Lower Kitchen Cabinets Are The Outdated Design Trend Being Replaced In 2024

Interior design trends are always changing, and more often than not, it's in very beneficial ways. Cabinetry trends vary from painting your cupboards to getting rid of them altogether, but one of the newest tips seems to be targeted toward getting rid of bottom or lower cabinets and replacing them with drawers. By removing your bottom cupboards, you can create easier access to your items.

The biggest issue when it comes to cabinets that sit lower or closer to the ground is that they can be harder to store items in and then reach whatever you put in them, especially if they run deep. This creates a chaotic assortment that is oftentimes inaccessible or difficult to access, and for anyone who has back problems, it's an even larger hassle. The space occupied by just one cabinet could easily fit up to three drawers, meaning you could have more storage at your disposal that also looks aesthetically pleasing.

Speaking of aesthetics, you could embrace a drawer-on-the-bottom, cabinets-on-the-top design and draw the eye to the contrast using strong paint or texture choices. After all, Unsellable Houses taught us that top and bottom cabinets don't always have to match colors, and mixing the two up could transform your kitchen into an accessible designer delight.

Stooping, crouching, or reaching deep shouldn't be the way you interact with your kitchen, which is why swapping out your bottom cupboards for drawers could be the answer to some of your storage problems. If you like the idea of using drawers to supplement lower cabinets, it's important to consider all the variables. Cost is, of course, at the forefront, but so is space.

Price-wise, you can expect to pay between $70 and $200 an hour for labor, according to Angi, but up to a few thousand to cover the full replacement. New cabinets with drawers don't cost the same as a cabinet with doors for a fully assembled piece: The most basic designs retail for about $320 for a model with drawers at Lowe's versus around $410 for a similarly sized model with doors from Lowe's. A larger, three-drawer piece from Lowe's costs about $840, while a similarly sized model with doors from Lowe's is cheaper, costing about $560.

Materials, color, texture, and the number of drawers alter the overall cost. Standard installations usually include a shallow top drawer and two deeper bottom units. The top is great for cutlery or cooking utensils, while the larger ones can hold anything from plates and dishware to pots and pans. Drawers also complement your top units, especially if you have open shelving. They look cleaner and provide a uniform sense of symmetry, since their lines and those of the shelves all run horizontally.

Installing drawers can help with visibility, since cupboards can have blind corners and it can be difficult to see the backs of them. Using tricks like this IKEA Kitchen peg hack drawer organizer can help create even more space in your drawers, and it might be a wise investment to help keep everything in place. These are ideal if you're worried about losing any space by switching your cabinets out. By being able to easily see what you need, you will take out much of the stress of navigating those harder-to-reach bottom storage spaces. You're also not battling a divider like you might find in some cupboards, either, so your pull-out installations can be filled completely without sacrificing storage area.

If your kitchen is small, a big thing to consider is space with installing storage that has to pull out. Depending on where your appliances sit, it's important to keep these in mind so that the drawers don't bump into them. However, even if you are working with less space, it's not impossible to install drawers — you will just have to accommodate for the space they require when they open. You can always use these five smart tips to decide if drawers or doors are right for your kitchen, but this trend is taking the interior world by storm and might be worth checking out anyway!