"...A $700 6" spice pullout is an expensive space filler that isn't that usable..." I beg to differ. I have two of them...and they're a lot more useful than empty filler! I fit a lot of items on them that would take up space in other locations and be blocking each other. With my filler pullouts I have my many, many baking sprinkles in one and my most used spices, ingredients (like molasses, honey, cocoa, vanilla), and recipe box in the other. The one w/the baking items is in my "Baking Center" and the one w/spices, etc. is in my Prep Zone - all very conveniently located and very useful! If you put the tallest items on the bottom shelf and the shortest (or most used) on the top shelf, you don't have to lean over that much or that often. Finally, they are too narrow to have items more than two deep, so that means you can pretty much see everything stored in them! My cabinets were already delivered so it was either filler pullouts or empty filler...we had to "fix" one of the many measuring errors by my KD. But, if I had to do it over again, I would try to fit at least one in my kitchen. (Just so you know, filler pullouts are available for both base and upper cabinets.) Oh, and they are not $700...mine were less than $450 each. $700 may be Rev-A-Shelf's "list" price, but not even my KD would charge that much for them! [In the interests of full disclosure, I did not pay for mine - I insisted my KD pay for them b/c I lost so much cabinet & pantry storage due to her measuring mistakes! But, they did try to charge me, so I have the change order they tried to get me to sign.] Together... Baking Center side (left of cooktop)... Prep Zone side (right of cooktop)... > Roll Out Tray Shelves (ROTS)...items can fall off ROTS b/c most have short sides. If they have high sides, then they may as well be drawers. Pot/pan/container handles and anything else that might hang off the sides of the shelves can get caught on the frame of your cabinet and ding it - both coming out and going in. And, of course, there's the issue I mentioned previously about being very careful you open the doors fully b/f pulling an ROTS out so you don't ding your cabinet doors; and being very careful about making sure your ROTS is completely closed before closing the doors so you don't ding the doors on the corners of the ROTS when closing the doors! Drawers should not be so deep that you have to stack different items on top of each other...plan your drawers accordingly - I have both 3-drawer and 4-drawer stacks - I planned my storage so other than a few drawers, I don't have to stack things. It's nice having my pots & pans in a drawer mostly one layer deep (pan + lid stored together) so I don't have to shift things around. [FYI...I think webbrowseraz is a spammer...the only posts I could find from him/her - all four (spanning from January to now) - link to the same site with basically the same post as on this thread.]

I love my drawers. They have cast iron stacked, and it's not a problem. BUT they're 48" wide. There's lots of room to get the hands in, shift things, etc. I originally thought I'd feel like Jbrig about it, but it turned out to be a non-issue for me. Doors wouldn't have fit, so I had no choice. :) My mother has ROTS that are even wider. Besides the whole thing of the doors being in the way, etc., etc., the width the doors have to be makes them sag just a little (with extra hinging, etc., even so), so you have to lift and adjust to close them. The problem with narrower drawers--that is, dividing the space into two sets, rather than one big drawer, whether it's 36" or 48", is that you not only lose the 1.5"+ where the actual cabinetry is in the middle, you lose the small spaces between where handles overlap, or where you put your steamer basket, or whatever. This is true for all drawers and cupboards, but when you're dealing with more, smaller items, sometimes you gain organization. For pots you just gain wasted space. My divisions are only where they were exactly necessary, structurally, e.g., between the corner units and the regular runs, and next to the appliances.

I'm not sure which picture you were trying to link to, but I think I understand the issue. There's a trick if your doors aren't right up against a wall. There's a kind of hinge that looks like a Z, but not as angular, which sets against the side or frame with one leg and the center of the Z, and sticks out for the other leg of the Z. The actual hinge is at the edge of the sticking out piece. It's attached to the door with an L shaped bracket with the hinge part near the surface of the outer edge of the door. When it opens the doors can swing out and away from the frame. They just need somewhere to swing to. The only other idea I can think of, for against a wall, is to have a recess in the wall for the doors to fit into. Another thing you could do is build little side shelves into the pantry, that stick out a little past the door jamb, and have blocked apron sides that will hold your slide out hardware. You could put small cans or something like that that won't fall easily on the little shelves, and have most of the storage on the pullouts.

In a weird role reversal I became the budget watcher on my Mom's kitchen reno and I tried to reduce the more costly drawers and was turned back on all fronts - every KD we met with was pro drawers (pull out shelves are more hassle and often cost the same as the drawers). We did use the manufacturers pull outs in the pantry and probably could have got something nicer for less after market but I just didn't want to have to install them. At least one KD recommended having one regular base cabinet for oversized objects - didn't happen though she does have an angled base cabine that will hold a couple of things. We ended up putting cookie sheets and trays in the cupboard over the fridge (another KD rec) rather than in a base cabinet. The middle cabinet on the side run will be a pull out recycle centre. Cabinet straight ahead is a sink base. Back wall has only one other base cabinet with 4 drawers.