Kitchen pull-outs are a dreamy feature of custom kitchens, making access to things like trash, recycling, and pantry essentials much easier. Here's a new twist on the pull-out theme: Basket drawers for root vegetables and fruit. Would you do this, if you had the chance?
I feel like onion and potato storage is one thing I have struggled with in my kitchen — I never seem to find quite the right place, and so I often just leave onions out on the counter, shedding scraps of magenta and maple-colored skins everywhere. So a specialized place for these and other frequently-used produce is appealing.
These drawers are removable, with a stainless steel mesh in the bottom that allows fruit and vegetables to breathe and air to circulate. The best part is the mesh is easily washable.
I really like this solution — especially for a kitchen in a more traditional farmhouse style.
You can read more about the drawers at Houzz, and find out more about their availability at the kitchen designer's website. They are a custom solution, but they can be built and retrofitted into existing kitchens.
→ Walnut Veggie Drawer at Houzz
Related: 15 Smart & Creative Storage Solutions from Our Kitchen Tours
(Image: Kent Kitchen Works via Houzz)
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Removable and washable?! I'm sold!
Yep, love it! I'm with you-- I've never quite found the right place to store my onions.
I live in the desert, anything that's not either wrapped in plastic or stored in the fridge (or both) mummifies within a few days. My dream kitchen would have a cellar with controlled temperature and humidity for storing veggies and other heat sensitive foods.
Down side: you might tend to pile up new veggies on top and forget about those further down, so they might rott away or are easily bruised.
You would also have to make sure that there are no appliances near by that could give up heat to the veggie drawer (fridge, oven, radiators).
Potatoes ok, onions, garlic, ginger great but everything else, no.
Oh, great...another place for things to rot. And this would be messy to clean out.
I thought you were not supposed to store potatoes and onions together?
We would totally use this.
As for rotting--at least in my household--things are gonna rot no matter where they're at. Rotting depends more on a mismatch between what you think you are going to cook and what you actually cook, or between your grocery list and your eating habits.
To avoid crushing (and thereby speeding up rotting), you just have to commit not to layer too much stuff on top of each other.
I'd love to put garlic in one of those. We use one of those Le Creuset individual ceramic soup pots for our garlic, and it never fits. Cue the little garlic skins everywhere. Super annoying.
I'm with Kahuna04...in theory I love it; in principle, I think I'd end up with some rotted food, minus the ones mentioned that would be ok in them.
I once lived in a house that had an air-conditioner vent into the pantry (sigh---it was wonderful). That's when I realized how vital cool air circulation is to keeping vegetables fresh. If these drawer do have a system of air circulation, then I'll take a set :) Otherwise, I'll stick with my baskets and towel covers.
Yeah, apples, potatoes, and onions should probably all be stored separately. Although apples do best with cold storage. So I would need two sets of these drawers! One on one side of the kitchen (potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash) and one on the other side (onions, shallots, garlic). That would be great!
I'd love to hear how others manage their vegetables. My counters are covered with tomatoes all summer -- I'd rather let them rot than allow the refrigerator to ruin their amazing flavor. Its a constant battle, though, and I bet some AT readers have good solutions.