Have you considered a pullout for your trash or recycling? IMHO pullouts are preferable to open trash cans, esp if there are pets or small children who may "interact" :) with the kitchen trash.

Oops, I forgot to add we will have the 2 trash can pull out by the sink. Great suggestion--we do have a small child!

Consider using drawers instead of cabinets with pullout drawers. I had several large cabinet bases with pullouts in my old house (which were an improvement over older cabinet bases with shelves) and you have to open both doors all the way, and then pull out the inner drawer, EVERY time you needed access. Large deep drawers work better.

Personally I'd go with drawers everywhere (except where you can't like the corner.) I find them so much handier than cabinets. All my lowers are drawers with 3 exceptions: under the sink, the corner cabinet, and one next to the stove where I store cutting boards, baking sheets, and cake pans. That last one is now really bugging me because I think drawers with inserts/dividers would be so much handier and more organized. If I were to do it over that cabinet would 2 drawers.

This thread has lots of info re: drawers vs. pullouts.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread on drawers vs pullouts

In that link above, look at the pictures posted by desertsteph and lisaslists. They have some great examples of what you can do with drawers.

Thanks-very interesting. I am learning that people prefer drawers for storage and ease of access, but agree with the person who pointed out too many drawers start to look like a bedroom dresser.

We also were leaning towards flat panel for drawers...so alot of big drawers could be visually plain.

Great input, thanks so much--alot to think about!

how big is your kitchen?

Inserts, etc. should be driven by function. What storage you need, where it's located, etc. Show us what you have, what you plan to store where, and where the various kitchen activities you plan to occur where (like prepping, cooking, baking, cleaning up, snacking, etc.)

Do you have a separate pantry?

One "must have", I think, is full-extension drawers...standard is usually 3/4-extension, but full allows you to pull a drawer out all the way and allows you easy access to the entire drawer. Ditto for roll out tray shelves (ROTS) (although I don't recommend ROTS in general).

A "nice to have" but not necessary, is soft-close drawers...but not ROTS. I do not recommend them for ROTS b/c they make closing them even less convenient than they already are.

Another "nice to have"...spice pullouts or spice drawer organizers. However, spice racks that hang on cabinet doors usually force you to make the shelves in the cabinet shallower to fit the rack, so I don't recommend those. If you don't have to cut back the shelves, then they might work.

If you have 3", 6", or 9" filler in your base cabinets, filler pullouts are great! They allow you to utilize what is otherwise wasted space. But, they must be installed at cabinet installation time since they must be installed against the sides of the adjacent cabinets. Ditto for 3" or 6" filler in your upper cabinets. Ditto for 6" of tall filler (like next to a refrigerator or tall pantry cabinet).

Rev-A-Shelf Filler Pull-Outs - Base
Rev-A-Shelf Filler Pull-Outs - Wall (uppers)
Rev-A-Shelf Filler Pull-Outs - Tall

The rest are also "nice to haves" but can be purchased after-market for much less than getting them with your cabinets. If you have tray storage, then I also recommend dividers to separate items & allow better organization/access to those items.
Utensil dividers are nice...both for flatware/tableware as well as cooking utensils & prep utensils.
Junk drawer dividers
Soft-close doors

Buehl I love looking through that Rev-a-Shelf site. So many clever ideas. I think the pot pullout with the fancy molding front is my fave.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cool pull out for pots, looks like decorative molding

Chicagoans, that is a cool pull-out! But it says it's only 3" wide, which seems impossible since it has pots hanging in it that must be deeper than 3", so I'm confused by the pic.

desertsteph: approx 14 x 12. I say approx since there will also be a breakfast nook and the kitchen is open plan leading to the family room

buehl: GREAT list! love the shelf filler pull outs. I need to some homework on my cooking patterns, inventory all my items for storage and see what makes sense. Thanks again!!

Akchicago...I was confused early on as well looking at one of the other ones. But then I realized they used the same pic for all sizes... I agree there's no way those pots could fit in a pegboard 3" wide filler pullout...the pic is probably of the 9". You could probably use the 6" pegboard for frying pans, but the 3" would probably be best for kitchen tools like scissors, utensils, etc.

Does anyone find those tray dividers in a skinny base cabinet useful (for baking pans etc)? I'm deciding between that and a filler pull out vs. filler pull out in upper cabinets.

14x12 area for cabs and a ppliances? that's a good size.

"alot of big drawers could be visually plain. "

don't say that! lol! I plan on all drawers except sink base. my kit is only about 10 x11 tho. 12 x 11 including the back hall - that whole side of it is open to the back hallway.

while at my sister's on Friday I looked around to see if she had a bunch of drawers together. She doesn't - but then she was sick during the build and her dh chose most everything. (he's the cook). She did show me 1 cab they had with the slide outs. It was a ONE door cab tho - it didn't seem to be that much of a problem. open ONE door, slide out 'drawer'; slide back in and shut the one door. he keeps pots / pans on those 2 drawer/shelves.

It's still not something I'll put in. It's still 1 door to open that won't be there with a drawer. I have to make things as easy as possible for myself - to use and clean.

here's a bank of drawers in my sister's kit; plain, flat panel fronts... like i want.

'Does anyone find those tray dividers in a skinny base cabinet useful (for baking pans etc)? I'm deciding between that and a filler pull out vs. filler pull out in upper cabinets.'

That is what I have in my island and it is PERFECT for storing cutting boards. They are all standing up and easy to grab at the counter where they are usually used.

http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy242/robynlori_photo/Picture015.jpg

I've been thinking about that comment that too many drawers looks like dresser drawers. First of all, I don't think there's anything wrong with a furniture-type look, in fact I think some dressers are very pretty. Though it's not for everyone, some people specifically want furniture style kitchen cabinets.
Next, I think my kitchen drawers never struck me as odd looking for a few reasons: there's an island in the middle, so you're never seeing all the lower drawers at once; the drawers are broken up by cabinets (under the sink and at the corner) and appliances (ref, oven, drawer MW, warming drawer.)

I think the best thing to do if you're concerned about how all the drawers will look is to do a mockup with a good configuration tool. Once you have a feel for how it will look, you can decide whether or not you like the look.

I love my 12" base cabinet with tray dividers. It's very deep and holds trays, shallow roasting pans, cookie sheets, drainboards, cutting boards, cooling racks, and best of all, my fold up step stool. I learned about that on GW. I am short so I use it all the time.

Also check desertsteph's picture of the pull out drawer with tray dividers. That is a great idea.

I am glad I have a cabinet with ROTS for height adjustability. I would have no where else to put my KA mixer.

Forgot to mention this pull out cabinet. I keep taller things in the bottom like paper towels, soda bottles, etc. The top is for boxes of foil, clear wrap, plastic bags, etc. It was supposed to have 3 shelves, but one got lost in the shuffle. It's a 15" cabinet which I think is the minimum width for this type of cabinet.

I Love my deep drawers-I have one for each of the following:

1. Pots & Pans

2. Glass cooking pans

3. all those rolls of baggies, foil, parchment paper, etc

4. Plastic tupperware type containers (and their ever multiplying lids)

5. Metal baking pans and colanders

6. My everday dishes - service for 10 fits with no problem

We have a small kitchen, can store so much more with the drawers.