We've got two banks of 36" drawers in our island flanking the wine fridge in the center. I've got all our dishes (service for 12) in one drawer (just a pivot away from the DW, very convenient), and the drawer below has larger, varied-sized bowls. The drawers are lined with Cushy Cupboards and they're wonderful -- nothing rolls around inside, and no need to install gadgets to keep plates in place. The drawers on the other side of the wine fridge, opposite the range, is where I stash all our pots and pans. Again, very convenient. I've got a couple of banks of 30" drawers across the aisle along the perimeter, and I really feel that those extra 6 inches of space made all the difference in what you can store inside.

I have drawers for pots and pans right next to my stove, with my cooking utensil drawer on the top of that stack. My most-used pots are in the second drawer and my least-used ones are in the bottom drawer. On the other side of the stove, I have a smallish drawer for pot holders and two more for baking supplies. I have drawers right under my prep area in my island, one that holds a knife block with all my knives and another that holds other prep utensils (grater, garlic press, can opener, etc.). Beneath those are cabinets for trays and for my really large (15 qt and 30 qt) stockpots. I have a drawer for regular table utensils, but I wish I had made that drawer stack with three shallow drawers and one deep one instead of one shallow and two deep. I have quite a few odds and ends types of utensils that aren't used often (crab crackers, melon baller, ice pick, etc.), and I have them all dumped into a deep drawer. I'd rather have them separated into two drawers, so that when I do need something, I can find it without having to dig. I'm having my cabinet maker come back soon to make a few changes for me, and one is to make a box that will make that deep drawer into two levels, so only the really, really seldom-used things are on the bottom. I have one much-too-small drawer for my dish towels. I may be doing some rearranging to keep them elsewhere. I have one super-deep drawer beneath the microwave in my island. I considered making this two shallower drawers, worrying that the one really deep one would look odd. It looks fine, and it holds two of my large (12-qt) stock pots! I also keep the box of kitchen garbage bags in there since it's right next to my trash pull-out. I have a drawer stack next to my pantries also. Two drawers hold plastic food storage containers. The third holds seldom used very small appliances, such as my electric carving knife that I used three times a year. I have a shallow drawer at my kitchen desk that holds a lot of miscellaneous junk, including a measuring tape, my phone charger, a tape dispenser, paper clips... I am also very fortunate to have a massive piece of furniture in my kitchen dining area. It is a nine-drawer chest. Picture three 3-drawer chests side-by-side, but connected as one. Each drawer is about 36" wide, so I can store all sorts of things in that baby. Off the top of my head, I have a drawer each for napkins and napkin rings, place mats, table cloths, paper plates, plastic utensils, plastic cups, candles, art supplies, and miscellaneous junk (tools and such).

Hi Katie! We're just back from vacation and I'm playing catch-up at work, but I'm hoping to take photos this weekend. Love those Aubrey pulls ... so vintage! I did use Gilmore bin pulls on my drawers but on my appliances and doors I used Felicity pulls. On my dishwasher drawers I used 6" pulls. Hope you and yours are having a great summer! Erika

Short width drawers waste space when used for dishes. Go for the wider size--36 is great, 30 is better than 24, etc. Get the strongest extension hardware so that the drawer can be fully extended when full. If possible, get even deeper drawers than 24 inches front to back. How good is your back? One thing I hadn't thought about is the stacking of items in lower drawers. Haven't finished loading my new china drawers yet, but I realize already that some deep ones and some more shallow would be better than all deep. Here's why: If you are storing plates and bowls, the tendency is to layer 'em pyramid style. When you do this in upper cupboards, you can slide the lower plates or bowls out without removing the upper ones. But when lifting out of a drawer, you have to offload all the upper items in order to get to the lower ones. I keep hearing people say "don't stack items" in lowers and now I know why. But I can't let myself waste that space, can I? So I stack in my deep drawers and then offload, which requires some lifting instead of reaching. I use dinner plates more than salad plates, but I can't put them on the top of the stack. If the drawers were shallower, I'd have two stacks. Haven't figured out how to store the cups yet (still packed in boxes) but I already know there isn't any virtue in piling china cups very high, so how will I handle this? (Has anyone on GW worked up a removable tier for cup storage?) I just measured--17 bone china plates with bumpers between take up about 7 inches of a 9 inch deep drawer which is below knee level in my bank of drawers. What would you do with those extra 2 inches? And if I had a mere 5 inch stack, would I stack something above? very likely. Yet, if nothing is above or if something that is easy to remove is placed above, I'm more likely to access those plates--which is a goal of the kitchen project--than if something awkward or heavy is placed above. Same with the other items in the drawer. On the other hand, it's cheaper to have a few deep drawers than lots of shallow drawers and the deeper ones use the vertical space better, so there are some tradeoffs. Also, don't let functional fixedness symie you. Okay to have dishes and other items stored in same place--candles? napkins? pan lids? hand towels? candy stash? They're YOUR drawers.