Welcome to the Drawer Organization Blog Hop! For the entire month of April, ten bloggers will be sharing the process of cleaning and organizing one drawer in our homes each week. To kick off the first week, we’re focusing on drawers in our kitchen and dining rooms!
Kitchen Drawers
I have to admit, my kitchen drawers are almost all in pretty good shape. When I planned my kitchen renovation, I put a lot of thought into where I wanted to store and use things. This helped me in my planning to know that I wanted lots of drawers.
LOTS of drawers!
In fact, I have 2 base cabinets that would have been drawers, but my husband convinced me that I needed at least a few regular base cabinets. But, he was actually right, I’d gotten so carried away with everything I could put in drawers I forgot the crock pot, instant pot, and bread maker wouldn’t fit in a drawer.
Once the kitchen was complete, I tried to set the drawers up to function from the beginning without needing to change them up too much later.
Except… two drawers…
When we were using the not quite finished kitchen, I kept tucking things in one drawer, the other one I was tucking instructions, receipts, small tools and parts. Random things that I didn’t want to get rid of or put away until the kitchen was 100% complete.
Kitchen Junk Drawers
While getting everything I needed for organizing my silverware and utensil drawers at Ikea, I picked up a few bins I thought would be helpful when I got to what would inevitably be my “junk drawer.”
Every kitchen has one!
The drawer where you tuck papers, scissors, tape, pencils and pens, and other random stuff that always ends up around.
I put the bins in the drawer to make sure they fit… and they ended up getting all kinds of stuff tossed into them!
Including some of those small parts and tools that didn’t get used. The one next to it, which was corralling all the paper and random kitchen construction things ended up empty for a while… but that didn’t really last too long.
Neither of them are too terrible before, but it’s so much wasted space.
Like, why are there empty Sterno cans in there?
In just a few minutes time I sorted out all the trash, recycling, and stuff that just didn’t need to be there. As I pulled things out I also grouped like things together into the Ikea bins. When I started, I figured I would need to decide what else I needed to organize the drawer and make adjustments.
But, a few minutes later, I realized sorting the existing bins left me just the right amount of space on the left for papers I want to keep handy for a little while. On top of those, I placed my calendar tools. Since I sit down to plan in the kitchen, the things I don’t need to carry in my purse are still handy when I do need them.
There is actually some extra room in there and I may look for something to fit and still provide some separation.
Turns out, the second drawer was even easier…
I barely needed any of that! Ok, the one Sterno can wasn’t empty, so it will stay there until I find a better home for it. We have another place in the house where we keep light bulbs, but I bought special ones for the kitchen and forgot to return the extra. Keeping them in the kitchen is probably a good idea.
I have a whole empty drawer now! Now I get to think about what should go there.
When I finally decide, I’ll set it up organized from the beginning.
Kitchen Drawer Organizing Tips
I know not everyone is lucky enough to be able to plan out what will go in almost every drawer and design a whole new kitchen.
But, there is no reason why you can’t plan out how the drawers you have will be best used.
I always try to keep things I need in the space they will be used most. For example, our silverware is right next to the dishwasher, in the cabinet closest to the dinner table.
Once I know what should be in the drawer, I take measurements and pictures. Then I go shopping for drawer bins that will give me the best use of space. Sometimes I even cut cardboard boxes to height and make my own. A roll of fun contact paper from the dollar store makes them look a bit nicer and hold up longer.
The cardboard trick has also come in handy when I need more than one quick trip to the store to get the job done… like multiple stores!
Try to find bins or drawer dividers that are as deep as your drawers. Otherwise, you end up with dead space above the bins.
Another option is to put a second tier into your drawer. Several years ago in our old house, I did just that. And I took pictures of the installation, step by step. A word of warning, this is an old post that was moved over when I changed blog hosts. The pictures came over much smaller and I haven’t found the flash drive with the originals on it yet!
Have you tried to organize the drawer before and it doesn’t stay organized because it’s function is always changing? Look for something adjustable. My now empty drawer may end up needing to be flexible.
Drawer Organizing Blog Hop
My Pinterventures • Intelligent Domestications
DIY Adulation • Domestically Creative • Cookies Coffee and Crafts
Domestic Deadline • Across the Boulevard • Michelle James Designs
Mom Home Guide • Centsably Creative
For more kitchen and dining room drawer organization ideas, visit the other host blogs below.
And join us next week when we tackle Office, Craft, and Living Room drawers!
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