Remodeling our kitchen- What type of drawers/cabinets did you end up hating?

[pharmjenn]

We just bought a house and are going to be tearing out the kitchen and master bath. For the kitchen, we have pretty much decided on a dark maple flooring (throughout the entire downstairs), white cabinets and a granite (haven't chosen color yet)

Looking at kitchen ideas, there are lots of interesting looking drawer and cabinet choices, but I wonder if they will end up getting the use. Things like a pull-out spice cabinet, extra deep drawers, divided drawers for cookie tins. Others like a corner cabinet with a lazy-susan vs corner drawers.
Anyone have cabinets/drawers that they thought they would love and now either hate or feel wasn't worth the expense?

[mommytotwo]

We put in a combination of cabinets and large drawers. We use the large drawers for dishes and pots & pans. I really find the drawers much more usable than traditional door cabinets for these pieces. We have a bottom cabinet with a lazy susan in the corner for tupperware, salad spinner, and large serving pieces. It is much more usable than a traditional corner cabinet. We also considered a spice cabinet, but decided to use a pantry shelf and just added in the small plastic shelf risers (looks kind of like steps) for this purpose. I have a lot of spices (love Penzey's spices).

[pharmjenn]

We put in a combination of cabinets and large drawers. We use the large drawers for dishes and pots & pans. I really find the drawers much more usable than traditional door cabinets for these pieces. We have a bottom cabinet with a lazy susan in the corner for tupperware, salad spinner, and large serving pieces. It is much more usable than a traditional corner cabinet. We also considered a spice cabinet, but decided to use a pantry shelf and just added in the small plastic shelf risers (looks kind of like steps) for this purpose. I have a lot of spices (love Penzey's spices).

Thank you! That is exactly the info I am looking for. I like the idea of larger drawers for pots and stuff. Our old house had deep cabinets, and 2 corner cabinets. I found a lot of things I had forgotten we owned hidden in the far back. We use the risers currently for spices, and canned goods.
In addition to cabinets/drawers, we have a large pantry that is not changing.

[specialp]

Re: spice pull out, I do not have one but wouldn't care for one. I have the elfa spice organizer on my pantry door and I love that thing. I have had every spice organizer in the world and the elfa works so well for me that I wouldn't want to dedicate any cabinet space to it.

I'm iffy on the corner with a lazy susan. I have one and do not use it very much. It isn't useless space by any means, but it doesn't feel like maximized space if you know what I mean. [eta: although it is far better than having the deep corner cabinets where everything disappears.] I have never looked at the corner drawers, but I would have to think a lot about that one as the corner drawers seem tempting. I do agree on the deep drawers. Love those.

[basil]

Get as many drawers as possible. No lower cabinets.

I only have cabinets under my sinks - the rest are drawers.

I store my spices in a drawer - I put them all in matching bottles with labels on the top so I can see down into them.

[WatchingThemGrow]

just saw where someone offers a corner recycling center if that's something you may want to consider. For drawers, I really prefer the 3 drawer configuration over the 4 drawer type. I like having my PC mixing bowls at a handy level, and the 2nd drawer at my old house felt easier than all the other kitchens we've been in this year.

[DualvansMommy]

I have a mix of deep drawers and only couple of lower cabinets. I do have two lazy Susan cabinets which has been reallly useful for me.

[Twoboos]

We have deep drawers in the island and under the cooktop. Under cooktop is pots/pans. Under island are the dishes (across from the dishwasher, PERFECT for kids unloading the dw!), mixing bowls, pyrex, etc.. We did not do drawer dividers for the plates, although we could have. I lined the drawers with the rubbery drawer liner stuff to keep everything from skidding all over the place and it seems to work fine. We do have a couple of pan dividers in the cabinet above the oven, which I wasn't crazy about at first but now I like having them.

No spice drawer, but we have a "self closing" lazy susan that everyone loves to watch, LOL. This holds tupperware, plastic kid plates/cups.

Soft close drawers and cabinets are a must IMO!!

Have fun! (And please post about your MA Bath remodel, we are starting one soon, too! ;))

[egoldber]

Get as many drawers as possible. No lower cabinets.

Yes! When we built our house last year we had a mix of traditional lower cabinets and some deep drawers. We actually went and had the lower cabs retrofitted to pullout shelves. I love the pull outs. So much more useful than cabinets where things get lost.

We also have a "charging drawer". We had the elctrician put an outlet inside a cabinet and then put a power strip in there. That where we charge our phones and iPads. Love it!

[hillview]

we did all lower drawers in lower cabinets. LOVE it. WE have 6 large very deep drawers
- pans and cooking spray and cooking utensils (next to cook top)
- pots (next to cook top)
- plates, bowls, silverware (next to dishwasher)
- kids lunch box stuff (next to dishwasher)
- large baking dishes and dutch ovens (below oven)


eta
posting my old kitchen renovation post
http://windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?433943-Kitchen-reno-rave-More-kitchen-after-photos-in-52&highlight=kitchen

[kristenk]

We have a very thin lower cabinet next to the dishwasher that's perfect for cookie sheets and other flat trays. At first I thought it was going to be too narrow, but it's really perfect.

We have a combination of drawers, cabinets with pull-out shelves and one regular lower cabinet and a corner cabinet with a rev-a-shelf lazy susan (https://www.rev-a-shelf.com/rev-pages/product-listing.aspx?CategoryFilterID=12&SubcategoryFilterID=13) in it. The regular lower cabinet it is our island and it houses most of my heavier cast iron items. The lazy susan is fabulous. Each shelf can pull out a little to make it easier to reach and the weight capacity on the lazy susan is very high, which is nice.

Our pantry is made up of deep pull-out shelves. I love it! It holds a ton but doesn't take up much space.

I'd skip a dedicated spice cabinet. I think I'd rather have more flexibility than that would offer.

[cono0507]

We just bought a house and are going to be tearing out the kitchen and master bath. For the kitchen, we have pretty much decided on a dark maple flooring (throughout the entire downstairs), white cabinets and a granite (haven't chosen color yet)

Looking at kitchen ideas, there are lots of interesting looking drawer and cabinet choices, but I wonder if they will end up getting the use. Things like a pull-out spice cabinet, extra deep drawers, divided drawers for cookie tins. Others like a corner cabinet with a lazy-susan vs corner drawers.
Anyone have cabinets/drawers that they thought they would love and now either hate or feel wasn't worth the expense?

We did a complete kitchen gut/remodel last year.
Lowers are all deep drawers except for under the range and under the sink. Also we have a large lazy susan cabinet in the lower corner. LOVE LOVE LOVE the drawers. So much better for storage of tupperware, food storage containers, towels, water bottles, everything (the drawer for all the water bottles has especially been a better storage solution than the cabinet they previously often fell from). Lazy susan is working well - we have small appliances (hand mixer, mini food processor, etc on the top shelf of it and sets of bowls and pitchers on the bottom).

Love the spice pull outs. We have the range on the island and the spice drawers are under the counter on either side of the range. So S&P, olive oil, etc are right at hand. This can be accomplished with cabinets above too but since our range is on the island and we don't have upper cabinets near the range, this is perfect for us.

We have dividers for cookie sheets, etc, above the built in oven. They are arranged vertically so you open the cabinet and they are lined up as books would be in the cabinet with dividers in between. Love this system - keeps it organized and can always easily get at everything.

LOVE the soft close doors and drawers. Definitely worth it.

I'll also put a plug in for the induction cook top. Absolutely worth the $. Love how it cooks and how easy it is to keep clean.

Master bath is the next project. Looking forward to hearing how yours goes!

[zukeypur]

My house is a 1977 model, so I definitely don't have any input on anything new. However, all of my lower cabinets have pull outs. I will never have a kitchen without them. They are worth their weight in gold.

[queenmama]

I echo the love for all-drawers for lowers. Even cabinets with pull-outs aren't as useful as our drawers.

Lara

[pharmjenn]

just saw where someone offers a corner recycling center if that's something you may want to consider. For drawers, I really prefer the 3 drawer configuration over the 4 drawer type. I like having my PC mixing bowls at a handy level, and the 2nd drawer at my old house felt easier than all the other kitchens we've been in this year.

Hmm, just looked up the corner recycling center. Saved it on our Houzz account for DH to look at. We will have 1 corner cabinet, and it is right next to the sink (1 cabinet in between, which is where the trash/recycling cans are now)


We have deep drawers in the island and under the cooktop. Under cooktop is pots/pans. Under island are the dishes (across from the dishwasher, PERFECT for kids unloading the dw!), mixing bowls, pyrex, etc.. We did not do drawer dividers for the plates, although we could have. I lined the drawers with the rubbery drawer liner stuff to keep everything from skidding all over the place and it seems to work fine. We do have a couple of pan dividers in the cabinet above the oven, which I wasn't crazy about at first but now I like having them.

No spice drawer, but we have a "self closing" lazy susan that everyone loves to watch, LOL. This holds tupperware, plastic kid plates/cups.

Soft close drawers and cabinets are a must IMO!!

Have fun! (And please post about your MA Bath remodel, we are starting one soon, too! ;))

Twoboos, thanks for the link with your remodel. Got some ideas from you. We love the subway tile. I think the contractor is actually planning on starting with the Master bath, and he came over last night to sign the proposal and started asking me what I wanted in there. Except for the basic idea of what we want, I have no idea of type of sink, cabinets etc.


Yes! When we built our house last year we had a mix of traditional lower cabinets and some deep drawers. We actually went and had the lower cabs retrofitted to pullout shelves. I love the pull outs. So much more useful than cabinets where things get lost.

We also have a "charging drawer". We had the elctrician put an outlet inside a cabinet and then put a power strip in there. That where we charge our phones and iPads. Love it!


We did a complete kitchen gut/remodel last year.
Lowers are all deep drawers except for under the range and under the sink. Also we have a large lazy susan cabinet in the lower corner. LOVE LOVE LOVE the drawers. So much better for storage of tupperware, food storage containers, towels, water bottles, everything (the drawer for all the water bottles has especially been a better storage solution than the cabinet they previously often fell from). Lazy susan is working well - we have small appliances (hand mixer, mini food processor, etc on the top shelf of it and sets of bowls and pitchers on the bottom).

Love the spice pull outs. We have the range on the island and the spice drawers are under the counter on either side of the range. So S&P, olive oil, etc are right at hand. This can be accomplished with cabinets above too but since our range is on the island and we don't have upper cabinets near the range, this is perfect for us.

We have dividers for cookie sheets, etc, above the built in oven. They are arranged vertically so you open the cabinet and they are lined up as books would be in the cabinet with dividers in between. Love this system - keeps it organized and can always easily get at everything.

LOVE the soft close doors and drawers. Definitely worth it.

I'll also put a plug in for the induction cook top. Absolutely worth the $. Love how it cooks and how easy it is to keep clean.

Master bath is the next project. Looking forward to hearing how yours goes!

Ok, so definitely mostly lower drawers. Maybe a few pull out shelves on the lower cabinets. I think we will pass on the spice cabinet. I tend to use the same spices, and not too many of them, so no need to take up prime space with spices. I also know I want a farm sink. I think we will end up with white cabinets and a darker granite, as we went with a dark maple flooring.

[MamaMolly]

Our house had a newly remodeled kitchen when we bought it, and we love the deep drawers. Almost all our lower cabinets, except for the corner lazy Susan, are either drawers or pull out drawers behind cabinet doors. We also have a weird pull out thingy with shelves next to the stove. I've put the spices there, but it's not my favorite space for that. I prefer individual spice drawers, but this whole thing slides out as a unit.

We also have another weird pull out next to the sink. It is about 4 inches wide, and again the whole unit slides out. It has a shelf at the top and a hanging bar under that. IMO it is USELESS. I guess it is for hanging a dish towel? But uess you fold the towel perfectly then it gets scrunched up inside, and who wants a wet dish towel getting funky shut up in a dark cabinet anyway? Maybe someday I'll find a better use for that space.

[nfowife]

Definitely a pull-out garbarge/recycling cabinet. Our old house had a pull out with 2 big bins right next to the breakfast nook. This rental house has a corner where a lazy susan could go but instead it has 3 garbage cans on a turnstyle thing. We use them for garbage and recycling and it's very convenient. I really don't like having an exposed garbage can in my kitchen.

[Twoboos]

Twoboos, thanks for the link with your remodel. Got some ideas from you. We love the subway tile. I think the contractor is actually planning on starting with the Master bath, and he came over last night to sign the proposal and started asking me what I wanted in there. Except for the basic idea of what we want, I have no idea of type of sink, cabinets etc.


Glad you got some ideas, but those links weren't from me, LOL! I think it's the ad-inserts that the BBB site does sometimes now.

We did antique white cabinets with a gray wash, darker center island (cabinets by Brookhaven), inset SS sink (Krause, but I looked long and hard at the solid surface ones - I am blanking on the brand name right now!), glass subway tile backsplash, our granite name is Top Star which is lots of lighter and darker browns, some silver, off white, really really pretty! The antique/off white warms up the room just a bit and looks beautiful.

Good luck with your decisions!! It can be overwhelming, that's for sure.