I love my warming drawer and use it often. I use it for keeping food warm, but I use it more for proofing dough and for slow cooking. I have a KitchenAid brand with the drawer panel to match my cabinets. Mine is a 27", which fits into a 30" drawer space. It has been plenty wide enough, although I wish it were deeper (taller), but I don't think that's an option on any of them. I think we paid $900 for ours on a good sale in 2010. I would definitely get one again if I had to do it over.

The warming drawer is the center drawer (about the 2 doors) with the double pulls.

A warming drawer is fine, but it is a warming drawer. It is not going to make up for a smaller oven size -- it will be smaller than your oven and won't hold larger things that your oven will. It's good for holding a serving dish or two, a plate or two warm until serving and it can be used to keep tortilla chips or popcorn warm during a party. Someone apparently thought adding a slow cooking feature would help justify the big expense for a very minimal appliance.

Most people don't use their slow cookers that much and when they do, they produce a lot of steam and they cook all day long. And they are about a fourth of the size of a warming drawer. I think the warming drawer has to be a very inefficient way to slow cook anything and I'd be concerned about my cabinets if it was used much.

I have a 24 inch and it is not large enough for mutiple dinner plates without overlapping the rims. I can get 2 or 3 serving dishes in it. I put mine in my island right behind my cooktop and at the end nearest the table -- very usable location, but e didn't use it like I thought we would. Both of my sons were about to spend years in marching band and DH got home late for dinner sometimes. We just didn't use it for that. It was easier to reheat the food, hold it warm where it was -- and my micro drawer has a keep warm function. I use that more often. I have used the warming drawer more for the large family dinners or entertaining , and we haven't really done enough of tat in the last couple of years to justify the use of space -- both my parents passed, the boys are both away in college, etc. I would give up the warming drawer I have without a fight, so I wouldn't suggest getting two of them. I'd rethink smaller ovens if you really need more - and then buy an All-Clad or other super slow cooer and save a lot of money.

Location is the most important thing for a warming drawer. Someone who is used to having one and can't imagine living without it can make do if it's at the bottom of an oven stack. For anyone else, that is a ridiculously inconvenient position. That doesn't sound like what you're talking about, but proper positioning is important even so. Wall ovens are usually placed outside of the work flow, because they don't take much attention. Warming drawers are the opposite--they should be smack dab front and center as much as possible without pushing aside something even more important--top level is most convenient, but you'll often see them under a utensil drawer because utensils are even more important to have where you can lay your hand on them.

The best location depends on your needs and layout. The most favored possibilities are directly under or next to the cooktop, so it's easy to accumulate pancakes, or shift a pot of stew, or nearest to the eating area, so it's easy to serve and refill plates, or someplace on the path between the two to be less than perfect for both functions but not bad at either. As high as possible up to table height, to make it easy to get things in and out of.

If you go for two, put them next to each other, or as close as you can, unless they're in completely different rooms for different functions. One by the stove and one by the eating area means running between the two as they fill up. It sounds much better in theory than most people will find in practice. One more thing to keep in mind is that 6" more width doesn't sound like a lot on the 30" vs. 24", but in practice, because of the way you can arrange things, it's likely to feel like it holds half again as much, rather than just a quarter.

I agree with most of what Lascatx said, but it can make up for some lack of cooking space if you expect to cook in shifts and move things to the warming drawer. I've done that for feasts, and it can work for holidays. If by "big family dinners" you meant regularly, even once a week, it could be tedious, especially if larger ovens meant you could time it so everything came out at once.

I rarely need to put bread dough in the warming drawer. If you have a cold kitchen, however, it works well. My ovens also have settings for rising bread. The point about the steam from slow cooking is good--you can slow cook in any warming drawer, even without the setting, but should you? Only you know the answer to that.

Re models, I much prefer the really simple ones. They're foolproof, especially if there's an "on" light. They just do off and on and have a dial that changes the amount of power to control the approximate temperature. A $5 thermometer can check the exact temperature you're getting if you need to know--for slow cooking it is imperative that you get the heat of the middle of the food above the safety level by taking the temperature of the food, but if you're translating slow cooker recipes, you'll want to match up the approximate temperatures (non-digital slow cookers also adjust the power rather than having a specific temperature).

Digitally controlled warming drawers work more like ovens where you can select a specific goal temperature (there's probably still a 25° variation from the set point). They also have features like automatic shut off after four hours (which you have to keep in mind if you think it's holding your food all day above the safety floor temp.) and "Sabbath Mode" lockouts that prevent the shut off but my also only do preset temperatures chosen by ritual custom.

A useful gizmo is a steam vent. It's just a lever that opens and closes some slits that let steam out. Keep steam in to keep your meat from drying out. Let steam out so the crust on the bread you're heating will stay crunchy.

Thank you all so much for the excellent advice and information!

Debbi, your island is stunning, I hope that mine turns out as well and that I love the warming drawer as much as you do.

Iascatz, thank you for the reality check. I think I have to put more thought to exactly how I will use a warming drawer, or just take the leap and find out. I feel like it stands a chance of being my new favourite appliance (my expectations are dangerously high, I know!).

Plllog, great advice re. placement. There is one obvious spot for a warming drawer (or 2) that I think would work well but I will think it through with your points in mind to be sure before committing. I have lots of lower cabinet space to work with, and it's all very flexible at this stage. In terms of brands/models, I also like simplicity though the Miele 30" really won me over today in the store. It opens and closes beautifully and the interior is lovely (though maybe it would lose heat faster when opened because of the open sides?). For panel-ready 24", I've only found Dacor but can't see them in person. Do you have any recommendations?

We have big family groups in often but I always cook in shifts, throughout the day or even the day before, and I plan very carefully. I have three little kids underfoot and tend to ruin at least one of my dishes whenever I'm cooking up a feast so I leave myself lots of time for interruptions and trouble shooting! :) Having multiple smaller ovens and specialty (yet still versatile) appliances will work better for me than one big workhorse would.

I don't know the current offerings, unfortunately. You can go to a website like Universal-AKB or AJMadison and get a good feeling for what's out there, though there may be some models they don't feature.

A warming drawer or two could definitely come in handy for the things you describe. Some other things to look at, which require storage space rather than built-in space, are countertop ovens like the Breville Smart Oven, electric roasters like a large Nesco, and immersion sous vide circulators like the Anova (the last especially if you already use a Food Saver (vacuum sealer)). These can also expand your cooking availability for occasional use, and put it outside the kitchen proper. Any of them can be set up on laundry machines that won't be in use, or a spare desk or utility table in a room which otherwise isn't part of the festivities. You can actually make roasts in the Nesco. The sous vide circulator and a big pot, or even an enamelled dish pan, can become a different, most convenient kind of oven. It works long and slow, but you seal your food, especially meat, put it in water in the vessel with the circulator, and you can go right from frozen raw to cooked perfectly given the correct calculation of time. There are also portable warming drawers and hot boxes.

Both Miele and Gaggenau, two of the very tippy top lines available, have open sided warming drawers. That requires more engineering in the floor of the unit since it doesn't have the structure of the sides to hold it together. Many warming drawers (including my Monogram) make a loud bang sound during temperature shift. I don't know if the open ones do because they have thicker floors. There's no reason to think that the open sides make for a loss of heat. The drawer doesn't get -- shouldn't get -- very hot. Usually you can touch the sides without being burned unless you hang on--the way touching your car hood after driving a ways doesn't burn you unless you lean or sit on it for awhile. The open sides are snazzy though. Perhaps an issue if you don't notice that a pot is a little over the edge and you close it fast, banging into the side. Perhaps the cantilever isn't as strong over time and use with lots of heavy things (I don't know that, just see that it could be possible). But, again, these are the top brands. They do it because they can and can charge for it, but they wouldn't if it didn't function well.

Since you have plenty of space, I'd consider going with the 30", and adding a portable something if you really do end up needing even more warming space. That will give you a broader range of models to look at.

With all of this, just keep food safety and avoiding the danger zone in the forefront of your mind (hard with little kids distracting you). Once you've made it a habit, and gotten used to your new appliances, it'll be second nature.