Or my old pet peeve: refrigerators. They open like cabinets instead of like drawers. The cold air goes out, the warm air goes in, and you get to pay for the energy to cool it off. Why not make them like a chest of drawers?
This one has an easy answer. If you want to isolate each of the drawers so that opening one does not result in the warming of the others, then you'll need a separate mechanism for blowing cold air into each drawer. (Or worse, a separate cooling coil for each drawer.) These are expensive mechanical components prone to failure, and each of these mechanisms takes up valuable space in the fridge. They may provide some long term amortized savings over the energy cost if done correctly, but it's not at all obvious to me that would be the case without seeing the math worked out.
Newer designs are actually integrating drawers of all sorts of configurations and even mini limited drawers/access for guests while entertaining and what not.
This one has an easy answer. If you want to isolate each of the drawers so that opening one does not result in the warming of the others, then you'll need a separate mechanism for blowing cold air into each drawer. (Or worse, a separate cooling coil for each drawer.) These are expensive mechanical components prone to failure, and each of these mechanisms takes up valuable space in the fridge. They may provide some long term amortized savings over the energy cost if done correctly, but it's not at all obvious to me that would be the case without seeing the math worked out.