Best Tips On How To Organize Kitchen Drawers – Part 1

Got cluttered drawers? Let me help you get your kitchen drawers organized quickly in this two part series!

We all know the kitchen is one of the busiest rooms in the home. And this means it can quickly become an unorganized mess! And messy drawers can be the worst.

I’m guilty of shoving stuff in and then quickly closing the mess. Of course, that’s always followed by a promise to myself I’ll get my kitchen drawers organized soon. Well – that day has finally arrived!

My drawers haven’t always been terrible. I actually gave you a tour of how I organized them a few years back. But even though the flatware drawers were staying relatively organized, I felt I wasn’t utilizing every drawer in my kitchen to it’s fullest potential.

And when you don’t have deep kitchen drawers like me – that’s a huge mistake!

So I started taking inventory of what was in my small kitchen drawers and how I could better organize them. And today I’m sharing what I’ve learned, what I’ve changed and how I improved my kitchen drawer organization for more easy access!

Don’t Miss Part 2: If you are looking for more kitchen drawer organization, be sure to see how I organized my spice jars with a DIY wooden spice drawer insert by clicking HERE.

First Step – Don’t Waste Any Space

As I’ve mentioned before, my kitchen has very narrow drawers. So the way I decided to store my flatware was with bamboo drawer dividers. But even after I initially set this up in my utensil drawer, I started wondering if this was the best way to store them.

Can you see below all the ‘extra’ space each bamboo tray has? Flatware is only a couple inches wide and here I’m giving it like 12 inches of storage space!

I still love the idea of using bamboo organizers. But this time I’m going smaller with the silverware organizer.

And guess what? I can fit soooo much more into one drawer! Check this out….

These narrower bamboo organizers helped me to divide my smaller drawer from three sections into six! (There’s a horizontal bamboo organizer in the back of the drawer just like in the front – just didn’t make it into the pic. Oops!)

But such a great way to store so much more right?! Now my kitchen drawer dividers are giving me maximum efficiency in my kitchen. And that’s exactly what we all want.

Drawer Sources: bamboo organizers | gold flatware | (plastic containers would work great too)

Drawers Can Declutter Counters

You know what makes me super happy to see when I look into my kitchen? Clean – empty counter space! Clean counters bring me peace and totally lower my blood pressure. Call me crazy, but it is so true.

So when my kitchen drawers provide me yet another great place to remove clutter from my counters – I will absolutely let them! I’m kinda mad at myself for not thinking of this great solution sooner.

So here’s what I’ve changed. Next to my stove, I stored some cooking utensils in a drawer. Yes, the drawer was often messy like you see below. No, I was not utilizing this available space well. And no, I wasn’t even using half the stuff in this drawer.

Here’s the other thing. I had a knife block on my counter that I wanted to ditch as well. You can see it sitting on my counter here in a pic from an older home tour…

So I decided this small drawer was going to become my new knife drawer! I ordered some fantastic new knives – love using these everyday. And I ordered a knife drawer organizer.

Then I tossed what I didn’t use and replaced a few of my super old cooking utensils with new ones.

I found a new home for those long utensils and wooden spoons in my crocks on the organized kitchen counter tray. And this is how this top drawer looks now!

Now I’m cutting up all the things! Never knew knives could be so much fun. 🙂

Drawer Sources: organizer | knives |

Keep the ‘Junk Drawer’ Super Small

So I’m kinda embarrassed to mention this but my ‘junk drawer’ was one in one of the biggest drawers in my kitchen. So crazy right? There’s no room to store the stuff I actually use. But junk – yea – it gets all.the.space. as you can see below.

There’s so much useless stuff in this drawer. Things like a baby bottle cleaning brush, along with a baby hair brush. You all – my baby is six! 🙂

I know not every kitchen probably needs a tiny junk drawer. (If you don’t have one – I am your biggest fan!) But for me, it’s a drawer that can help me keep the counters clutter free.

And because clean counters is always priority #1 in my book, I can live with a tiny, disorganized junk drawer that now looks much more sensible.

So after I got the junk drawer organized, I decided to do some switching around. I have a ton of baking accessories. But they were scattered in different places because I couldn’t store them all in one of the larger drawers.

Well, now I can. Hello new baking drawer! I think you were a good idea. Maybe even one of my best storage solutions!

No more searching for measuring spoons or cups. Everything is right where it should be. And that makes me soooooo happy.

Drawer Sources: small bamboo organizers | medium organizer | extra large organizer | black measuring cups | copper measuring cups | black measuring spoons | cherry pitter | cookie dough scooper |

Change What Isn’t Working – Don’t Be Afraid!

I thought my kitchen drawers were organized the best way possible. But guess what? I was wrong. And I’m so glad I wasn’t afraid to tweak things, move some things and try some different organizers.

I’m utilizing the space so much better – and it’s made a huge difference in kitchen. In a couple years, I may be writing another post on how I changed things again. And ya know what? I hope I am!

As I mentioned before, I still have Part 2 of this series to share. Here’s a sneak peak at what we will be organizing in that post!

More Kitchen Organizing

If you are looking for even more ways to organize your kitchen, be sure to check these popular kitchen organization tips:

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