If you have all wide drawers you may end up wanting more interior organizers. If you split the stack the organization is done for you, but you actually lose some inches in width with all the extra hardware etc. Did I understand the question correctly?

Four-stack drawers are short (bottom image, both from Barker Cabinets web site) because you're dividing the available height into four drawers instead of three. I don't like the height restriction because I end up having to fiddle with the orientation of measuring cups (they have to be on their side) for the drawer to close. Also, pans and lids shouldn't go in a four drawer stack - deeper is usually better for these items. That said, many prefer flatware and knives in shorter drawers. Your #2 cab should almost certainly be a 3-stack. The only question is whether a 4-stack is desirable to you for #1 and #3. Maybe you should bring some of the items you have listed with you to the showroom and try to fit them in to 3- and 4-stack drawers to determine whether they will function the way you want them to. Good luck!

I have all 4-drawer stacks and couldn't be happier. You are intending to store very similar things in your top A drawers as I do and those items fit fine in a shallower drawer. Which then, of course, gives me an extra drawer in each stack. I would be annoyed with all the wasted space by putting those shallow items in a deep drawer. Of course, if your two bottom drawers are both deep drawers while the top drawer is more shallow, then a 3-drawer stack might be just fine for you. And this is all personal preference as well so I'm just sharing my experience, not telling you what you must do.

ETA: My only deep drawer in each stack is the bottom drawer and this works fine for me. Again, YMMV..

I agree that you should take your items to the store to see what fits best or at least measure heights and compare to the drawer heights.

Do you know what the interior clearance of each of the drawer stacks is? If you have that information it will make your decision a lot easier. I measured the height of my dishes and was surprised to find that my 12 dinner plates would fit comfortably in a 8" drawer, as will the rest of my everyday dinnerware. Even my smaller pots and pans will fit nicely, and since I am tired of having the pots stacked in a deeper drawer, I have opted for a couple of 4-stack drawers.

@funkycamper: so happy to hear that the 4 stacks work well. I agonized over that. If you don't mind, what are the heights of your drawers?

You didn't mentioned framed or frameless, but if the former, count on losing an additional ~ 1-1/2" of usable vertical space (taken up by the rail) for each additional drawer. We went with framed and have almost all 3-drawer stacks -- were able to get away with varying, customized heights for each stack to meet our exact storage needs. We have one 2-drawer stack, but inserted an internal drawer within each, which still gave us more space than splitting that stack into four drawers.

Question: Do they all have to be the same?

I'm thinking of going with four-drawer stacks in my peninsula and three-drawer stacks around the edge of the kitchen. Does it seem okay to mix four-drawer stacks with three-drawer stacks?

It's personal preference. I have the most crazy random assortment of drawer size (inherited, not my design), but I like the variety.

Your drawers should be sized correctly to fir the items you intend to store in them in the locations that make the most sense for efficiency. They don't have to match. Especially when the're not right next to each other. 4's on the peninsula and 3's on the perimeter probably wouldn't even be noticed by most people as they're not right next to each other.

Some people are more bothered by lack of drawer symmetry than others. That's one reason why some people choose to go with the extra interior drawers hidden inside a drawer. So that may be another option for you.

I have all different drawer stacks, the 2 on the sink run are 4 drawer stacks, 21" and 25", the 2 on the range side are 3 drawer stacks, 37" and 28". The only way it would look odd to me would be a 3 drawer and a 4 drawer right next to each other.

I have a 4-stack, 18" wide. Mine are not all the same height - each is deeper than the one above it (but I cant remember the exact heights).

A few things I see missing form your lists: plastic storage containers (these go beautifully in a drawer), towels, bags and wraps, potholders - all things I have in drawers. Funky's advice is spot on - the best size and number of drawers for you is the combination that hold your stuff most efficiently, where you need it most.

Thank you for the variety of opinions. My dinner dishes will most certainly fit in an 8" height drawer so I feel like I'd be wasting a ton of useful space going with a 12" depth.

Most of my pots are small saucepans... probably 4-5" tall. The lids invert and lie completely flush. The only pots bigger than 8" are ones I rarely use so they'd probably end up in the pantry anyway.

I think it makes sense to go with 4 drawer stacks in two of these locations, but the one I want to put the saute pans in I'd like to store them vertically and I need 14". That stack will be right next to a 4 drawer stack. Hmmm.

Lots of good ideas to run by the KD. I'm waiting on the latest rendering.

Just make sure that when you and your KD are discussing drawer dimensions in regards to storing items, that it is the interior dimension. 14" drawer may mean that the exterior drawer front is 14". Depending on how your cabinets are constructed, the difference between the drawer front and the interior dimension can vary. In some cases a 6" drawer has interior space of 3 1/2 " So be sure understand what you are getting.

Just to follow up, I decided to do a 4-drawer stack in one location, and the two cabinets that are adjacent to one-another will be 3-drawer stacks. All top drawers will be the same dimension.

The cabinets are frameless, and I understand the interior width reductions. I think it's going to work out okay.

Great! Now all you have to do is have them ordered, installed, and get them to work!