Remodeling a kitchen or bathroom is a tricky balance between maximizing space and squeezing in all the features you want. The biggest conundrum just might be doors vs. drawers in your base cabinets.
One could argue that choosing between storage cabinets with doors or drawers will have the most significant impact on your kitchen or bathroom renovation. Designers are trending away from traditional cabinets with shelves hidden behind doors in favor of many drawers that maximize storage convenience.
When choosing which is best for your new kitchen or bath, it’s helpful to consider: the space you have to work with, the function of each kitchen/bathroom zone, what needs to be stored and where, and, of course, your budget. With creative planning, everything will find a place, just where it’s needed and within easy reach.
Traditional cabinets with doors are the least expensive option and allow for plenty of storage space. Cabinets come in many shapes, sizes, and configurations to accommodate every kitchen layout, whether custom-made or purchased from a big box home improvement store. In addition, cabinet inserts can double your shelf space and maximize the depth or height of any cupboard.
But with spacious cabinets, there is a downside: inefficient use of space. Cabinets become disorganized and awkward to access with all the climbing, bending, and searching around inside. Who hasn’t lost items to the black hole of a corner cabinet? And when it comes to stacking items four deep on a kitchen shelf or bathroom cupboard, it’s often a case of “out-of-sight, out-of-mind.”
One solution for hard-to-reach spaces is to add pull-out organizers or roll-out drawers inside the cabinet. Roll-out organizers bring the back of the cabinet within reach and can tidy up cutting boards, pot lids, and cookware. Likewise, pull-out storage for cleaning supplies, stacks of hand towels, and bathroom appliances make better use of linen cupboards. But this cheaper alternative to drawers has a few drawbacks: The pull-out shelf hardware takes up valuable storage space. In addition, because it lacks the deep sides of a cabinet drawer, items topple around and fall behind the pull-out. So, while pull-outs mimic the easy access drawers at a lower price tag, they’re not as effective for containing items nor as ergonomically friendly.
Now, challenge yourself to imagine a kitchen where the storage emphasis is on drawers.
Here’s a kitchen where everything is stored out of sight yet easy to reach with just the pull of a drawer. Items are at hand without lugging out a step stool or shifting other things out of the way. Kids help themselves to their cups and bowls. Heavy pots get to the stove without bending over. Emptying the dishwasher is a breeze, free from overhead hefting and stacking.
Many drawer inserts configure bathroom and kitchen space for maximum storage, accommodating specialty items and protecting objects from shifting as you open and close drawers. Adjustable pegs hold stacks of dishes in places, racks vertically separate lids, and organized spice jars slide out for easy view. Some drawer dividers are removable to go with the flow of your changing kitchen. Specialty inserts replicate the utensil jar next to the stove, clearing counter space. Ditch the awkward lazy Susan for some clever corner drawers. The narrowest dead spaces in a kitchen transform into functional pull-outs to store cutting boards, spices, and dish towels to dry. A notched under-sink drawer creates much-needed storage space around vanity plumbing.
Cutouts in a drawer give you additional storage space, even when pipes or fittings are in the way.
The improved space and functionality gained with drawers come at a higher price because of the additional moving parts and hardware. But, if you’re looking to streamline and simplify your busy kitchen or cluttered bathroom while maximizing the ease of access, it won’t take long to rejoice in all the storage that drawers provide.
