Contemporary house design locates the kitchen at the heart of the home. It’s a highly social space for family and friends to gather around while food is being prepared. To make the most of the occasion, today’s kitchens are carefully crafted with beautiful surfaces, integrated appliances and clutter-free vistas, while still being required to house fresh produce and other ingredients as well as an array of chopping boards, cooking utensils and appliances.

This creates a number of storage dilemmas. One is that cooking oils, vinegars and sauces need to be kept close to the cook’s hands, yet these fluids tend to come in tall containers that leave a sticky residue. The usual response is to tuck them away in a cupboard or pantry — which is not ideal when busy cooks have their hands full, or else to leave them in plain view on the benchtop (which is messy and visually distracting).

Then there’s the third option: Use Blum’s high-fronted or full-height pull-out drawers to create custom storage units flanking the food prep area.

Because they’re deeper than standard drawers they can easily house a full array of culinary liquids in their original bottles, so there’s no need to decant them into smaller containers. Easy-clean rubber mats can be removed any time to keep the drawers hygienic. And Blum’s range of motion technologies make it simple for designers to provide an elegant, handle-less solution that’s also supremely practical with soft-close.

For additional versatility, Blum’s tall drawer units can be configured to store any chopping boards, spices and other items the cook wants to keep alongside the oil bottles. The result is a customised solution that re-invents kitchen workstation storage within a contemporary design framework.

Homeowners who have experienced Blum’s tall kitchen drawers regard them as a game-changer. Once a homeowner has prepared meals using such a system they'll never want to go back to random bottles cluttering up the pantry.