I tried to put in my utensils and doodads but the drawer is surprisingly shallow and I had trouble getting items to fit. I put them back into the other drawer that I had them in previously.

Is there another drawer that would be used for silverware? To me it seems like maybe it was intended for the larger, harder to fit spice bottles. Can you remove that concave/rounded bottom or is it part of the drawer? If it could be taken out, it would be a lot more useful IMHO.

It looks to me like a great drawer for knives, microplanes, wooden spoons and anything else that is long and narrow.

It does look like that is a separate piece that could be removed if you wanted.

Maybe it's shallow because it's so large it's designed so you don't stack your flatware, you line it up?

Sally

I consulted hubby, Certified Kitchen Designer and VP of a cabinet manufacturing company (41-years with the same company) and he said it's for items that are round, including cans of PAM and spice jars; especially nice for the larger jars I get from The Spice House which hold 4-ounces of spices (Pumpkin Pie and Apple Pie Spice, Cinnamon, etc.). He said if you don't like it, you can remove the dividers, they are nailed in with small brads, and add commercial dividers to service things you want to store in the shallow drawer.

-Grainlady

"The rounded bottom is common in Europe. It's supposed to make it easier to lift out small handles and flat things.'

Seems like a rounded bottom would also make the compartments easier to keep clean...?

Rolling pins would be my guess. I have a few favorites of various lengths by just a few inches in difference.

I would find good use of that drawer. three rolling pins, the forth for chopstix...i have a half dozen styles and sets and use one type for small stirings. A few sets of measuring spoons, so my favorite would be handy in the front left. A set of long slender cocktail forks and long thin iced tea spoons in the back both sides. I use them all the time for taking out a bit of this and that like mustards, horseradish...dressings and small amounts of sauces for a meal can be daily or many times a day during a weekend meal prep.

Though i use rolling pins less often, it would be nice to have a handy spot. I go through phases/seasons where i might make flatbread or crackers.

Wooden skewers of various sizes and a few different types of toothpicks are now in the 'everything else' top shallow drawer. Another group of often used items that i could put in the forth rolling pin spot.

Nice score!. A friend just bought an entire high end kitchen off craig's list. A 150thousand dollar kitchen complete with appliances. For under ten. He just bought a brownstone and just needs to send the construction crew to NJ and remove it. That might cost another ten but still a great deal.

So often the very wealthy find the mansion itself perfect but hate the kitchen. Renovating is a hobby and the subzero and wolf stove are not wanted....she wants a double subzero and a much nicer stove. She is basically giving it all away.

So graimlady who designed your kitchen you of your hubby?

Claudia

partst-

We are a joint effort, just like our 45-year marriage ;-), and have designed, and installed, 5 kitchens, and an assortment of other cabinetry in a variety of other rooms, for ourselves over the years in three homes. Changed any number of counter tops.... One (joint effort of 4 people) for our daughter and son-in-law 12-hours away, which was great fun, including the installation. I don't know how many we've done for friends? Oddly enough, I wanted to design kitchens when I was in high school, but at the time, girls weren't allowed to take drafting and mechanical drawing classes.

-Grainlady

Thank you very much everyone, great suggestions. I had read that it was European in design for ease of grabbing/cleaning.

It is a Downsview Kitchen and it was apparently $100k and we paid under 10k but we didn't get the appliances although I would have loved to have had them but they weren't for sale. It is beautiful with marble tops and it is heavy, solid wood. The cabinets are more like pieces of furniture with decorative legs and trim to make them seem like individual pieces.

The following are a couple of photos of it in its original location. My kitchen is 13'10" by 15'4" so I am unable to use all of it as the original kitchen must have been in a mansion type house!

Boy.....did you score.....Beautiful

So let's see what it looks like in your kitchen!

Very nice!

Sally

Oh, that's lovely and you did indeed, make a score. I love the color of the stain on the wood, not too dark.

Annie

My kitchen isn't finished yet and I certainly need new appliances; currently there is so much space between the fridge and the upper that there is room for a tv! lol Some of the kitchen is in temporarily until after Christmas and then we are going to install it properly and paint, do backsplash, etc.

Our home is a century home that we purchased last December and moved into earlier this year. I feel badly posting this pictures as it does not do the cabinets justice at this stage of the game.

But lovely - with vision to use such beautiful cabinetry so well. You do NOT need new appliances, they all fit nicely.

Take the magnets off the fridge. You really don't need them there for decoration - put them elsewhere where you would really look at them, not just to hold up the fridge door.

Love the island with the stools. Nice touch.

My husband has a thing about stuff on the fridge, there actually wasn't anything on the front until we put the cabinets up a couple of days ago. The side was exposed so they were there but I quickly switched them to the front so they wouldn't be trapped when we put the cabinet up.

I will have to get some other board. You may notice that most of them are artwork by my niece and nephew and the bottom ones are actually a farm toy for them to play with. The photo on the front, I always see every time I open the freezer and I love it because it is of the two wee ones busting out laughing at some hilarity or another.

The island, I have had for at least ten years and I plan to replace it with parts of the 'new' one that I now have. The glass front cabinet does not have a top on it yet, it is two pieces of painted plywood for now. The stove isn't in it's permanent position yet. I will post photos at the end of the project.

The beam that can be seen above the glass fronted cabinet is one of four that surround the ceiling and there are four more acting as 'posts' in all of the corners. We really would like to leave them there so working around them was a challenge. The fridge cabinets are out from the wall 8".