The benefit of having an organized kitchen is obvious: Would you rather spend 10 minutes preparing dinner, or 10 minutes searching for lids and utensils?
Kitchen drawers are the most logical place to start when organizing a kitchen, since they house your most frequently used tools.
Save time and space with these 8 quick tips for organizing your kitchen drawers.
Tip 1: Clear the Clutter
When clearing the clutter in your kitchen, as yourself, “Do I really need two can openers? Why not pick a favorite?”
Pare your gadgets down to just the essentials so that you’ll have plenty of space for everything you need.
Toss out items like:
- Old oven mitts
- Gadgets that will never get used
- Lids without containers
- Rusty silverware
If you have a junk drawer in your kitchen, check out our tutorial specific to organizing junk drawers.
Tip 2: Not Everything Belongs in a Drawer
Some kitchen tools are best left on the counter. This is especially true for your most frequently used kitchenware. Your cutting board, for example, should fit nicely against the wall for quick access.
Similarly, your knives can go onto a magnetic knife block, which won’t dull your knives like a traditional knife block.
You can maximize the space you have, using your drawers, countertops, and vertical space efficiently. If you don’t have a drawer deep enough to stack your pots and pans, for example, you might try hanging them on a wall rack instead.
Tip 3: Sort Your Kitchenware into Categories
When organizing your kitchen drawers, you’ll want to have everything in its most logical place.
Take a look at your current organizational structure. Do you have silverware mixed in with cooking utensils? Chopping knives mixed with steak knives? Let’s fix that.
Here are a few suggested categories for common kitchen gadgets and tools:
Measuring
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
Serving/Entertaining
- Salad Tongs
- Cake Servers
- Pizza Cutters
- Wine Openers
- Ice Cream Scoops
Food Preparation
- Potato Mashers
- Cheese Graters
- Vegetable Peelers
- Whisks
- Can Openers
What kitchen drawer organization really comes down to, though, is sorting items in a way that makes the most sense to you as the cook.
Tip 4: Drawer Dividers are Your Friend
Drawer dividers keep all your kitchen tools in a defined space so that you can spot and grab your desired tools easily.
It sure beats battling to open a stuffed drawer with utensils stacked on top of each other, and then having to dig through said drawer.
The drawer dividers pictured above are expandable to give every drawer a custom look.
Tip 5: Place Prep Items Near the Prep Space
Once you have your kitchen gadgets and prep tools categorized, you'll want to plan the best places to store them.
Start by identifying your most used prepware. These are the tools that should be stored closest to your prep area. For example, stirring spoons might be stored near your stove top; your chopping knives might go near the counter closest to the cutting board.
Tip 6: Use Lower Drawers for Infrequently Used Items
Just as you want your most-used tools nearby, you'll want to save the bottom drawers for your least-used kitchen items. Since you don't need to access them as often, there's no need to reserve valuable real estate in your kitchen for them. Think seasonal cookie cutters, specialty bakeware, cake frosting pipers.
Tip 7: For Deeper Drawers, Stack Like Items Together
Deep drawers in your kitchen make great places to stack larger, like items. If you'd rather your pots and pans go in a drawer than a cabinet, use these drawers to keep them organized.
Deep drawers are ideal for items like:
- Dishtowels
- Pots
- Pans
- Mixing bowls
- Baking tins
If the drawers are deep enough, you might even consider adding racks to improve accessibility.
Tip 8: Extra drawer? Try a Charging Drawer
If you find that your organization project was successful enough to afford you a spare drawer, consider adding a charging drawer to your kitchen. This type of drawer has USB ports built into it so you can charge all your family's gadgets while keeping them off the counter.
Get started on your kitchen organization project
You can start bringing order to your kitchen with these bamboo drawer dividers, which allow you to customize your space easily. Unlike prebuilt organization containers, these drawer dividers aren't limited by size. This means you can divide your rolling pin from your measuring spoons just by sliding a divider between them.
You can get your drawer dividers here.