prep, cleanup, cooking, baking, etc.)

3. Next, identify the storage potential in each and list them on a piece of paper with a section for each cabinet (base & upper) and one line per drawer or shelf in that cabinet. Don't forget your pantry for your "storage" zone!

4. Now, take the two lists and while imagining yourself working in each zone put the dishes, tools, etc. that you will be using in cabinets in that zone. Fill in the lines in the cabinet list. This will not only help you "see" how things will fit but it will also show you where you need to "add" more storage (if possible). It will also help you when you actually move back into the kitchen...you won't have to think about it, you'll be able to just put things away. It will also be a handy "map" for everyone to help find things the first few weeks w/o having to open every drawer or door!

Can you tell I'm a "list" person?! It sounds like you're already doing at least some of this so if I'm preaching to the choir, I apologize for being long-winded! (Maybe it'll help a newcomer reading about this topic for the first time...you never know!)

HTH!

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread: Need some hood help--quick!

One of the kitchens I viewed had a wooden vent above the range that had two doors on an angle, different, but the lady who's kitchen it was really liked it. She had a few cookbooks up there and bulk spice in bags. I guess a good thing to put in and figure out later, for extra storage in a normally wasted space area.
I had small 5" cabinets above & next to the range in the old kitchen and didn't like them because I had to take out spices to find ones that I didn't use all the time. New kitchen will have pullouts at the bottom for oils & spices and upper cabinets next to the hood I'm thinking will store cook books and not so used cookie sheets etc.
I think have drawers for pot holders, trivets and such is a good idea too.
Here are some ideas
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this vent is like the one I saw but had cabinet doors in it
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Love your columns alku05, do they have rollers?
Hope this helps : )

BTW...yes, a 36" cooktop should fit in a 36" cabinet. Check the specs for your cooktop to be sure.

If you have quality drawer glides, you should be able to store even cast iron in your drawers. Some people on this site do just that. Check the weight rating for your drawer glides.

As to hanging your pots & pans above the cooktop...I'd be careful about that. Several vent hood manufacturers do have utensil bars on the ends of their hoods, but I don't think they'd be strong enough to hold cast iron pans. Also, I think they will get "yucky" if hung there. Maybe if you had a 48" hood (6" extra on each side) you might be able to do it. But, if you have pots & pans hanging along the edge of the hood I would think you'd be bumping into them while trying to cook. If you really want to hang the pots & pans, what about mounting some heavy-duty hooks in the wall or mounting a pot rack (designed for pots & pans) somewhere close by?

Other items to have in the cooking zone would be pot holders, cooling racks, & foils (used more often for prep/cooking than food storage).

HTH!

1. My last kitchen had a 30" under-cabinet hood (Zephyr Pyramid I think) and 9 foot ceilings, so tall cabinets above. We had one shelf in each side, so 4 compartments, only 2 of which I could reach. I kept my stockpot in one, so it's not an insignificant bit of storage. The duct is around 8" in diameter. It can be boxed around and the rest of that space is yours. I'm guessing it'll be storage space for the tall hubby.

2. No, gross, bad idea. There won't be room, and they'd get gross anyway.

3. yeah!

4. yeah!

5. Drawers, and that cast iron can go there too. Drawers ought to be able to handle it. There should be a weight capacity associated with your drawer slides. I looked at slides today and the soft close ones didn't have as high capacity as some other ones, so if it's a concern (36" of cast iron might be!) you may have to specify different glides for a drawer. I don't think so, but if there's a LOT of iron...well, pile it on the bathroom scale and see!

THANK YOU everyone for your wonderful feedback. With your input I am much closer to figuring out this area of the kitchen. Of course, along the way I still have a follow-up question or two.

1) The link to the other hood thread was really useful. We will have storage above the cooktop. I will have to measure but it would be great if we could fit our 12qt pan up there. Perhaps our cast iron Dutch oven or cast iron wok could fit on the other side.

2) If cast iron pans hung on the back wall, above the rangetop but below the hood, would they interfere with the ventilation? (I still subscribe to the "would be too ucky" camp, but my hubby would really like to do this for 3 or 4 of his favorite pans, so I am tryig to keep an open mind.)

3) For those of you who have a pull out base cabinet, is 6" wide enough to store several bottles of oil, cooking wine, etc? Would 9" be better? I suppose hard to average, but can anyone tell me how many bottles can fit on a shelf? Do the bottles tend to fall over when you slide the cabinet in and out?

I am starting to think one pullout will only be able to handle bottles, and I will have to plan something else for spices, likely in an upper cabinet. What are your favorite ways to store and make spices easily accessible? I always like the look of the drawer inserts, but I doubt we will ever have all of our spices neatly in the same size bottles. We buy large containers of garlic powder and parsley, "regular" bottles of basil and oregano, and often buy small half size tins of infrequently used spices. We always seem to have a large collection which currently involves constantly hunting through 20-30 bottles to find the wanted one. (At times I have tried alphabetizing them, but with multiple cooks they never stay that way for long.)

4) I am sold on the 4 drawer base cabinet to one side. I am thinking 12". Wide enough?

5) Glad to hear the drawers underneath the cooktop should work. Can anyone tell me how deep those two drawers would be (keeping in mind I am doing a rangetop, not a cooktop)? I am trying to estimate how much of our cookware and lids will fit in those drawers. If anyone could share a picture of their open drawer loaded with pans that would be so helpful. I thinking weighing our pans is a good idea.

beuhl  Great description of how to plan the kitchen to make sure you have room for storage. I am a list person too, and was slowly making my way towards your suggestion. I think you helped crystallize it for me. My "light bulb" moment was when I reviewed my layout I was starting to settle on. I was pleased with the appliance location and counter flow, but the suddenly realized I did not have a decent place to store dishes or silverware. So I thought I should back up a bit and think through what I needed to store in each area.

I have a couple of cast iron skillets and a carbon steel omelet pan on the wall behind my range. I use them enough for the small amount of grunge they accumulate to burn right off when they go on the burner.

Sas Girl is the picture master--always has the good stuff at her fingertips to post...I am impressed. :)

Velodoug's range has a bit of space behind it--I don't know if that's because he's got a different range, but if hubby wants to do the wall pans, see if you can squeeze in extra deep counters so that there's a gap (filled in with counter material of course) behind the range. This would give space for them so they wouldn't get in the way. Hang them facing inwards like Vdoug's so only the outside gets grody. Any upper cabinets over the extra deep counter should be bumped out as well or else only the tall guy gets any use out of them. And the hood definitely needs bumping out in this scenario. You could also just bump out the range and it's immediate cabinetry, or do a NICHE behind the range for these pans.

Actually, that's the best option I think. A niche. For pans. I think they are attractive in a kitchen and stuffed into a niche could be a cute cheffy treatment.

Look for niche posts and see if that'll work. Frankly, I think tall people can store their stuff above the fridge, but the niches are very cute.

If you need a little extra room for hanging pots above the cooktop, have you considered an extra-deep countertop? You can still use standard-depth base cabinets by adding blocking behind them, then just make the countertop deeper. That way, your rangetop could be pulled out to the leading edge of the counter, and you'd end up with some extra space behind it.

My counters are 36" deep, with 15" deep cabinets above. I have a 36" gas cooktop with a 48" under-cabinet rangehood above. Because the rangehood had to be pulled out 3" from the wall to line up with the upper cabinets, there is a 3" stainless steel spacer behind it. There are three cabinet doors above the range hood. The middle cabinet is pretty much taken up with the boxed-in ducting for the range hood, but the two outer cabinets provide useful storage.

I have two deep 48" wide drawers below the cooktop for pan storage. They are on extra-strong full-extension glides and have never given me any problems. The drawers are loaded with heavy cookware, much of it heavy copper and cast iron. They close with a gentle bump of the knee.

I keep my largest stockpots and other cumbersome items in an extra-deep drawer below the electric oven. The cupboard above that oven has vertical dividers and is used for storing baking sheets, trays and other large flat items.

If you have any empty wall space elsewhere in the kitchen, you might consider a small linear pot rack. Enclume makes some very good looking ones in a variety of metals. With proper blocking in the wall (supporting the rack), you can hang a lot of very heavy cookware with no problem. I've done this over the opening to a wood-burning oven in my kitchen.

Here is a link that might be useful: Enclume Pot Racks

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this thread; I've been covering a colleague's classes on top of my load so I've been busy.

Dcwesley, my cabinets are Kitchencraft cherry Sienna. Our rangetop is a Bluestar, and the nose sticks out about 3" beyond the cabinet face. It is installed in a 36", 24" deep standard base. We put in the columns there to prevent any possible hip-bumping, and well, because they're pretty. The revashelf spice pullouts are hidden behind the columns. They have duel slides, and the column doesn't actually touch the floor at all; it's just for looks. It takes up 3", and holds 40+ spice bottles. As sask girl posted, you can also get them for upper cabinets.

In our 12" drawer bank on the left, the third drawer down holds wraps and bags. (The microwave is right next to those drawers, and under the microwave is the tupperware drawer. So have a "leftover packing-up" zone there.) The bottom drawer in the bank holds a few occasionally used pot lids. I wouldn't recommend a 12" drawer stack if you're getting framed cabinets. Ours are frameless, and we were pleasently surprised at how much fit in there. Especially since the drawer bank was supposed to be wider but we had to shrink it. The original 15" cabinet we wanted would have been better, but we're happy with the 12".

I second Buehl's advice to get a 42" hood.

If you have the room, I highly recommend that you get a 9" oil pullout cabinet. We have a 6" one and our cabinet guy screwed up and didn't order it as a pullout, and then didn't realize he couldn't upgrade it after installation until long after it was installed. Now the one and ONLY aftermarket pullout that will fit in it is $300. Haven't been able to pull the trigger on that... However, there's many, many options for pullouts that will fit in the 9" cabinet.

I have only one spice/oil base pullout and don't think I would want another. Mine don't have adjustable shelves and tall items simply do not fit. My kitchen is small enough so I could move the bottles to my Lazy Susan corner base which is only three feet away from my range, so easy to reach with a single step.

With back problems I don't like my spices below hip height. I use the spice rack on the top of my base pullout for my most-used spices. Others I don't use as often go in the lower shelf of a narrow upper cab that's in the same general area.

I have smaller-sized countertop containers for the items I use almost daily: cornstarch and EVOO. The PAM spray and low-salt lemon pepper are often out on the counter as well but when I feel like being neat, they get put away - nearby but hidden.

I hope I am not hi-jacking this thread, but I am just about ready to order my frameless custom cabinets. I was planning a 12 inch, 3-drawer stack (with a bread board on top to give me a little extra landing), but after seeing several folks with 4-drawer stacks here, I am having second thoughts. Since these drawers are so narrow, do most people think 3 or 4 drawers would be best?

Sask, the 4-drawer bank by our rangetop is the only 4-drawer bank in our kitchen. All the rest are 3-drawer banks with one shallow drawer, and two deep ones. Evaluate each drawer bank in your layout individually. Shallow drawers are great for utensils, pot holders, trivets and any flat or small items in general. Deep drawers are good for everything else (bowls, dishes, baking canisters...) Think about what you want to store in each drawer, and decide whether deep or shallow is best, and from there you'll be able to decide to go 3- or 4-drawer in that particular bank.

We have a 12" pull-out in our framed cabinets:

The middle shelf is somewhat adjustable, and holds my old spice rack jars (McCormick) which I relabeled. I switched to short Ikea jars for the top shelf, due to height issues. The bottom shelf is OK for bottles, but I don't like having to bend down and reach in. Ideally, I would have had my oils on a shelf on the backsplash, but anti-clutter hubby vetoed that. I think the 12" pullout is small--I can't imagine having a 9" or 6"!

Thank you all for the pictures. This is helping.