Warming Drawer Basics

Kitchen pros discuss the details of installing a warming drawer. November 20, 2005

Question
We have been working on an evolving design with a customer for a couple weeks. They will be housing a bed and breakfast in their private residence. I (as well as the electrician and plumber) have been waiting on them to decide between a wall oven/cooktop route or a range, and they just decided to go with a range but also want to incorporate a warming oven. This is a first for us. I looked at a few models online and it looks pretty straightforward, however, it appears to me this would be more suited to under a slide-in range, correct? They left the impression they were going with a conventional free-standing range. Any suggestions on accommodating these warming ovens?

Forum Responses
(Cabinetmaking Forum)
From contributor T:
We use them all the time as the top drawer of a special drawer bank. See spec of your chosen appliance for final fit.



From contributor M:
Ditto. Be sure to verify the exterior of the drawer. Someone's got specs that only give the unit that houses the drawer, and the drawer front was 1/8" - 1/4" larger. Bad news if your reveals are 1/8".


From contributor D:
Warming drawers can be placed just about anywhere. We build a separate box specifically to house the warming drawer. This is done for two reasons:

- Some warming drawer faces do not overlay a 3/4" frameless box by exactly the amount necessary, so you can adjust the faces above, below, and to the sides to achieve your 1/8" reveals.

- Both the custom wood front models and metal faced models will stand off the face of your box more than the surrounding faces. If you want your faces to flush out, you'll need to set the warming drawer box back farther than the surrounding boxes.