Symmetric drawer banks around prep sink?

12 years ago

Hi--

In our peninsula, we will have a 3-stack drawer bank on each side of an 18" sink cabinet (with a 15" prep sink in it). These will be for dishes and pots and pans. Dishwasher will be directly across from it. Cabinets and drawers will be custom. Plumbing is in, and I have a little bit of wiggle room (not much though! ) If symmetric, they will each be just under 29" wide. Or I can make the dish drawer a bit wider, say 31" and the drawer on the right (closer to the stove) about 26". There is also a drawer bank to the left of the range that will be 28" wide for cooking stuff.

Symmetric for the look, or wider sink drawer? I had originally envisioned the dish drawer being slightly wider but cabinet guy suggested symmetric sizes.

Thanks in advance!

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Comments (6)

dianalo
12 years ago
I'd need to see drawings to know how they look for sure, but my initial thought is you may not want the drawers for dishes to be exactly opposite the dw. When opened it helps if the drawers are off to one side or the other, unless your aisle is very wide.
CEFreeman
12 years ago
I agree.
If the drawers are hidden from the rest of the house, they don't really matter unless they bother you.

I'm a little OCD about symmetry, so they'd have to balance off something else, somewhere that pleased my weird little eye.
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chaparral
Original Author
12 years ago
I spoke with cabinet guy and it will be more like 30" and 28".

dianalo-- upon closer examination, the drawers aren't directly across-- they're actually across and then offset about 20" to the right (2 legs of a U) from the dishwasher. Total distance between legs of the U is about 7' 4". So with the drawers fully extended and the dishwasher open all the way there will be about a 3'4" space to pivot and unload. The drawers will be in our eat-in peninsula.

I don't think I'll see the 2" difference. Plus as you can see there's a run of three drawer stacks in a row that all line up as they turn the corner. Choice of door pulls will be key.

Architect pointed out that because they are full overlay, the main thing the eye will be drawn to is the handles, which will all be the same width. And on the right of the narrower drawer set will be 2" of filler to balance it out as well.

Yes I've been staying up far too late and stressing about the smallest details...
zzz...
breezygirl
12 years ago
I think you're right that the 2" won't be a problem on the eyes so I'd approach this from a functional perspective. Two things to consider. One, will the drawers in the sizes you propose fit the items you want to store? Mock it up and see. Secondly, how will the sink shift effect the prep space size on top of those drawers? If the drawers will work for your storage with or without changing sizes, I'd vote for the option that retains the most prep space between the sink and the range.

Obsessing about details is what we specialize in around here. ;)
formerlyflorantha
12 years ago
I'd put a trash & recycle (& compost?) pullout unit near the prep sink. Put dummy panels on the front if necessary.

You will find that the pull-out is more useful at the prep side of things than on the clean-up side of things. You will be tossing cans after emptying them, paper packaging after opening and emptying the box, crumbs and items cut away from veg and fruit and meat being prepped, &c. If necessary you can put a small waste container under the cleanup sink as well.
chaparral
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks-- based on rough-in right now, if we put the sink where the rough plumbing is, the drawer to the left will be 30 and the drawer to the right 28. 30 seems about right for our plates etc., I wouldn't want it any smaller. If I make it bigger, then it reduces prep area between sink and range.

I definitely am going to try to get a compost bin under the prep sink. It should work because it doesn't have to be all that tall. Maybe attach to the door.

We have a dedicated trash + recycling cabinet (18") planned for the immediate left of the cleanup sink. Cabinets started getting built yesterday!

Symmetric drawer banks around prep sink?

Comments (6)

dianalo

CEFreeman

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Symmetric drawer banks around prep sink?

Comments (6)

dianalo

CEFreeman

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chaparralOriginal Author

breezygirl

formerlyflorantha

chaparralOriginal Author

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