Where’s that darn spatula? That was the question I asked myself as I scrambled around my kitchen, trying to stop my eggs from over-cooking. Unfortunately, the time I spent sifting through my kitchen drawers, only to find my spatula resting comfortably in the dishwasher, cost me the sunny side of my eggs. Despite this devastating loss, I realized something important.
Had my drawers been organized properly, I would have known instantly that my trusty spatula was not in its usual drawer. Therefore, I would have considered the dishwasher much sooner, preserving the runniness of my eggs. To save you from experiencing the same tragedy, we’ve put together this guide to organizing your deep kitchen drawers.
Phase 1: Crafting Your Organizational Strategy
Depending on the current state of your drawers, organizing them can be an intimidating task. The best way to tackle any organizing job is to come at it with a game plan. Don’t know where to start? Here are some tips to get you going.
Take It All Out
As we said in our guide to decluttering your bedroom, when organizing your kitchen drawers, the first thing you should do is take everything out and separate it into three piles — keep, toss, and donate.
Assess the value of the items you have in your drawers. Next, get rid of anything that you don’t use, anything that is missing a part or is broken — Tupperware is a big offender here. With all of this junk gone, you’ll have a much easier time organizing the remaining items you really care about.
Courtesy of This Old House on Pinterest
Measure Your Drawers
Now that you’ve got your drawers emptied out grab a tape measure and find out those dimensions. In our article “How to organize the food in your kitchen cabinets and pantry” we learned that using bins to break up drawer and cabinet space into smaller sections is the key to organization.
The best way to segment your drawer space is to first know how much space you have. Measuring your drawer space lets you know how much space you have to work with, how many organizers can fit in your drawer, and what larger items can fit here.
Give Everything A Spot
After taking all of your items out of your drawers, Modern Glam recommends sorting your remaining items by type to determine their ideal spots. For example, Keeping your silverware close to the kitchen table saves steps and time when setting the table.
Don’t start putting everything back just yet. Make a note so you don’t forget which drawers will house which items. That way repacking will be much smoother.
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Phase 2: Organizing Your Kitchen Drawers
With drawer measurements, sorted utensils, and a game plan, you’re ready to get organized.
Add Drawer Dividers
For smaller items such as silverware, cooking utensils, and mystery items that end up in your junk drawer, drawer dividers are an easy solution. From Overwhelmed To Organized recommends buying a variety of shapes and sizes of drawer organizers, even if that means having to make a second trip to return the ones you don’t end up using.
Bonus Tip: If you have the kitchen space, you can take this a step further and get specific drawer organizers. By giving things like knives, and other items their own home, you can get more granular with your kitchen organization.
Courtesy of Bed Bath and Beyond on Pinterest
Stack Items Vertically
You can save a lot of space by stacking items vertically. There are plenty of vertical organizers available that let you stack plates and silverware. If you have items that don’t stack well, like baking tins, vertical organizers are a smart way to keep things in order.
Courtesy of Walmart on Pinterest
Group Similar Items Together
You can save a lot of drawer space by grouping similar items together. Here are some common groupings from Thehomesihavemade.com:
- Casserole dishes
- Mixing bowls
- Tupperware lids
- Plastic bags/wraps
- Measuring items
- Sauce Pans
- Appliances
- Coffee Mugs
Even if one of your categories is the remaining miscellaneous items, grouping similar items together makes it easier for everyone to find the things they need and return them to the right spot when they come out of the dishwasher.
Bonus Tip: Not only should you group related items together, but it’s also a good idea to keep them close to where you use them. For example, if you want to dedicate a drawer to cooking utensils, then pick a drawer as close to the stove as possible. (This is probably where my spatula should have been)
Now It’s Your Turn
As you can see, there are many ways you can organize your drawers. Hopefully, these tips will make it easy to find what you’re looking for and keep you from over-cooking a meal. Be sure to leave a comment with which tips helped you the most or if we missed a crucial step to organizing deep kitchen drawers.