Depends if you are generally vertically oriented person or lower register person. If you have drawers, only the top drawer
you can reach without bending. For the lower one you need to bend and a lot. Also if you have zero glasses upper space
keeping the glass and cups and mugs and whatever in the drawer is insanity.

I know people who would not bend for the life of theirs and will only use the upper cabinets with very minimal
load in the lower and I know people who are too short and hate reaching up.

So it is really depending where is your comfort zone. I do not like the look of kitchen without upper cabinets.
It works for the modern kitchen somewhat but otherwise I just don't. I also think that that kind of kitchen
spells. I don't cook, I have a maid and I don't mind that she is banding her back all day long. So it is up to you
because serious cooks like their upper cabinets just where they are so they can have their dishes just so.

Most cabinets have adjustable shelves. So, you could increase the height so that your two cans can stack on top of one another.

When we moved, I was super disciplined about only keeping what pots and pans fit into the new kitchen in an orderly fashion (using Lynk pull out drawers mostly in lower cabinets) and it has changed my whole kitchen experience. Idk why but it’s like I never threw away a pot or pan. Now I only have a few but they’re plenty and so easy to access and put away. So a big part of the solution I think is being ruthless about what you can fit comfortably.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For lower cabinets my preference is pull-put shelf, then drawer, then shelf. I think they all have their purpose but the pull-out shelf is most versatile in my opinion.

+1.
Am

We just finished a major renovation and just moved back in. We have a mix of drawers and cabinets - mostly drawers on the perimeter and cabinets in the island which works perfectly. We have NO uppers. So nowhere for glasses. It looks cool but it’s driving me crazy! Also the kitchen designer just threw in some standard spice drawers which are great conceptually but they’re each about 1.5 spice jars wide. Which is incredibly annoying.

If you’re serious about using space we’ll, I’d measure things like your largest pot, pot lid, spice containers, sauce heights (my balsamic is too tall for the damn drawers) and can size (pantry is spaced for 1.5 times a can height, i should have measured for a shelf where i could stack two cans)

PP here - I'm the one who said you need enough uppers for glasses. I know bc we just went through this with our kitchen designer. She didn't design enough uppers for glassware and then resisted when I wanted to add them in. Because it did not fit with her vision or something!

You might be interested in the kitchen cabinet tour that this designer in St. Louis is doing. She's been opening up drawers and showing how she organizes things. Click on the "kitchen tips" highlight.

https://www.instagram.com/amystudebakerdesign/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For lower cabinets my preference is pull-put shelf, then drawer, then shelf. I think they all have their purpose but the pull-out shelf is most versatile in my opinion.

+1.
Am

We just finished a major renovation and just moved back in. We have a mix of drawers and cabinets - mostly drawers on the perimeter and cabinets in the island which works perfectly. We have NO uppers. So nowhere for glasses. It looks cool but it’s driving me crazy! Also the kitchen designer just threw in some standard spice drawers which are great conceptually but they’re each about 1.5 spice jars wide. Which is incredibly annoying.

If you’re serious about using space we’ll, I’d measure things like your largest pot, pot lid, spice containers, sauce heights (my balsamic is too tall for the damn drawers) and can size (pantry is spaced for 1.5 times a can height, i should have measured for a shelf where i could stack two cans)

Anonymous wrote:For lower cabinets my preference is pull-put shelf, then drawer, then shelf. I think they all have their purpose but the pull-out shelf is most versatile in my opinion.

+1.
Am

For lowers, I have a mix of drawers and cabinets with pull out shelves. I like having the mix.

My dishes are in drawers with dividers and it works well.

I would still want some upper cabs for glasses and mugs. I would not like those in drawers or in lower cabs.

I love the drawers for our pots and pans. The key though was getting an organizer for the drawer so the pans didn’t have to sit on one another and the lids all had a place. This was the one we added for the pots and pans drawer and it made a huge difference to keeping things organized and me really enjoying having drawers over a cabinet.

https://www.amazon.com/Rev-Shelf-4DPS-3921-Cabinet-Drawer/dp/B001CB2BZS?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1&psc=1

We went all lowers and almost all drawers, with a couple of pull-out cabinets mostly for canned goods and one corner cabinet with a lazy Susan in it (the awfully named but actually great "Kornerking," which I really like).

Love it and would never go back to standard cabinets, which I don't miss at all. We keep our pots, including the large ones, in deep drawers under our stovetop. And our dishes are kept in drawers in an island directly across from our dishwasher so I can stand in one spot to empty the dishwasher without having to move at all, which is awesome for my very lazy self.

Love the drawers that I have. Be aware drawers won't work for your blue crab cooking pot and your corn on the cob cooking pots so you will still need one cabinet for these.

and FWIW I love having the plates in drawers below the countertop. DW and DD are short.

previous home I had lots of cabinets. newish home has more drawers. I like the drawers, but the down side is that you loose some flexibility. at least with cabinets you can adjust shelf heights and you end up loosing that flexibility and a smidge of storage space from the drawers and drawer hardware.

Mainly drawers but a couple cabinets with pull out shelves for canned goods.

I have drawers on all my flowers and I still have uppers. Would not be happy if I did not have my uppers. I also have special appliance uppers (too hard to explain). So my rice cooker, vitamix, sousvide set up, air fryer, and large dutch ovens are all on eye level.