Kitchen drawers hold a variety of objects but how far out do they come from the cabinets? Another way to look at this is, how deep are the drawers? We've done some research and looked at different types of kitchen drawers, what they might hold, and how far they come out from the cabinet base.
The depth of kitchen drawers is directly related to the size of your cabinets. Lower cabinet drawers have depths from around 17 inches to 23 inches deep while drawers located in upper cabinets may start around 12 inches deep.
We'll look at the different types of drawers to give you a sense of their dimensions in the post below. Next, we'll touch on drawers for pots and pans and drawers for silverware. We'll also look at popular cabinet maker, IKEA, to see if their drawer sizes are the same.
How Far Do Kitchen Drawers Come Out?
Knowing the depth of your drawers is important when deciding how to best arrange your kitchen. It allows you to order the correct organizers and accessories to customize your kitchen storage for your exact needs. Most kitchens have fairly standard dimensions to their cabinets, but custom, historic, and remodeled homes may have outliers.
Base cabinets in kitchens tend to be 24, 30, or 36 inches deep. The drawers for these base cabinets will be slightly smaller in depth measurement. Upper cabinets tend to be 12 inches deep, and though drawers aren't as common in upper cabinets, the ones that are there will be slightly smaller in depth.
Types Of Drawers In Upper Cabinets
Upper cabinets are not as deep as lower cabinets. This ensures there is plenty of counter space to work on without the upper cabinet interfering. And though we're less likely to see loads of upper cabinet drawers, there are a few types that are common.
Spice Pull Outs
One of the most common types of upper cabinet drawers is a pull-out organizer for spices. These are perfect if you have a window above your kitchen sink. Just add one of these narrow drawers to either side to hold all of your small bottled spices. They can be as narrow as 3" to about 6" across, but the 10.9" depth is perfect to fit inside of upper cabinet bases.
Click here for this pull-out on Amazon
Here's another option for upper cabinet pull-out organization.
Click here for this one on Amazon.
Other Types Of Pull-Out Storage
Other types of upper cabinet storage include:
- Coffee pod pull-outs
- Above refrigerator pull-out shelving
- Under-shelf wine glass storage
- Tandem shelving units
Different Types Of Lower Cabinet Drawers
The majority of the kitchen cabinet drawers tend to be in the base cabinets. This is where we typically find our silverware drawers, pots and pans drawers, spice drawers, and all-purpose drawers. There are also specialty-type drawers like mixer shelves that come with lifts to bring them up to counter height.
Base cabinets come in standard depths of 24, 30, and 36 inches. Of course, custom cabinets made for specific kitchens may be different. Your drawers will be slightly smaller in depth than the base, which leaves room for hardware.
Silverware Drawers
Perhaps the most common type of drawer is the silverware drawer. It needs to be large enough to hold your flatware, at a minimum, and maybe some serving pieces too. The depth of your silverware drawer will be in accordance with the depth of your cabinet base.
Standard sizes for drawers that come pre-fitted with silverware dividers are 15", 18", 21", & 24" wide. You'll want to plan for a couple of drawers in your kitchen. One for everyday flatware, one for cooking utensils, and one for those lesser-used utensils.
If your drawers have no dividers, simple expandable dividers like these are readily available from online retailers. They collapse down to 13" and as wide as 20". This bamboo model can be found here on Amazon.
Drawers For Pots And Pans
Another popular use for drawers in lower cabinets is the wonderful deep pots and pans drawer. Storing these items this way makes it so much easier to get them out when it's time to cook. Plus you can see them all in one drawer (or two).
The measurements for these types of drawers are whatever the depth of your cabinets are, the width is generally from 24" to 30" (though we love the width of a 30" pot drawer), and the best depth is in the 8 to 10 inches range. Measuring your tallest pot is a good way to decide on the depth you need.
Organizers like this can help you keep your pots and pans and lids in a neat arrangement. Click here for this one on Amazon
Mixer Lift Drawers
Click here for this on Amazon.
If you love to bake, then you might consider giving one of your lower cabinets over to your mixer. Though not technically a drawer, this lifting platform allows you to store your mixer, then swing it up and out to counter height when you need to use it.
This is so much more convenient than having to lift a heavy KitchenAid Mixer out from a drawer to your countertop. But then you can conveniently hide it away when you're done. See our post here on KitchenAid:Â KitchenAid Accessories For Your Stand Mixer
Wine Glass Drawer
Another great idea for a lower drawer is to use it for wine glass storage. In these drawers, dividers are built to slot one glass per area. They are stored upside down which cuts down on breakage and dust.
The average wine glass is 6-10 inches tall, so keep that in mind when deciding upon a depth for your wine glass drawer.
You can always retrofit your deep drawers for glassware with plastic snap grids like these. The nice thing is they are easy to clean and adjustable to work for all of your stemware sizes. Click here for these on Amazon.
Why Not Use Them For The Wine, Too?
Here's a really fun idea for the lower area of your bottom cabinets. Dedicate a few shallow 4-inch drawers and store your favorite vino below your glasses. It's a way to have bottles handy for your next kitchen party and keep quite a collection of vintages.
How Far Do IKEA Drawers Come Out?
This question comes up because IKEA, being a Swedish company, builds its furniture with a smaller footprint in mind. This means their standard dimensions are slightly different than the standard dimensions of US-built cabinetry.
The typical IKEA cabinet depth is 15, 24, or 24.75 inches. This means that their drawers are slightly shorter than each of those measurements. This makes a difference when ordering any sort of organizational inserts, though many IKEA cabinets come with systems of their own.
There Are Loads Of Ways To Customize Drawers To Fit Your Lifestyle
The great thing is that regardless of the depth of your drawers, there are super organizational systems to fit them. Just have your measurements handy when you look for the system you want. And as you can see, there are all types of convenient and clever ways to use the storage in your kitchen cabinets and drawers.
If you enjoyed this post here at KitchenSeer.com, please check out a few of our others below:
How High Should Kitchen Wall Cabinets Be From The Floor?
How Tall Are Kitchen Cabinets? [3 Types Examined]
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