I have 36" drawers with only one handle. (I'd vote for 33/16 or 36/20).

Ditto sjhockeyfan. I have the 36" for my dishes with an 18" next to it. I think it looks and functions fine with one handle. I did order the biggest size handle for the 36" and a little smaller size for the rest and my uppers. The bigger size was not that much more in price. It jumped crazy as it went into the "appliance size".

Here is a pic. Sorry the handles look all wonky! They really are straight. It was just hard to get a good angle.

Eta: We also still need to adjust the drawers too! It's on the hunny-do list!

I'd arrange my dish stacks on the counter and see what I could get away with.

Fori, I'm in the process of looking for a new dish set. My current set is down to two dishes and 4 bowls and some small plates. I've mostly been using ikea plastic dishes as of late since my 7 kids have done a number to my real dish set. I'm considering corelle since we don't have good luck with dishes and those are cheap and supposedly sturdy.

For me it would depend on what I plan to put in the end cabinet or drawers. My needs for that end cabinet would determine it's size and if drawers or basic cab is what's needed.

Also, I wouldn't assume that the largest possible drawer is best for the dishes. As Fori said, mock it up and see what works. Corelle, if I remember from my childhood, are slightly smaller than most china or stoneware plates and stack shallower, as well. Perhaps you can borrow to do your mock up? My Kmart has Corelle in open stock sitting out on the shelves. If you don't care about being stared at, take 2 boxes in the different sizes and just see how things fit. :)

I wouldn't assume that the largest possible drawer is best for the dishes

I agree. My dishes drawer is 36" and I can fit my large plates (one stack of 10), small plates (one stack of 10), and cereal bowls (two stacks of 5 each) and have so much room left over its crazy - so now I keep OXO measuring cups (3), strainers (2) and all kinds of miscellaneous small bowls in there too. I do keep the large soup bowls in a separate drawer because they're so large and heavy.

I have that plastic kid IKEA set too. :)

I haven't moved into my kitchen entirely but have stuck dinner plates, small plates, small bowls, pasta bowls, Gerber baby bowls (my spouse won't give them up!), and IKEA kid plates all in a 22"x21" (interior size) drawer, each type in its own stack. When I dig out the rest of my dishes it's possible that larger stacks will slosh but for now it makes for easy dishwasher unloading.

Corelle is smaller but you might as well size for larger just in case. Get some sidewalk chalk and a ruler and go outside and draw some fantasy dishes from online measurements??

I have a 30" drawer stack and I fit my entire set of dishes in one drawer. Includes dinner plates, salad plates, cereal bowls and pasta bowls. Crazy! I have a Crate & Barrel porcelain set for 16, but only 12 pasta bowls (I think).

I also agree that only one pull is needed. I tend to like wider drawers as I think they are more versatile, so the question is... is a 16" cab versatile enough for you? If not, scale back on the 36" and add to the 16".

I prefer the 33" drawers with the 20" drawers. I have 36" with 2 pulls but a 33" should give you plenty of room. Don't forget to upgrade your hardware on the 33" two bottom drawere to heavy duty. If using Blum, #569 HD.

Romy would every drawer over over 30 need to be upgraded or only the dish drawers that are in a size over 30. I have pots and pans in 30. And I have another set of 33 that I'm not sure of its purpose yet.

I upgraded all (3 drawers) but one, my tupperware drawer. If the hardware hadn't already been installed, I would have done all 4 of them. I don't believe there is much of a cost difference between the regular glides & the HD glides. Having them come back, remove the regular hardware (Blum #563 for the soft close glides) & install the HD (Blum 569 HD for soft close) could be costly. My kitchen company didn't charge me which is why I didn't insist on the 4th drawer.

I'd upgrade all of them if the cost differential is small, but honestly, the only one I ever had an issue with is the dishes drawer. I suppose if I stored a lot of heavy cast iron in the pots & pans drawer, that one would be an issue too, but I don't -- with regular pots and pans, it's no issue (I store 4 pots with covers (1 qt., 2 qt., 3 qt. and 5 qt), 4 or 5 pans, and a couple of extra lids in that drawer (one pan is cast iron).