This is our forever house and I wanted to design as much flexibility into our kitchen as possible (with the exception that we closed in our cd fridge--hope that doesn't come back to bite me.) When I think back to my needs 20 years ago they were way different from my needs now. I imagine 20 years from now the same will hold true. Drawers are the easiest storage to use but the least flexible. Shelving and many pull outs can be height adjusted. I LOVE our drawers but I also love having several cabinets that allow changes down the road. I would have felt safer with all drawers if I had a walk-in pantry with adjustable shelving to accomodate odd-sized items. Also, I'm a fan of mismatched dishes so I prefer having my dishes on an upper cabinet shelf so that I can see what's in the stack rather than just what's on top of the stack. Drawers: I keep pots and pans and fry pans, glass baking/storage dishes, lids, spices and the typical small stuff. Pull outs: pantry items, stacks of differnt pie plates, some small electricals, stock pots, large colanders, flour sifter, extra bags of flour and sugar, flour and sugar canisters and baking supplies (a counter height pull out), + 3 pull outs in our pantry cabinet. The disadvantage is that once in a while (not very often at all) an items will fall off (if unlike items are stacked--nothing well nested falls off) when I pull the shelf out vigorously but the advantage of seeing all the items at once instead of just looking down on the top layer outweighs the disadvantage for me in certain cases. Grabbing a stock pot and pulling it off a fairly open shelf is easier than dealing with the cofines of a drawer. Fixed shelves: large mixing bowls, less used electricals (behind the large mixing bowls), corning ware, stuff that is too long to fit in a drawer (grilling skewers), smaller colanders, loaf and cake pans, and slotted fixed shelves for baking pans, cookie sheets, muffin tins, cutting boards + 2 fixed shelves in our pantry cabinet. Upper cabinets: dishes, mugs, glasses, extra coffee carafe, ice cream maker, liquid measuring cups, ramekins, custard cups, lemon juicer, jars of rice and legumes, ceramic mixing bowls, vases, covered casseroles, oils and vinegars, pitchers, stemware. I LOVE our drawers but I also like the few pull outs and fixed shelves we have. If needed, the pull outs can be removed down the road and fixed shelves could be put in if the additional space is needed or 1 or 3 pull outs can be put in the space that now holds 2. I've been aware of the all-drawer concept for more than 20 years (some friends and DH's aunt put them in that long ago) but decided the "everything in moderation" route was better for us.

Mayberry, I like them where they are. The symmetry is good--they are separate from your cabinets, and the few inches between them and the window allow for flexibility with window treatments. I'm going to have open shelving, too, and it's the very last piece of the puzzle because I'm having problems with placement, too. But they logically would go 18 inches above the counter--this allows you ample room below them, since they are in a high-use area of your kitchen. You can still work comfortably at your sink and use appliances like a blender, toaster, etc., on the counterspace below the shelves. I also believe you should have the 3rd one at the top, as well. You would just dust it like you would the tops of your cabinets and the other 2 shelves, right? It's not that much extra space to clean. But there's an awful lot of wall above just the second one if you only had 2... However, I think others have made great suggestions to place some of the items you plan on having on the shelves so you can decide what's most pleasing to you. Congratulations--what a beautiful space!

I agree with you- I think pullout shelves are better. Though, unfortunately I can't tell you from personal experience, as my carpenter is telling me that they will be delivered tomorrow morning first thing- (if I had a dime for every time he's promised delivery- been waiting since February!) Anyhow, I do have the pantry pullout on one side of my floor to ceiling cupboards (have 18" cabinets on either side of fridge). I had to get that as I wanted space to hang brooms, mops, vacuum attachments, etc, and I could get a side mount pullout attached to one side, leaving room on the other side. The problem is access, even though it is full extension, you have the shelf above hampering your reach. I guess it's not a problem if you have lots of space between shelves, but then what's the point in that? My pullout shelves will be about 4" deep, with a half circle cutout in front- if they do arrive tomorrow, I can take pics- I am SO looking forward to having them installed- been using 16" deep shelves in a 24" deep cupboard, pain in the butt to reach to the back to access items. As you can see, shelves made just a little too wide!!!

OTRs have to be hung from cabinets. Not necessarily over a cooktop though. And you don't need a recirculating kit for any of them if you're not using them as a recirculating vent. All that is installing them with the damper in the closed position and putting in a charcoal filter. If you won't be turning on the fan, then all you need to do is have an electrical outlet in the cabinet above it so you can plug it on. The position of the damper is irrelevant if you won't be using it for anything.