Get three. If you have 4, what you end up with is 4 drawers that are like a normal top drawer, which is usable for only silverware and small stuff. Get a normal depth top drawer and split the rest up between two large deep drawers. You can store cookware, all your dishes, mixing bowls, everything!! Deep drawers are wonderful!

I have 3 everywhere and love them.

Dish drawers (2 banks):
stacks of plates, bowls, and serveware are in the deeper ones and cups/mugs in the shallower top drawers.

In my bfast/snack center:
Top (shallow): breads
Deeper #1: napkins, paper plates, paper plate baskets
Deeper #2: Water bottles soon to be replaced with Tupperware type containers

In my baking center:
Top: measuring spoons and cups, spatulas, rolling pin, etc.
Deeper #1: blender and blender parts, mixer parts, food processor and attachments
Deeper #2: pizza pans, cookie sheets

Near my sink and prep area:
Top: towels
Deeper #1: melamine mixing bowl set and collanders
Deeper #2: Glass mixing bowl set and salad spinner

To the right of my stove:
Top: cooking utensils
Deeper #1: Panini grill, cast iron stovetop grill
Deeper #2: 2 waffle irons

To the left of my stove:
Top: Whisks and can openers, etc.
Deeper #1: Pot lids (pots are in 2 deep drawers under rangetop)
Deeper #2: 2 woks and wok grate

Thanks for the quick response". Meeting again at 10am. I will have a 2-18", 1- 30" 1-27. I will have the 18 next to the dishwasher. Is that big enough for a dish drawer? I'm planning a 4' by 4' step in pantry and hoping all my dry food goes in there. I will only have 2 uppers a 24 and a 15. If I cant fit all my dishes in there then I was thinking about a plate rack sitting on the counter or..... a plate drawer.
Thanks again for any input.

Mine are 23" wide. Here is a photo I posted awhile back. From it you can see how things fit in a drawer that size, and maybe figure out how your 18" drawers will work for the size and number of dishes you have.

wow Rhome, thanks for the pics. I bet I could put plates in one drawer and bowls and saucers in another. I hate to lose that plate rack but I hate to lose counter space more.

I am planning for 3 everywhere. I was at the cabinet maker today and did decide to make one bank of three in my baking center with 2 shallow drawers and one deeper with high sides plus rails. I have a few smaller (but tall) appliances planned for that space. Otherwise, I did as pluckymama and rhome suggested. The folks on this forum have helped so much with my plans as I lurked for two months.

I was also faced with choosing either 3 or 4 drawers and had to have the decision by last Tuesday. I measured the height of everything I would put in the drawers and decided to definitely go with 3. I'm so glad to see this question and that everyone agrees with the three. Whew!

Product we went with didn't offer 3 in narrower dimensions so my Mom has a narrow bank (15") beside the stove of 4 drawers. Not the end of the world but 3 would have been her choice -much more flexible storage for kitchen linens or paper products.

As others have, we went with all 3-drawer stacks for kitchen equipment. But we did opt for one 4-drawer stack for "desk" supplies. In the top three shallow drawers, we store pens/pencils, battery-operated pencil sharpener, cell phone charger, scissors, tape, paper pads, telephone books, etc.--in other words, all very small, short things. The single deep bottom drawer holds our dog's belongings.

Having the three shallow drawers on top allowed us to cram more things into the available space, while still keeping everything visible and not piled on top of each other.

We went with mostly 3-drawer bases but we did go with one 24" 4-drawer base. We planned it out that way.

In our 4-drawer base...

Flatware
Wax paper, wraps, & plastic bags
Extension Cords
Bread

I only have 3 sets of drawers in the kitchen proper (luckily, I have a large pantry), & I opted for 2 stacks of 3, and 1 stack with 4 drawers.

In the 4 drawer stack:

the top one is, in essence, the inevitable *junk drawer* - everything I want my hands on that doesn't have another space, & it's just perfect for that. Flower pruners, small cat supplies, rubber bands, toothpicks, matches, bag clips - you get the picture

2nd one has kitchen towels & napkins.

Bottom 2 are teas. Yup, 2 drawers for teas.

OK, so my system isn't for everyone lol!

i have one base cab that's got only two drawers, which i use for my large pots/pans, mixing bowls, large wooden salad bowls, and a few cooking tools like hand mixers and the like. i love them. they are so spacious.

I encourage you to go for three. And I'd make them unequal depths. I love my super deep pots and pans drawer below my cooktop. I don't have to take one step to reach the pan I want. My arrangement is a shallow utensil drawer on top, deep P&P drawer in the middle and Tupperland in the bottom. (After living these twin top drawers, I had them replaced with one wide drawer. Now I don't have to go back and forth trying to remember which drawer had the utensil I want.)

A deepish drawer for towels is also nice. I stack them on edge so I can see all the choices at once.

Here is a link that might be useful: my under cook top drawers