One of the topics I always come across when I work with clients while designing their kitchens is that:

How deep should my Kitchen Cabinets be? OR

What is the maximum depth I can make my Kitchen Island Cabinets? - I need to store all my pots and pans and my current Base Cabinets are not deep enough ………… I have very large Woks that I cook in!

I tell my clients - Don’t hesitate to ask me anything. I will give an answer if I know it. Sometimes I have to rummage through my Design books or the internet, but often times I know the answer!

So, 𝐀𝐌𝐀 - 𝐀𝐬𝐤 𝐌𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠:

🎗️You may wanna ask "What is the BEST location for storing big Cooking Pots & Pans in the Kitchen?"⁠

🎗️You may wanna ask “Is the Kitchen Island the best location for this?”

🎗️You may wanna ask “How can I store and access my pots and pans easily as we want to prepare dinner and we want easy access to them?”

🎗️Or just like my clients as in above asked me “How deep should my kitchen cabinets be?”

🎗️You may wanna ask “What is the maximum depth I can make my Kitchen Island Cabinets?”

😊Well Well! We all want to make our living at Home easy. So when Kitchen storage & access is concerned we do all want it to be easily accessible to us, And there are special situations when we design for homeowners that are on a wheelchair and need special accessibility.

And then there are homeowners that we design for that are not able to bend or go down on their knees!⁠
AFTER ALL, ONE SECTION OF THE POPULATION IS GROWING OLD!⁠ We have to take that into consideration as well.

In our Kitchen Design journey we have also encountered clients who are tall and getting down to base cabinets, specially when they are deep and in tight corners is specially difficult and becomes quite challenging.

As our daily lives get busy and we work hard everyday we want to become our meal time real easy and enjoyable - not wanting to rummage through our darkest deepest corner of our cabinets and fight our way out, making a huge commotion to take out that one pan that we need. Who has the energy? Who has the temperament? We want to make it easy on us.

So What is the BEST location for storing big Cooking Pots & Pans in the Kitchen?

Let’s look at few different scenarios and that will enable you to choose the best location for your own unique kitchen:

1.

-KITCHEN ISLAND OPTION

You have a large kitchen or you are upgrading to a larger kitchen with your upcoming kitchen renovation and you are putting in an island. You can surely create storage for your big pots and pans in your island base cabinet. You can prioritize that storage for pots & pans that goes into island cabinet first and then make room for other items.

2.

-WALL BASE CABINET OPTION

You may have an island or thinking of having one in your upcoming kitchen renovation but its your personal preference that you do not want pots and pans storage in your kitchen island. The reason can be that you are having island seating all across the length of the island on one side and hence want to have serving utensils and cutlery in the island storage. The most you want there may be your food prep tools. In that case you may choose base cabinets along the wall of the kitchen.

Some Storage Options You may like to Shop for

3.

-FLANKING COOKING RANGE OPTION

You may prefer that while you cook you want your pots and pans close to or around the vicinity of your cooking range. So in that case you may want them in the base cabinets flanking your cooking range. I sometimes suggest clients that you store big pots and pans in base cabinets between your sink and the cooking range. That way you can wash them after use, dry and put them away easily rather than walking to the other side of the kitchen with the heavy pan.

4.

-BELOW COOKTOP OPTION

Some homeowners may have a cooktop instead of a range. In that case do you know what I am going to suggest? You got that right! Yes, the best area in this case would be store your pots and pans directly below the cooktop. That’s the most convenient as you can take it out from under and place it on the cooktop.

Some Drawer Organizer Options you may like to Shop for

5.

-CEILING HANGING OPTION

You may ask what about hanging from the ceiling. I get this question often. In fact when I designed our kitchen at home my husband had the same question. This is personal preference and also depends on ceiling height plus on the style of the kitchen you have or are going to have. The look of hanged pots and pans needs to be aesthetically pleasing. The pots and pans also need to have a certain look, cleaned well so they do not look ugly with burnt marks or oil stains. Hence I always try other options first and see if I can create storage space in another location in the kitchen.

6.

-CORNER CABINET OPTION

The last location I would suggest, and if you are open to that, is to use the corner cabinet for storing your pots and pans. But you may question me how you can do that. There are ways and means to use a corner cabinet efficiently for the purpose. If it is an existing cabinet and only if that corner has a large enough opening this will be possible. You can retro fit custom drawers, lazy-susans or pull-out/slide-out drawers for the purpose. Sizing is very important in this case. Door openings, space inside and size availability of the fittings will rule what can be done.

Some Hanging Storage Options you may like to Shop for

Some Corner Cabinet Storage Options you may like to Shop for

UNDER THE COOKTOP STORAGE EXAMPLE

CEILING HANGING STORAGE EXAMPLE

CORNER CABINET STOARGE EXAMPLE

SOME WAYS YOU CAN MAKE DEEP STORAGE EASY

After we allocate our heavy and deep storage for pots and pans we need to think about how to make that storage access easy and usable on a daily basis. Design or build does not end with cabinet installation. It is how long lasting that solution is when used on a daily basis and by all members of the household. Not everyone handle things the same way!

SO HERE ARE SOME WAYS TO MAKE DEEP STORAGE EASY:

Accessible deep drawers with Full Extension Pull-outs - Have you heard about these? ⁠
We are sure some of you have & some not! So whether it is in the Kitchen island or on the main wall Base cabinets the key to strong heavy pots & pants is sturdy drawer systems!⁠

Consider the height of drawers. Not all drawers need to be of the same height. Planning your kitchen early, long before even a cabinet company is hired will go a long way. Without being rushed you can organize your kitchen pots and pans according to size. You consider the highest of your favorite pans or cooking vessel, measure the height and make sure at least one row of drawers is high enough to fit that vessel.

Positioning drawers depending on location in the kitchen - where or how you want to access them. Some homeowners may be on a wheelchair and will be taking out the item. Height of the person who accesses the item most is also taken into consideration. Who is the primary cook in the household? We need to have in mind that there is enough space in front if that storage faces an appliance or is beside an entry door.

How high or how low you want that storage? Do you want them in a drawer or behind doors that open up? Do you want the storage in the base cabinets or in a wall cabinet at a more comfortable height location? Choosing the opening, height location will depend on you, the homeowners, or you the person doing the majority of the cooking.

Consider the weight of items you are planning to store away. If it drawers you want that slide out easily choose drawer slides that are built to take weight of heavy metals or ceramic. Make sure that your cabinet installer is aware what you are keeping in the particular drawer. Ask them to use longer screws that hold better or other kind of re-enforcements that will make the storage sturdy.

Now how deep should my pots and pans storing cabinets be? What is the maximum depth I can make my Kitchen Island cabinets?

There are some rules of thumb and then there are custom sizes. If keeping costs low is your priority then you go with size increments that the cabinet company can easily produce. Otherwise you can go with a custom size which will be mainly manufactured for you.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Most base cabinets are 24” deep, This is the standard depth. With this measurement different cabinet manufacturers have different inside measure that range typically from 23”-22.5”. That should fit your average pots and pans.

2. But if you have one or more X-tra large wok style cooking pan then you can go semi-custom with a section of the cabinets. And that is normally planned when the Cabinet Layout is designed. Since cabinets increase or decrease in 3” increments you can either go with a 27” or a 30” deep base cabinet.

3. When you opt for a deeper than standard base cabinets for your island make sure to plan properly if you have cabinets or seating arrangement on the opposite side of the island. Deeper cabinets on one side may result in shallow cabinets on the opposite side or not so deep enough knee space for island seating.

4. A fully custom kitchen or cabinet section can also be made to order just for you. In that case you can just about have any size that is made for your particular kitchen. Note that costs of cabinetry and installation in this case will go up but you will have a retro-fit kitchen for your needs. That way this will a unique and properly laid out Cabinet Design and will need proper attention to detail in the Planning & Design stage.

Below is an example of a Fully Custom Kitchen Cabinet Island

These island cabinets can be an example of extra deep storage that could typically house pots & pans. Since the cooktop has been integrated in the island the deep cabinets could line up with the cooktop. This is an example of a fully Custom Island base storage.

For more examples of how we created deep storage in our Kitchen Design visit our “209 White Shaker” project. In this project both the Island as well as the Wall-to-wall Cabinets have deep storage.

To plan and ideate your Kitchen and brainstorm where to locate your areas, lets get your Kitchen Planning done. Our step after step Design Advise Services can help you navigate your next Kitchen Reno or Remodel Project.

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