I would look at adding pull-outs to the existing cabs first. It will probably cost more than you expect to replace a base cabinet in terms of labor costs, and you risk having to replace adjacent cabinets or your counter which may be damaged in the process. Everything is connected to everything else!

YOu can turn a base into a drawer stack if the cabinets are a frameless line. But it will cost. Contact the manufacturer and explain the situation. The base/box will be the same size. You'll have to add the glides and the drawer fronts. This may change if the cabinets are framed or inset.

Cabs are partial overlay mostly with middle stiles which means you are going to be limited with what kind of pull outs you can put in and they will be considerably smaller than your cabinet space in order to clear the middle stiles and the face frame. Not sure it will be the best use of your space. I'd try it as it is now for a bit - it might not bother you as much as you think (particularly if you haven't had another set up previously).

I just photographed my cab next to range for another thread--an example of Lynk aftermarket pullouts used for pots and pans. Ikea sells pullout stuff too and RevAShelf. Look and think. [Apologies for posting same photo twice in two days.]

We screwed a piece of wood to center back just above upper shelf to keep the upper shelf from kicking up when pullout is extended. Still allows us to go back and reposition in future if we decide we want different shelf positions. These were abt $45 plus tax each on sale--17 inches wide. There are other styles but the good thing about this style is visibility. (Perhaps your contractor can get some at cost and install them so you can avoid tax?) At this cost, it would be abt $100 to retrofit two shelves and they can be done over time. What would new drawers cost? Get a price.

If you didn't know about lower drawers, would you miss them as much? Pretend you didn't know, which apparently was the case!

I think you should go with pull outs. I had pullouts in my framed cabinets and just loved them.

Thank you for the comments. I will post back after I find the prices from the cabinet folks. :-)

Valerie

Based on the pics OP doesn't have butt doors like jerzeegirl she has a middle stile so in a cabinet similar to the one jerzee posted she would have to have a pull out tray on each side of her double cabinets -losing not only the space on the left and right to clear the face frame but quite a chunk in the middle. Maybe cabinet maker can remove the center stile and add butt doors?