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texaspenny

What is the deepest drawer a kitchen should have?

texaspenny
11 years ago

We have been playing around with our cabinet configuration and I'm stumped on how deep the deepest drawer should be. Most of the articles I've read are about how wide cabinets should be, but what about depth? I've measured almost all of our appliances and other stuff we have to store, and I've come up with 14". I don't know if that means the drawer is actually 16"...I'm just focusing on the space that will be used. Is 14 inches enough? Does anyone have drawers deeper than that to hold stuff?

Comments (12)

  • cj47
    11 years ago

    My deepest drawers are 9 and 10 inches, for dishes and pots. If you have something specific that is tall and not too heavy to put into a drawer, I could see having a really deep one. Otherwise, if they get too deep you risk a pile up and losing things on the bottom. Lifting something really tall and heavy, like a mixer, out of a drawer could get old, especially when you do. I prefer shelf space for things that are tall and heavy. YMMV.
    Cj

  • jscout
    11 years ago

    I have two 36" wide drawer banks on either side of my range that each have an extra deep bottom drawer (13" or 14") and two narrower upper drawers. On the right bank, I keep sauce and stock pots stacked in the bottom drawer, skillets in the middle drawer and utensils in the top drawer. On the left side, I keep all my tall bottles and containers of oils, sauces, cooking wines, etc. in the bottom drawer. The two upper drawers are for dried herbs, spices and some utensils.

    I have custom cabinets and the way I spec'd the drawers, I told the cabinetmaker to make the top two drawers the same height as the standard top drawer height and then whatever was leftover would go to the bottom drawer. So far, it has worked very well for me.

  • heidia
    11 years ago

    Our deepest will be 11-12, and my tallest stock pot is 10 . You can always have a tray drawer inside a deep drawer. :) Like this- https://www.houzz.com/photos/crisp-architects-traditional-kitchen-new-york-phvw-vp~607030-Architects-kitchen-new-york

  • kaysd
    11 years ago

    My cabinets are still being built, but I specified that the lower drawer on each side of my range be 16" (14" interior). I like to store my skillets and griddle on their sides in vertical dividers (rather than stacking them), so I can grab each one easily by its handle. My widest skillet is 13.5", which dictated the drawer height. The 14" height will also allow me to store my large stockpot with the pasta strainer insert stacked inside and the lid on top, so those items don't take up more horizontal space elsewhere. My 2nd stock pot and other tallish pots will fill out whatever space is left in those drawers. The drawer above is 9.5" (7.5" interior), which works well for my smaller pots. The top drawer is 5" and holds utensils.

  • beekeeperswife
    11 years ago

    I have a drawer that is 24" deep. The sides of the drawer, when you open it are only 7" high. This is where I keep the mixer, the food processor, blender. It has heavy duty glides on it--heavy enough that the cabinetmaker could stand in it. Inside at the top is a shelf too, but it would be too narrow to actually use it, so I pulled it out. The front looks like 2 drawers just to make me happy.

    It's to the left of the freezer drawers. The top one is a drawer, and the two bottom ones are actually just a faux front for one drawer.

    open

    This post was edited by beekeeperswife on Wed, Dec 5, 12 at 12:52

  • oceangirl67
    11 years ago

    I'm sorry but drawers are quickly fading out of style. Now a stylish kitchen will have all doors.

  • a2gemini
    11 years ago

    My deepest drawer is 15.5 inches but inside is 13.5.
    My bread machine fits perfectly. I initially had my DeLonghi toaster oven in it but moved it to my pantry.

    I have a couple items that don't fit in the drawers and are in my corner Super Susan - my 8 qt pasta pot and my large saut� pan -

    If I had put a taller drawer under my cooktop (it would be one drawer but look like, 2, I might have been able to fit them in there.

    I also store mosts of my pans except a couple fry pans on their sides in slots - It is nice not to have to lift out multiple pots piled on top of each other.

    Drawers rock! Glad I didn't wait til they went out of style.

  • beekeeperswife
    11 years ago

    Well, since I put all drawers in a kitchen back in 1990, I'm pretty sure they are here to stay, for at least the people who "get it".

  • mrspete
    11 years ago

    I've been thinking about this same question lately, and while I haven't figured it out completely, I do know that this is how I'm going to store my things:

    Small, everyday pots and pans in the drawers near the stove.
    Large stockpots, roasters, large platters, the large crock pot, punchbowls, and other things that're used less frequently will be stored on open shelves in the large, adjacent pantry.
    My reasoning: Even moderately-priced cabinets are very expensive. In comparison, the pantries are cheap. I'd rather plan a really nice but small kitchen to hold all my everyday things, and have my occasional items stored nearby.

    As for drawers going out of style, I don't believe it. Kitchens absolutely do have styles: White cabinets vs. wood-tones, or granite vs. marble, for example. But drawers are a functional improvement over cabinet drawers. Rather than being a matter of personal taste, they're an improvement over deep, dark cabinets where things can be "lost" and difficult to reach.

    The only reason NOT to choose drawers: What with more materials and more intensive labor to build them, they cost more.

  • lolauren
    11 years ago

    I wouldn't worry too much about oceangirl67's comments. I've noticed over the past year they are normally facetious, sarcastic and/or meant to get a reaction.

  • texaspenny
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks for the responses. I just had my second meeting with the cabinet guy and I kept asking him about what the interior drawer clearance would be for each box. I told him for some of the top thin drawers I absolutely needed four inch clearance. He said that would be a 5 inch drawer. I asked him if he would promise me that in blood...and he said he'd go back to the shop and double check. Might need to be 5 1/2. My husband asked him if that was the first time he'd been asked to promise something in blood and he laughed and said yes. I think he got a real kick out of all of it.

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