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Base cabnets - shelves vs drawers in 15 inch deep cabinet

5 years ago

I am planning a remodel of a condo kitchen which will include removing most of the upper cabinets. I will have 2-24 inch uppers flanking the sink but all other cabinets will be base cabinets. I am losing 2 24-inch uppers along with a group of very high uppers currently over a peninsula which are used for party supplies and dead storage. I am adding 15 inch deep cabinets on the back side of the peninsula and island. The 15 inch deep cabinets will be used to store the party supplies, not-oft-used appliances, extra serving pieces, etc. My initial thought was to keep them as shelves but I'm now considering changing that to drawers however I wonder if a 15 in deep drawer is actually useful. If you have 15 inch deep drawers do you find them useful? What has been your experience with the shelf vs drawer conundrum? Is there ever a time when you wish you had more shelves?

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PRO

The Kitchen Place

5 years ago

If the top has overhang for seating, you wouldn't be able to access the top drawer. :-)

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Comments (8)

PRO
Anglophilia
5 years ago
YOu're giving up a lot of storage space in order to have your condo kitchen have that cool, open shelving look.

I would absolutely do drawers in your very shallow 15" cabinets. But be sure the drawers are full-open. Even then, you are not going to have much storage space in them.

I have NEVER wished for more bottom shelves, only for still more drawers!

Did you have a KD do this plan for you?
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Jaykaym thanked Anglophilia
rinked
5 years ago
Not knowing your layout, I'd suggest adding a few tall cabinets to make up for the lost storage space.
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I agree that a susan would not be efficient use of space in a straight cabinet run. Not at all. Pullouts are tricky on shelving that is approaching eye level or just above. I am not sure that they would increase visibility unless they were meshed bottomed and you could look through from the bottom. Of course they allow you to peer in at the sides when you pull them out. If they are below eye level, you could see down on the area and that would be helpful. Here is the cabinet I am reorganizing. It is above the DW and slightly to the right. Daily dishes go straight from DW to this cab. The photo was taken at eye level. 1. 2 full depth shelves 2. 2 adjustable helper shelves that are about 4 inches shallower than the cabinet. Advantages of helper shelves: Only identical items are stacked. I never have to move something off a stack to get to what is below it. Disadvantages of the helper shelves: the legs in the center get in the way of items stored beneath them. they could hold almost twice as much if they were full depth. Well Duh! solution: Cut two more shelves, finish the front edge with matching paint or iron-on edging tape, and adjust all four shelves for most efficient height (minimum waste above each stack.) Notice that only like items are stacked. In addition, with the new full depth shelves taller stacks of smaller items like the saucers can be shortened into two stacks, one in front of the other. The grabit bowls will fit in two stacks one in front of the other. Notice that seeing to the back of the cabinet is not an issue if identical items are placed in rows. Probably a whole lot more than you wanted to see here, but I will post a pic of the same items stored on four shelves instead of two shelves and two helper shelves when I get it done. I am curious to see if it will hold as much more as I think it will.
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Is GardenWeb awesome or what? Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who posted their thoughts. I saw the paper towel holder thread and think I can find another place for mine. I like the idea of U-shaped holders for vertical storage - was planning for that over the fridge but this would be handier. rosie/desertsteph's ideas would work for that. Why not a 15" drawer base? Well, all other base cabinets are drawers and I've pretty much figured out where everything will go already, so not sure I need yet another one. jakabedy reading about your experience and seeing your pictures was really helpful, esp the KA mixer. I was going to put mine across the kitchen in another cabinet but it would be so much more useful to have it available in this corner. Do you think the pull-out would hold a KA mixer and a Cuisinart? Or would that be too heavy? Thanks for the Hafele link, Angie - lots of interesting ideas from that manufacturer. As far as the filler goes, to the left is 1" filler to match the width of the corner cabinet's door, then another 2" to allow for the pullout to extend without hitting the corner cabinet's pulls. The 1" filler next to the range is based on experiences with my range (Electrolux) posted on the appliance forum. There's a bit of a bulb out to the front control panel and an inch filler on each side was highly recommended. Making the filler one or two inches narrower doesn't really help because the next bigger cabinet size would be an 18-inch one, and there's definitely not enough space for that. I'm off to Ikea to get the base cabinet and look at the drawer and vertical storage options. Thanks again everyone.
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Wy didn't I do lighting and glass shelves in my hutch? I was my own GC on a whole house reno, dealing with some difficult subs, have two young children and a DH who works long hours and travels very often, and was helping my Dad through prostate cancer surgery and radiation. I was a bit overwhelmed. When I changed the layout of the rooms in the main part of the house, including moving the kitchen, halfway through the reno, I was just happy to have a dish hutch in the new kitchen space! The lighting plan for the house was a major thorn in my side. I didn't know what to put where and struggled for some time with it. Learning how to light a large cabinet with shelves seemed just too much for my stuffed and stressed out brain. I knew it was expensive and complicated to do so. I was already over budget on so many items and decided that lighting the cab wasn't a priority. Like 1929Spanish, I knew this cab would be functional for storage not for pretty display. Besides, I'm not sure how all the dishes and glass would look lit. I don't think I'd like it much. Why highlight my boring stuff? My kitchen isn't about sparkly, shiny, glam areas everywhere you look. Sorry for the long explanation! HTH!
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Are 15" deep cabinets useful?
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What do you plan to store in the drawers in the island? If the items will fit in a 12" deep drawer, front to back or side to side, no problem. One of the homes on the Remodeled Home Tour a few years ago had a wall of cabs that were only 15" deep that included drawers. The designer said that the homeowners loved the cabs, adding that they felt they were the perfect depth for their needs. Check out these 3 photos (sorry, can't figure out how to embed photos from outside houzz). http://www.debseeleydesigns.com/wp-content/gallery/kitchen-remodels/thumbs/thumbs_edwards_kitchen_.png http://www.debseeleydesigns.com/wp-content/gallery/kitchen-remodels/edwards_kitchen_2.png http://www.debseeleydesigns.com/wp-content/gallery/kitchen-remodels/edwards_kitchen_3.png
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PRO
The Kitchen Place
5 years ago
I would do shelves. 15" deep is shallow enough to see most everything. You'll get a lot of wasted space with the drawer boxes. I'll post a pic of a 15" deep drawer when I get a chance.
Jaykaym thanked The Kitchen Place
damiarain
5 years ago
Is the area where you’re putting the 15” cabinets under a counter overhang? (ie is there seating?) If the cabs are not under an overhang, I might just stick with shelves b/c like Kitchen Plce says, they’re shallow enough. If they are going under a seating-overhang, I’d do full extension drawers b/c that brings your items ‘out’ to you bs you climbing under the counter

Another thought is have you test measures 15”x?x? To see how well your party/extra items will fit? (like, large platters probably won’t if you have shallow drawers, but you could go for deep drawers so you can store platters on their sides)
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Jaykaym thanked damiarain
PRO
The Kitchen Place
5 years ago
I have two brands in my showroom that happen to show a 15" deep drawer. The actual interior drawer depth is close. Shiloh is about 10.75" and KraftMaid is 10.5"....probably due to the 5/8" drawers box on my shiloh display vs Kraftmaid's 3/4". Here are two pics.
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Jaykaym thanked The Kitchen Place
Lyndee Lee
5 years ago
I have a 12 inch deep drawer base in my kitchen and it is almost useless. Obviously 15 inches would be better but still the amount of space lost to the drawer assembly is a large part of the available space.

I am just not a fan of the drawers everywhere design because the items to fit must have the correct dimensions to be efficient storage. For example, my ladle is too tall to fit in the short top drawer with the remainder of the utensils so it is stuck across the room in the dishtowel drawer. Be sure to get the dimensions of the actual usable space and compare them to your items. Also remember that you can easily add extra shelves to cabinets. You can use small boxes or bins to group rarely used items on a cabinet shelf and lose much less space than drawer hardware. How easy does it need to be if you only use the items a few times per year?
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Jaykaym thanked Lyndee Lee
wilson853
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Definitely shelves in any cabinet up to 15" unless you have a specific need for a drawer. We did place one drawer in a 13" deep cabinet to corral the BBQ apparatus ie, extra long spatulas and tongs, thermometers, grill spray, skewers, etc.. Inside dim. is 8" deep x 28" wide. You have more versatility with shelves up to 15" and they're great for cookbooks and small appliances like the food processor, Vitamix, and rice cooker. Standard size platters and serving bowls will also fit on shelves in a 15" deep cabinet but you would be hard pressed to do that in a drawer at that depth. I do have one 18" deep four drawer base and from front to back they are deep enough to hold colanders and mixing bowls in a single row across. I have inset cabinets.
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Jaykaym thanked wilson853

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