Earlier this year, I decided that, rather than move on from the house we renovated and extended ten years ago, which we have since totally outgrown, we would stay, extend again, and remodel the existing spaces. This includes the kitchen, which, over the last decade, has come to seem rather dated, not so much in its appearance, but more in the way it no longer meets our daily needs.
Two particular areas I have come to intensely dislike about the space are the wall units, which now look bulky, outdated, and totally out of keeping with modern kitchen ideas, and the ratio of kitchen drawers to cupboards. There are too many awkward-to-organise cupboards and nowhere near enough sleek, spacious, smooth-running drawers. In fact, if I have my way when it comes to the new kitchen design, there will barely be a cupboard in sight, with the exception, perhaps, of a floor-to-ceiling coffee-station style number (which I would kit out with drawers, incidentally.)
All that said, I hold my hands up and admit that I am not the most organised person around and regularly find myself peering into a kitchen drawer that won't fully open thanks to some kind of angular utensil that has become lodged and requires wriggling free with a random skewer. So, with this in mind, I asked the experts for their advice on kitchen drawer planning, how to ensure you have enough storage space, where to locate them, and the best methods of keeping them in order.
How Many Drawers Are Needed in a Kitchen?
Begin by planning out what you need to store in your drawers — from there you can develop an idea of how many you'll need and how big they should be.
Good kitchen planning means taking into account several factors, although your primary concerns should be the size and shape of the space and how you like to use your kitchen — in short, what works for one household will be all wrong for another, and your kitchen layout ideas need to be tailored to you and your space.
"The non-negotiable drawers in a kitchen’s design are those for cutlery and utensils. Even if you have some utensils in a holder on your worktop, for example, spatulas and wooden spoons, others that are bulkier or aren’t used daily need to be easily accessible, and drawers are the best solution," points out Pluck co-founder George Glasier. "The starting point for a kitchen is two drawers — but drawers for pans are also great. It is also extremely handy to incorporate a 'draw of everything' — a repository for odd bits and bobs. A drawer for linen – tea towels specifically – is also worth considering, and we’ve had many requests for tea drawers close to kettles. We’ve also made bespoke spice drawers."
"There’s no fixed number of drawers, only what best supports the way you live," adds Natalie Fry, creative director at Grid Thirteen. "Every kitchen begins with understanding those patterns. Once we know how a client uses their home, the storage plan naturally takes shape.
"For family kitchens, we often design with a generous mix of drawers to support the pace of daily life," continues Natalie. "For clients who love to cook, drawer-led storage becomes even more valuable. Smooth access to ingredients and cookware supports a fluid workflow, allowing the kitchen to keep pace with the cook. On the other hand, if the kitchen’s primary role is aesthetic and more of a showpiece for entertaining than daily meal prep, then an extensive drawer plan may not sit as high on the priority list."
Merlin Wright, design and creative director at Plain English, has some further insights when it comes to getting the number of kitchen drawers spot on.
"The basic items generally stored in drawers are cutlery, utensils, tin foil, and greaseproof paper, and maybe one for tea-towels (though tea towels and tin foil can share)," lays out Merlin. "I think potentially four drawers would be the minimum for a small kitchen. However, pull-out storage has become more popular in recent years with the addition of pan drawers, crockery drawer,s and deeper drawers for storing cumbersome worktop appliances. It isn’t unusual for the number of pull-out storage areas to outnumber cupboards now, particularly as clients invest in a kitchen to last them into their retirement and consider accessing storage. Pulling out drawers is easier than reaching into the back of a cupboard."
Natalie Fry is founder and Creative Director of Grid Thirteen, is a multi-award-winning luxury interior design studio based in North Leeds, founded in 2013. With over 25 years of experience working with some of the UK’s leading architects and interior innovators, Natalie leads her all-female design team to create beautiful and functional kitchen, bedroom and living spaces for clients across the UK that are true reflections of clients’ personalities and lifestyles.
Merlin Wright has been design director at Plain English for 17 years. Merlin's background was in boat building and cabinetmaking before studying industrial design, so he immediately related to co-founders Katie Fontana and Tony Niblock as they are both sailors and obsessed with traditional craft skills. For Merlin, it was Plain English's simplicity and authenticity in cupboard making, which to him looked 'just right' and still look right, appropriate and timeless 25 years later that appealed.
George Glasier co-founded Pluck in 2016 and has been instrumental in designing many beautiful kitchens. With a background is 3-D design, George has an innate ability to understand how a room’s interior layout will flow.
Where Should Kitchen Drawers Be Placed?
Plan the positioning of your drawers so that they make everyday life easier — for example, in this kitchen, drawers for cooking and baking equipment are above and beneath the built-in oven.
With a firm idea of how many kitchen drawers you'll need to comfortably accommodate everything you need to stow away and for your kitchen storage to feel seamless, you can begin to look at where they would be best positioned to make life run as smoothly as possible.
"For us, drawer planning begins with identifying the 'high-performance zones'," reveals Natalie Fry. "These are the areas where clients instinctively reach for things, and they’re almost always the anchors of a well-functioning kitchen. Islands, in particular, lend themselves to generous drawer configurations. A considered mix of depths and widths within an island means that cookware, utensils, spices, and small appliances are always within arm’s reach, making the rhythm of cooking feel fluid and intuitive."
"Drawers should be positioned where there’s ample space for them to open fully without clashing with neighbouring cabinets or appliances," advises Jayne Everett, creative director at Naked Kitchens. "For cutlery, consider placing drawers beside the dishwasher or near the dining table to support a smooth, intuitive flow through the room. Deeper pan drawers, on the other hand, work best when located close to the hob, keeping cookware within easy reach while you cook."
"We also think beyond the main cooking zone," adds Natalie Fry. "A well-placed breakfast cabinet, for instance, equipped with drawers for bowls, coffee, tea, and cutlery, can make busy mornings feel surprisingly calm. Similarly, storing everyday crockery in drawers rather than on shelves allows for easier access and better organisation. Even the transitional spaces matter, such as an entry point drawer for keys, phones, and post is a small detail that dramatically reduces the 'life clutter' that can accumulate on island worktops."
After a career in London, Jayne relocated to Norfolk with her husband Jamie to raise their young family. Together they founded Naked Kitchens 20 years ago, inspired by a shared love of interiors and manufacturing. As Creative Director, Jayne has shaped the brand’s distinctive aesthetic — celebrating natural materials, sustainable craftsmanship and timeless, functional design that defines the heart of the home.
What Type of Kitchen Drawers to Use?
For a sleek look consider concealing two pull-outs behind one drawer front.
The type of kitchen drawers you use will not only affect what you can store in them but also how many you end up needing to meet your requirements. Once again, according to the experts we spoke to, the key lies in taking a realistic look at how you like to work in the space and how you want it to work for you in return. One of the biggest pots and pans storage mistakes is underestimating how much space you need for these bulkier items.
"The starting point is understanding what each drawer needs to store," clarifies Natalie Fry. "Different depths and widths serve different purposes, and when used deliberately, they create a kitchen that feels balanced, efficient, and beautifully resolved.
"Deep drawers sit at the heart of most high-functioning kitchens. They’re ideal for storing pots, pans, dinnerware, and bulkier cookware, allowing everything to be accessed from above rather than buried at the back of a cabinet," continues Natalie. "In contrast, slimmer pull-outs lend themselves beautifully to smaller items such as cutlery, utensils, spices, or baking tools, particularly when paired with bespoke dividers.
"Where design becomes especially interesting is in the use of extra-deep drawers beneath stepped worktop shelves," concludes Natalie. "When the architecture allows, we always recommend maximising this depth to create generous, beautifully organised storage below."
What Size Should Kitchen Drawers Be?
There is no set size for kitchen drawers — aim for a mixture in accordance with what you want to keep in them.
There are no hard and fast rules here. The size of your kitchen drawers should be tailored to the kitchen cabinets they are being designed to sit within. Drawers you intend on using to hold your pots and pans will obviously need to be deeper than those for holding cutlery. It might be useful to bear in mind, though, that standard base units are 560mm deep and 720mm high. Their width varies widely, although 600mm is common.
"Drawers have a certain depth that feels right, around 500 to 600mm is perfect, but they can be longer (careful here, as they may become too heavy and unstable when pulled out to their maximum length)," advises Helen Parker, creative director of deVOL Kitchens." Shorter drawers are also ok, but again, not too short or they feel odd, unsatisfying, and a little precarious.'
"Size-wise, at Pluck we like a width of 900mm or 800mm as it means there is plenty of space internally, especially if you include dividers for cutlery and utensils," reveals George Glasier. "600mm is also possible and works well when there are no dividers."
"Wide-format drawers, 1200mm and beyond, can transform the usability of a space," picks up Natalie Fry. "For example, in our showroom display, we were keen to pull the capacity of the contemporary drawers through to our handcrafted range. The solution was to brace two individual 900mm drawers with one drawer front panel. Externally, the detail reads as one elegant, uninterrupted drawer front. Internally, it reveals two meticulously organised drawers that glide out with impressive stability. It’s a small example of how thoughtful engineering and bespoke craftsmanship can work together to create something both functional and quietly luxurious.
"Ultimately, there is no single ‘optimum’ drawer size, only the optimum configuration for the way you cook, gather, and live," adds Natalie. "The aim is to design storage that feels effortless, intuitive, and aligned with the daily tasks within the home.”
Are Drawer Dividers Necessary?
Using peg boards or dividers is a good way to ensure the contents of your drawers stay where you want them.
While drawer dividers are not non-negotiable, they are a great way to organize kitchen drawers and make finding items quickly a less laborious task — something recommended as part of any good kitchen design. They come in all kinds of designs too, from clever, customised organisers built in as part of a bespoke order to universal designs to suit all kinds of budgets.
"For homeowners commissioning a bespoke, handcrafted kitchen, drawer dividers are far more than a practical consideration — they are an opportunity to bring order and elegance into daily life," explains Natalie Fry.
"Our drawers are hand-crafted to order with solid timber divisions incorporated exactly where they need to be," adds Merlin Wright. "If storage flexibility is needed, then we have slots in sets of divisions for cutlery and utensils. When we design crockery drawers, we can incorporate pegs slotted into holes in the base of the drawer, rather like on board a sailing boat, to section spaces for piles of bowls and plates, or we offer a rubber drawer base which keeps things steady when opening and closing."
Shop Kitchen Drawer Organization
Thanks to the adjustable design of this drawer divider it is suitable for all kinds of drawer sizes. It has eight compartments, including a handy knife block — plus the bamboo finish suits all kinds of kitchen finishes.
This super useful pegboard style drawer organiser lets you play around with the 24 pegs until you find a configuration that suits the contents of your drawer — it is ideal for keeping pots and pans or crockery in place.
Yet another highly ergonomic offering from Joseph Joseph, this expanding drawer organiser can be used to house all kinds of kitchen tools, while the stacked compartments make storing and accessing cutlery super easy.
FAQs
Does Drawer Positioning Really Matter?
It most certainly does. Without proper consideration as to where your kitchen drawers will be located within the space, as well as their size, you could be left with a room that is, quite simply, not fit for purpose. Remodelling a kitchen is the perfect opportunity to make your layout work for you, so give maximum attention to the planning of drawer positioning.
"Drawer placement is one of the most important, yet often overlooked, elements in creating a truly efficient, high-performing kitchen," reiterates Natalie Fry. "Thoughtful positioning transforms storage from a purely functional necessity into an intuitive extension of how the space is used. It’s not simply about filling a wall or an island with drawers — it’s about understanding the kitchen’s key working zones so that every task feels effortless, with storage placed exactly where it’s needed.
"Positioning matters because it responds directly to the design brief and the way the space will be lived in," further advises Natalie. "A well-considered layout reduces unnecessary movement, keeps surfaces clear, and allows multiple tasks to happen simultaneously with ease, even when it is under heavy daily use."
Before you fill your newly-installed kitchen drawers, make sure you have decluttered kitchen cabinets — you don't want to end up stuffing them to the brim just because you are hoarding.
