In our shop, if a customer specifies that a drawer box will need to hold more weight than normal (much like you describe) we will typically upgrade the bottom from 1/4" to 1/2". In this case, the groove cut into the drawer box sides is widened for the thicker bottom. For drawer boxes that are wider or deeper than normal, it is often necessary to add a reinforcement cleat down the middle.

A normal drawer box bottom is only 1/4" thick plywood.

Is it normal to reinforce it with plywood? It's possible.

I might consider getting a 3"-4" wide, 1/2" thick (or however much space you have available - our drawer boxes have a 1/2" lip underneath) solid wood board to use as a reinforcement cleat underneath the drawer box. Use a pocket-hole jig to drill pocket holes in the ends of the cleat so that your method of attachment is not visible from any of the sides. Use either a hot glue gun or regular wood glue and a weight inside the drawer box to adhere the cleat to the under-side of the drawer box bottom in addition to your pocket hole screws. This is how me might add a reinforcement cleat in our shop.

Upgrading our drawer bottoms wasn't an available option, so DH and I reinforced them (the ones that would hold heavier items) ourselves:

A weekend of DIY bought us tons of piece of mind.

ETA: I've marked where the screws went in.

I am going to try this if there's room a the bottom of our drawers. Thanks.

It's not just the bottom. Your drawer slides have to be able to handle the weight. You need to look at the specs of the drawer slides. If they are not able to handle the weight, the bottom reinforcement may not be enough.

Make sure you do not end up destroying the slides before their time...

You have to check the slides weight ability. For my pots pans drawers, I upgraded my bottom to 1/2" and my slides support 350 lbs.. It has to count in the weight of the drawer as well as the pots pans.

Yes, definitely weigh your items + drawer.

Karyn

Find out what type of drawer glides were used. The spec is easily found on line.

In general, Tandem Blumotion is the most commonly used "high end" of drawer slides. Blum Tandembox (the boxes are made of stainless steel and/or tempered glass) line is usually more expensive than the dovetailed good quality hardwood drawers but the drawer glides are similar.

https://www.cabinetparts.com/media/pdf/auto/blumtandemblumotionoverviewspec.pdf

Their standard weight is 100 lbs.

If you upgrade, it is 150 lbs

Their standard is 1/2 inch bottom. You can put a 5/8 inch bottom.

I just asked the installer and he says it is supposed to hold up to 75 pounds. So, I think I should be ok.

You're not storing gold bullion or concrete blocks in your drawers! Weigh the pots and pans individually on a bathroom scale and add up the weight. I bet you'll be surprised that your drawers are quite adequate for the task.

One of the posters here a couple of years ago used Brookhaven which is a good brand and her side wall gave way. So you might want to look at more than your bottoms before you overload your drawers.

The weight limit includes the contents and the weight of the drawer as I understand it.

^^ It was a2gemini's Recipe for disaster. post. There was a happy ending. :)

I have a big drawer under my farm sink, which holds lots of cleaning supplies. I also have a toe-kick, Broan heater because it's always freezing in my life.

I put in almost a separate toe-kick thick 2x4 which sat on the floor under the cabinet, and supported the bottom of the cabinet. It also prevents the bottom of the cabinet from bowing and smashing the heater, which I think could be a fire hazard.

If the bottom can't bow, it won't pull out of the sides.

In addition to the bottom thickness and drawer capacity, the width of the drawer matters. How wide are they?

I built a pot-and-pan drawer for cast iron. It's 33" wide, has Blum Tandem heavy-duty slides (not the standard-duty), a 3/4" bottom, and two 1/2"-thick struts pocket-screwed to the bottom (like the ones javiwa showed but straight instead of angled).