Kitchen Island Design - Drawers vs. Cabinets
Lindsey Brady
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Cabinets with rollouts vs. drawers??
Comments (44)Oh, so the KD apparently has no clue as to how a kitchen functions if she was putting in all 18" and 21" drawers! Thank goodness you caught that. Actually, I can hear her muttering under her breath about "This crazy woman who wants all of her cabinets to be drawers. I don't understand why she would do that, it's going to look terrible and choppy and not be very functional, but okay." tart to lay out where you are putting things. Take your floorplan and write down where things will live. That will dictate how big drawers should be in each area. Make it logical to where you will use the items. For instance, you want your pots and pans to be stored close to the range - those cabinets need to be wider (and should be a 3 drawer unit) Where are your cooking utensils going? Where are your baking supplies going? Where do your leftovers storage containers go? What about plastic wrap, sandwich bags, etc. Where will you want your flatware (ideally, it should be close to your DW and where you will set up for most of your meals, but if you can choose just one, personally, I would go for near the DW.) What about spices while you are cooking? Do you apply most of those spices during prep or while you are actually cooking and are your prep and cooking space side by side? How many "tall items" do you have? And how often do you use them? Say for instance, you have a blender that you don't want out on the counter but use often, you would want it to have a home somewhere near where you are likely to use it (ingredients from the fridge?)...how tall is the blender? How tall are the drawers? Are you going to have a lazy susan or something (super susan, etc) or is the kitchen retaining the blind corner? If you have a lazy susan, often tall items can go there. As an aside, I'd probably try to eliminate the blind corner since it's not adequately usable storage....things go into the black hole in there and NEVER return. We all have similar "ingredients", or things that go into our kitchen, but each of us differ a bit on how much space we need for certain objects and how we use our kitchen, so it's tough for us to say exactly how wide each drawer bank should be for your uses. It is fair to say that wider drawers are typically more useful for many storage needs than narrow ones. And it results in more actual usable space since each cabinet side and drawer side diminishes the amount of storage space...it makes sense that two cabinet and drawer sides would take up less space than four. Oh, and you can change the size of your uppers around to suit what is below if you want them to match up in size. Personally, I wouldn't worry on that quite as much. And if you use many spices, I would try to get a spice pull out somewhere in the kitchen (close to prep or cooking areas)....See MoreAnother drawer question, 3-drawer vs 4-drawer cabinets?
Comments (3)If you only have two drawer bases, I would probably stick with 3 drawers in both. I do have one 4-drawer base--but I planned in advance what I was going to put in it & I have seven drawer bases. What do I put in the 4-drawer base? 24", the top three are the same size (same as top drawers everywhere else), the fourth/bottom is a bit deeper: * Flatware * Plastic Bags, Wraps, Wax Paper * Bread baskets & Plates * Misc Coffee & Tea supplies The rest are 3-drawer bases (1 shallow & 2 deep), 2-drawers + WD, & 1 drawer+ MW. The other shallow drawers hold: * Prep & Cooking Utensils (under cooktop) * Baking Tools & Utensils (in Baking Center) * Pot Holders (b/w cooktop & DOs) * Utensils for gluten-free foods * Linens & Placemats HTH!...See Morekitchen island design - drawer microwave and pop-up mixer stand?
Comments (16)Thanks for all the feedback and the tips for searching the site. After reading everyone's comments, I'm thinking that the drawer MW is the way to go, probably purchased from ebay to get a good deal. I saw a mixer lift at a local home improvement store today, and I hated it! It was hard to reach the release and I think I'd have hit myself in the face with it as it popped up if it'd had a mixer sitting on it, so I think I'll just go with a pull out shelf for the mixer and lift it onto the counter myself. I'd probably use it on the counter, anyway, so that there wouldn't be flour and batter splatter inside the cabinet and so we wouldn't break the open cabinet door while using the lift....See Moreisland vs peninsula in kitchen and hood vent design question
Comments (20)I like this plan a lot. I had sketched it out this way but wasn't sure it was really enough space. Thanks for taking the time to show the dimensions. My one concern about the refrigerator placement is whether of not it will make the kitchen feel "boxed" in when I am working in it. Maybe just when I am at the sink?. Question- could I put the DW next to the refrigerator without struggling with the DW door when it is open? I would most likely house my dishes and silver ware in drawers at that end of the island. It's nice to be able to move things straight from the DW into their storage spots without having to first put them on the island and close the DW door. I like the idea of the pantry. Do you have the space next to the pantry as a coat closet or the W/D? Thank you so much for responding and taking the time to sketch and upload. I am very, very appreciative....See MoreLindsey Brady
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