Kitchen drawers vs. rolling shelves: which one is the better choice? You understand that organizing your kitchen is much easier and more convenient if you have cupboards with sliding drawers or shelves, but which option should you choose? Read on to learn all of the advantages and disadvantages of each choice. If you choose rolling shelves, contact DIY Shelfworks to order your own custom-made premium sliding shelves today.

Kitchen Drawers vs. Rolling Shelves

Are you confused about whether you should choose to install kitchen drawers vs. rolling shelves in your kitchen? Here is a quick comparison of the two types. Keep reading to find out further details about the advantages and disadvantages of kitchen drawers and rolling shelves.

Advantages of Kitchen Drawers

Work Best for Stackable Items: As most kitchen drawers are deeper than pull out shelves, they tend to work better for storing items that you would like to stack such as your dinner plates and dish towels. This is because the sides of the drawers provide more support for your stackable items so they are less likely to tip over when the drawer is pulled out. Having said that, there are some rolling shelf manufacturers which offer deeper shelves that work for these types of articles.

Source: Pinterest from Lushome

Items Are Less Likely to Fall Out: Because kitchen drawers are deeper, the items stored inside are less likely to fall out. You need to be careful not to overfill your drawer though, or you will have this same problem. Again, this problem could be solved by investing in deeper rolling shelves.

Can Be Customized with Organizational Inserts: Kitchen drawers can be customized to include extra organizational inserts such as silverware and spice trays to help you find items quickly and keep your things neat and tidy.

Source: Pinterest from Hand-vac.com

Great for Storing Larger Items: Kitchen drawers are perfect for storing larger items such as oversized cookware and bigger appliances. However, some sliding shelf manufacturers can custom make you larger shelves that are deep and wide enough to store these items as well.

Disadvantages of Kitchen Drawers

More Expensive: Installing kitchen drawers will definitely be more expensive than installing sliding shelves as it will involve replacing your existing cupboard units.

May Not Be Aesthetically Pleasing: If you are designing a kitchen from scratch, you may want to consider the aesthetics of having all of your lower storage units be kitchen drawers. Discuss with your designer how that would affect the overall appearance of your new kitchen. You may decide that a combination of drawers and cupboards with sliding shelves may look better.

Source: Pinterest from Wholiving

More Difficult to Install: Installing kitchen drawers is a job that requires more expertise than simply installing pull out shelves, so you will probably want to hire a professional for a renovation of this scale.

Advantages of Rolling Shelves

Don’t Require a Major Renovation: Rolling shelves are installed inside your existing cabinetry. There is no need to replace all of your cabinets in order to enjoy the benefits of a rolling shelf. If you are not wanting the huge upheaval and cost of a major kitchen renovation, then rolling shelves make a great alternative.

Rolling shelves are installed in your existing cabinets

Simple to Install: Rolling shelves are very easy to install and some brands are specially designed for the do-it-yourselfer. They fit on top of existing shelves and they can even be added as an additional shelf where there wasn’t one previously, effectively doubling your storage space in that cupboard. If you are looking for a quick and inexpensive way to remodel your cabinets, rolling shelves make a great option. To see how easy it is to install a rolling shelf, watch the following video.

Less Expensive: Rolling shelves are a lot less expensive to install than kitchen drawers. In order to install kitchen drawers, you need to actually replace your existing cabinetry which is a much more labour intensive job than simply installing rolling shelves into your existing cabinetry.

Uniform Look: If you would like to have a uniform look to the insides of your cabinets, then rolling shelves can help you do that. You can purchase matching shelves in a variety of materials from premium Baltic birch to a more economical melamine. Choose the finish that best matches your current cabinetry or go for a complementary material. For example, if you have white cupboard doors with wooden handles, you may want to install wooden rolling shelves to make your accent hardware.

Perfect for Cookware and Small Appliances: Rolling shelves are a great way to store all of your pots and pans as well as your smaller kitchen appliances.

Can Be Customized: Many sliding shelves come in standard sizes, however, there are some manufacturers which will custom build your shelves to fit your existing cabinets perfectly. These companies often also offer custom accessories such as dividers or spice rack inserts to help you further organize your items.

Get your rolling shelves customized

Disadvantages of Rolling Shelves

Items May Fall Off the Shelf: Many styles of rolling shelves have shallow sides, so taller items may fall off the back as the shelf is being pulled out. There are, however, deeper rolling shelves that you can purchase from certain manufacturers specifically for items that may topple over.

Shallow Shelves Not Suitable for Stacking Items: If you install shallow rolling shelves, you may find that they are not suited to storing stacking items as they don’t give support along the sides. Install deeper rolling shelves for these types of items.

Looking for Rolling Shelves – Choose DIY Shelfworks

By purchasing from DIY Shelfworks, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you are supporting Canadian business. All of our products are 100% made in Canada. And all of our free shipping is provided by Canada Post. You can’t get any more patriotic than that!

DIY Shelfworks sells all of their rolling shelves online, directly to the consumer, cutting out the need for a middle-man. Because of this, we can pass those savings on to you. We also offer free shipping anywhere in Canada – another huge saving for our customers. You can choose from either our premium #1, 9-ply Baltic birch or our even more economical melamine. We also offer a limited lifetime warranty on all of our shelves. If you are ready to make your home more accessible and organized, order your own DIY gliding shelves today.

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Kitchen Drawers vs. Rollout Shelves

DIY Shelfworks