Kitchen Storage Drawers and Why You Want Them

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About a year ago we renovated our kitchen and created my dream new kitchen. If you could only see some of the wacky kitchens I’ve lived with in the more than 21 homes I’ve lived in over the years. (Eye roll plus head shake.) The benefit of having lived in all those different (most were far from ideal) kitchens, is that I knew exactly what I wanted when we finally created our dream kitchen. On the top of my must-have list of kitchen features was kitchen storage drawers, big, beautiful, deep kitchen drawers.  Using kitchen drawers instead of cabinets makes kitchen organizing so much easier. Here, let me show you why.

Most of us are used to small drawers in the kitchen for holding silverware and dish towels. Those drawers have their place in organizing a kitchen, but I’m talking about big, deep kitchen drawers, not the traditional small, shallow drawers we’re familiar with. 

Why Kitchen Storage Drawers Are Better than Cabinets

Easy to See Everything at Once – Drawers make it easy to see everything in the drawer at once. You don’t have to bend down, remove items and twist around (and almost stand on your head) to see the items in the back of the cabinet; you can simply pull out the drawer and immediately see the contents. 

Easier to Access – You can pull the drawer out and easily reach items all the way in the back of the drawer. If those items were in a cabinet, you’d have to bend over, twist around and almost climb into the back of the cabinet to reach those same items. Sometimes I’ve had to sit on the floor to remove items in the front of a cabinet so I could then reach the items in the back. Kitchen drawers are much preferable to cabinets unless you enjoy playing a version of Twister when you want to want to access the back of your kitchen cabinet. 

Better for Mobility Impairment –  Because items are much easier to reach, using kitchen drawers are much more useful for people with mobility issues. Being able to access items easily and put them back away easily is key to having a well organized and useful kitchen. 

Gives You More Space than Pull-outs – If you have a choice of installing kitchen drawers or pull-out drawers in kitchen cabinets, chose drawers.  Pull-out drawers that are installed inside of cabinets are smaller than the available space. You gain 3 or more inches of storage space when you choose drawers over pull-outs. 

Provide Deep Space for Optimum Organizing –  Drawers provide deep space with walls that allow you to safely stack items.   I’m able to keep a set of Christmas dishes in each of the china cabinet drawers below and still easily access them. The walls of the drawers protect stacked items and make it possible for you store an amazing number of items in the space. Best Solution for Kitchen Corner Cabinets – Drawers are my favorite solution for that awkward corner kitchen cabinet space. I’ve had the lazy-Susan option for the corner cabinet (where things fall off and you have to twist like a pretzel to reach in the back of the cabinet) and I’ve had the deep shelves (you have to low crawl into to get your pots and serving platters from the far back of the cabinet). Having drawers in this corner cabinet space is the best option by far. The deep kitchen drawers give you a large space and every inch of every drawer is easy to reach. 

Interesting Drawer Options – In addition to traditional horizontal drawers, there are also vertical drawer options available. The shelves are adjustable so it’s easy to accommodate your specific storage needs. 

We do have a couple of cabinets for items like a big pasta pot and blender, but most of my lower kitchen cabinets are kitchen drawers. After a year of use, I am still convinced that kitchen storage drawers are the best organizing tool in the kitchen by far. What do you prefer for organizing in the kitchen, drawers or cabinets?

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