Design Mistakes I’ve Made — Our Pantry Drawers
I think I want to start a series called “Design Mistakes I’ve Made” so that I can share with y’all the the things I did in designing and remodeling our house that don’t really work as well as I thought they would. In hindsight, there have been several things I wish I had done differently. The design mistake I want to share today is the design of our pantry drawers.
I don’t have an issue with all of them. The middle section of drawers under the window in the pantry is almost perfect. Those drawers are wide, and the two bottom drawers are deep enough to hold pretty much anything I’d want to put in there. In fact, the middle drawer alone holds an entire 12-place-setting set of dinnerware, and it works perfectly thanks to the drawer slides rated to hold 100 pounds.
The only change I would make is to swap out the current ball bearing drawer slides for soft close ball bearing drawer slides. But that’s not a huge issue. I can live without soft close drawers.
And also, the cabinets in the pantry have worked out perfectly. They all have pull-out shelves, and the one that gets the most use is the slotted pull-out drawer where I store all of my baking sheets, cake pans, etc.
The cabinet under the microwave also has pull-out shelves, which are very handy.
So while most of the design has worked out almost perfectly, I made a big mistake when it came to the four white drawers.
I have two on each side, and these drawers are very deep. The size is great. I use one of the drawers on the left for storing my big food dehydrator, and one for cookbooks. The ones on the right are used to store bottled water in the top drawer for our Wednesday night gatherings…
…and then to store Bai in the bottom drawer.
So while the actual drawers are big enough to store what we need to store, the big mistake I made was in not using regular drawer pulls.
If you were around back when I was working on this pantry, you might remember me wrestling with ideas on how to use and organize these corners so that I wouldn’t lose any of the storage space in the blind corners. I was confident that I’d use every inch of storage space, including those blind corners, and I needed easy access to them.
After looking at every conceivable option out there, and (for some reason that I can’t now remember) determining that there were no good options for my particular needs, I decided to come up with my own design. I decided that those blind corners would only be used to store things that I needed to access on rare occasions, like punch bowl or something like that. So I decided that in order to not lose a single inch of potential storage, but make sure I had somewhat easy access to anything stored in those corners, I’d make the drawers removable, and add a pull-out shelf in the blind corners.
So once I’ve pulled the drawer out completely and set it on top of the countertop, then I can slide the pull-out drawer over into the drawer space and access whatever is stored there.
Well, do you know how things I have stored in those blind corners? Zero. I mean, just imagine a drawer filled with bottled water or Bai having to be completely removed and placed on the countertop so that I can access those areas. That would never happen.
And also for some reason that I can’t remember right now, with this design, I couldn’t make regular drawer slides fit into the design. So I used the old fashioned way of making drawer guides out of wood. You can see the side of one of the drawers here. That strip of wood attached to the side of the drawer slides between two strips of wood attached inside the cabinet. I’m sure you’ve all seen similar things on old pieces of furniture.
So what happens is that when the drawer is full and weighed down with bottled water or Bai, the drawer is so heavy and very difficult to open and close. It’s a real hassle, and while I thought I was being so clever when I was building this pantry, this whole drawer design ended up being a complete waste of time that has made things more difficult than they should have been.
In hindsight, I would happily give up every inch of that blind corner storage space in exchange for proper drawers that can hold lots of weight while opening and closing very smoothly and easily. This is one of those things on my list of items I’d like to go back and redo. I don’t know when I’ll have the time to do it, but it definitely needs to be redone.
Side note: I worked on the studio doors yesterday! I didn’t get them finished. Those French doors are taking quite a bit of prep work just to get them ready to paint, so that took most of my time. But I did get one coat of the dark eggplant color on the other two doors, and I love it! I can’t wait to share the finished look with y’all!
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
![Breakfast Room & Pantry Progress [Video]](https://www.addicted2decorating.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/breakfast-room-progress-August-2016.png)
Hindsight is 20-20. Just think what you have learned by living with those design oops.
So without a major re-arranging why not add a cutout or handle to the back of the drawer so you can grip it easier. Only if you can reach without pinching. Also there’s a thing call Johnson’s paste wax (or similar product) you could apply on your slides to condition, and make them more slick.
I am not a ‘build it, do it yourself person’; but for those who are, I imagine a new category titled Design Mistakes I’ve Made would be very helpful. (you could even have a little “cross reference” note tying together the post of building something and the ‘mistake’ post.
I can imagine how heavy those drawers are with the bottled water inside. Here’s what I imagine: one day you will get so uptight by not being able to pull out those heavy drawers….and say to yourself “These drawers need to be changed”. And…boom, you will start planning how you will update them to fit your needs. All of a sudden you will be into doing it and we will see the transformation. Then you will carry on with what ever project you were working on before. I just think that is how your genius mode works. You are amazing.
I didn’t recall you doing that for those corner drawer sets. I wonder if you would consider changing the drawers to a door and putting in one of those jointed pull out fittings for blind corners. It would allow you to utilize that space without the difficulties you are facing now.
One like this: https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/hardware/kitchen-hardware/wire-storage/43657-blind-corner-unit?item=12K3350
To make life easier in the meantime, you can use drawer glide tape on the wood drawer glides. It makes the drawers SO easy to slide. Nylo-Tape is a brand name, Amazon sells generic ones.
Can’t wait to see the eggplant doors!
Ohh, I suggested using furniture wax, but this is probably even better. My kids have some drawers made the old fashioned way, and they could really use some help sliding. I’ll ha4ve to keep this in mind!
Why not store the water under the microwave in the pullout section?
This is what I came here to say! She’s just putting the wrong thing in those drawers. The ones under the microwave are the ideal spot, then she can store the appliances she doesn’t use as much in the corners. Makes sense to me. I always thought that blind corner ideal was genius!
I first found your blog during your pantry project!
I don’t remember ever being so fascinated by someone online! You seemed to be a wizard of DIY! I’m so glad I subscribed- now I KNOW you are a wizard of DIY!
That corner was going to be difficult no matter what you did. Redoing the drawer glides or utilizing the fixes already mentioned will make your everyday life easier.
I got rid of my underutilized punch bowl. Bottled waters, sodas and juices has rendered them obsolete.
Love your work Kristi!
It probably won’t fix the issue, especially since what you’re storing in the drawers is so heavy, but putting a good coating of furniture wax on the slide and in the groove may help you open the drawers a little more easily. We made a built-in dresser/wardrobe for mine and my husband’s room a few years ago using this style of drawers, and the wax has really helped with ease of opening and closing (of course, we just have clothes in the drawers, and not water bottles, but still).
You can also use tapered wax candles to use along the sides of the drawers.
Those hidden corner drawers look like a great place to hide Christmas presents 😂
All I know is I absolutely have pantry envy. It’s just so dang pretty!!!!!
That hidden corner storage space can be your secret hiding spot! For whatever might need a secret hiding spot. 😄 No burglar would ever find whatever you hide back there!
I remember those slideover drawers. I still love the idea. There’s nothing wrong with the idea. It’s the use of the drawers that hinder useing them. I just never realized the drawer had to come out to use the sliding drawer. We all make great ideas that end up not working. Its part of the learning process. And who knows you may reuse them somewhere else in the house.
Can you rearrange things some some of what’s in the under-the-microwave pull out drawers go into the white drawers? And you can store the drinks in the easier to use pull out drawers?
Can’t wait to see the studio doors!
I’m sure you have considered this, but how about replacing the existing heavy items with other lighter items, like paper products?