How to Organise Kitchen Drawers in Different Ways!

Last Updated on January 10, 2023

We think a kitchen isn’t truly put together until the drawers are organised, even the junk drawer. We know this might sound like a daunting task, but there is something oddly satisfying about opening a kitchen drawer to find it is neat and perfectly organised.

We understand your dilemma with cluttered kitchen drawers, and for sure, you are always searching for ideas and products to organise kitchen drawers. So if you’re like us and like to keep your kitchen in tip-top shape, you have come to the right place! This article offers a variety of drawer organisation ideas and provides you with a basic guide on how to organise kitchen drawers.

Whether you need to reorganise your kitchen or have just moved into a new place, you will be more than ready to organise your kitchen drawers like a pro by the time you are done reading. Let’s start!

How to Organise Kitchen Drawers: A Basic Guide

Step 1: Empty All of Your Kitchen Drawers

If they aren’t already, start emptying all of your kitchen drawers. When we say everything, we mean it. This preliminary step will help you remove items that can go in the bin and help you get a good idea of the items you have, something that will be important for the next steps.

As you empty your kitchen drawers, we recommend you put everything into three main piles, one for items you want to keep, one for items you can donate, and another for items you should toss in the bin.

Step 2: Pull Out Drawers for Cleaning

When your kitchen drawers have been completely emptied out, take a moment to clean inside of each one. This way, you can start with a clean slate.

If it has been quite some time since you cleaned the inside of your kitchen drawers, you may want to start by dumping the larger debris out over a trash can. Then, wipe it down with an all-purpose cleaner and a sponge or cloth.

Step 3: Group Your Items by Type

Now it is time to organise your pile of all the items you want to keep. To save space and make things more accessible, similar group items together: putting the measuring cups together, plastic containers, serving utensils together, etc.

While doing this, think about the ideal drawer placement for the items. We recommend choosing locations based on where the utensils get used most. For example, you may want to store your cooking utensils like spatulas and large spoons close to the stove.

If you need more space inside your drawers, this is a good time to try and downsize. Toss out any incomplete sets of food storage containers or anything with missing lids. You may also be able to donate items where you have several multiples.

Step 4: Measure and Buy Drawer Organisers

To figure out what you need to eliminate your drawer chaos and get organised, you will need to start by measuring your drawers. Make a list with each drawer’s dimensions. Make sure you include the length, width, and depth. You can reinsert them into their designated spots when you are done measuring.

Then, note which items you intend to place in each drawer. This will help ensure you get appropriately sized drawer organisers and will also help you know what you will need to get the job done.

Lucky for us, there is a drawer organiser available for every kind of drawer and every kind of utensil. When you go to the container store or wherever you choose to get your drawer dividers, you will be able to choose between trays with partitions, space dividers, and more.

There are even deep drawer and shallow drawer dividers. We love using one or more drawer organisers in every drawer because it helps to keep items in a specific location. Otherwise, everything often mixes and sooner or later, you may end up with another junk drawer.

Step 5: Insert Drawer Organisers and Replace All Items

Now for the fun part, putting everything back together. Insert all of your drawer dividers and other drawer organisers into their intended places. Then, place all of your kitchen utensils into their designated drawer organiser partitions. Whenever possible, place items to flush with each other and stack items like cutlery and dry measuring cups.

To finish up, all you have to do is marvel at your newly organised kitchen.

Kitchen Drawer Organisation Ideas and Pro Tips

Now that you have a good understanding of how to organise kitchen drawers, here are some great tips and organisation ideas that will further help you create order and keep your kitchen organised. If you want an organised kitchen that looks like a pro did it, keep reading our tips below!

Tip 1: Deep Drawers, Narrow Drawers, and Cabinets

When it comes to organising different sized drawers, you may want to take a somewhat different approach. If you have narrow or shallow drawers, think about the items that will best fit and utilise as much space as possible. Once you have the more specific smaller items out of the way, you can move on to organise a deep kitchen drawer.

When you organise deep kitchen drawers, we recommend stacking similar items like pots, pans, and other large dishes. You may also manage to stack some items vertically, like baking pans and cutting boards. Storing items through vertical space frees up so much space for other things and often makes them more easily accessible. Of course, drawer dividers are also extremely helpful with deep drawers as they can help you use more of the vertical space instead of just the bottom of the drawer.

If you need extra storage space – even after downsizing during the organisation process – you can always consider alternative places for utensils that don’t involve taking up drawer space. One place you may not have thought of is on the back of cabinet doors. You may be able to hang utensils or pot holders there without interfering with how the cabinet door works. Or, you may think about using a knife block on the counter.

Tip 2: Utilize Naturally Convenient Placement

While you decide where to keep your newly organised utensils, always think about where it makes the most sense to keep things. Choose a location close to where you will most use the items to help improve efficiency in your kitchen. Having the things you need close by while you work will also make cooking more organised.

This looks a little different for every kitchen, but here are some ideas:

• Keep coffee accessories like filters, scoops, or pods close to your coffee maker.
• Place larger cooking utensils close to the stove.
• Store mixing bowls and measuring spoons and bowls near where you prepare your meals.
• Choose a more remote location for lesser-used items.

Tip 3: Use All Possible Space

One of the best things you can do when you organise kitchen drawers is to find a way to use every possible inch of the drawer’s interior. This means that you should group the right items correctly and use drawer organisers that fit the entire dimensions of your drawers. Try rotating your dividers in various positions and experimenting with placement until you get it right. Aside from eliminating wasted space, keeping things snug inside of a drawer will help it to stay organised for longer.

Tip 4: Add Drawer Liners for a Fresh Look

We also like to add drawer liners to the bottom of our drawers for a fresh look. The way we see it, if you are going to go through the hassle of reorganising your kitchen drawers, you may as well make them fun and pretty too. While this is not an organisation tip per se, it will help with the overall aesthetic of the drawers when you are all done. It also makes cleaning them easier and will help protect the actual drawers themselves from natural wear and tear.

Cabinet and drawer liners are available in various bright colours and patterns and are super easy to install. They also peel off easily if you want to switch them out or are moving to another house. If you aren’t finding a drawer liner, you like it right away. You may consider looking at contact paper in a craft store.

Tip 5: Consider Children’s Access and Safety

If you have kids in your house or there is a chance they will be visiting regularly, you will also want to consider them while organising your kitchen drawers. This means keeping dangerous items out of small children’s reach and keeping items you may want kids to access closer to the floor where they can easily see and reach them.

First up, make sure you keep sharp knives and other small items out of reach of small children to eliminate the possibility of a safety hazard. This is a necessary safety precaution and can be done quickly with a small amount of planning.

For easy access for your little ones, you may want to try storing snacks and children’s plastic dishes and cutlery in lower drawers. However, it depends on your specific kitchen and utensils.

Tip 6: Consider Less Accessible Space

As you have probably noticed, some kitchen drawers do not pull out far enough to expose their entire base. This makes retrieving and viewing items in the back of some drawers less accessible. For this reason, we recommend keeping less used items in the rear of drawers like these. Some cooking utensils may only be used rarely, like parchment paper or baking sticks, making them perfect candidates for the rear side of a drawer.

Adversely, you will also want to store your most used items on the front side of a kitchen drawer whenever the space allows for it. That way, your frequently used items are easy to see and access.

Tip 7: Keep Like Items Together

One of the top tips for organising your kitchen drawers involves keeping similar items grouped. We know we have already discussed this a small amount, but we can’t stress it enough when it comes time to organise kitchen drawers.

Grouping like items will prevent you from searching for the tools you need and even make it more convenient for other people who may want to use your kitchen, like family members or house guests. This method also helps to conserve a considerable amount of space inside your drawers, something many of us could benefit from.

Tip 8: Ditch Any Bulky Packaging

Last up on our list of top organisation ideas is something that may seem simple but can save you quite a bit of space inside your kitchen drawers.

Remove any bulky packaging on items like tea bags, coffee filters, or extra coffee pods. You may also benefit from removing items like baggies from their bulky packaging, especially if you have the appropriate kitchen drawer organiser components.

Kitchen Drawer Organisation Made Easy

That’s all for our tutorial on how to organise kitchen drawers. As you now know, there are various things to keep in mind while you organise your kitchen drawers.

Just remember to store similar items together and eliminate unnecessary and incomplete items. It is always best to use many drawer dividers, store things vertically when possible, and designate a specific place for every item. Doing all of these tips will surely surprise you with how much space you will have!

And who knows, maybe after you have a newly organised kitchen you will be so happy with your work that you will move on and start organising other rooms in your house.

See, organising drawers is beneficial! Doing so can create more space to store items and even inspire you to clean and tidy up. In addition, it will save you more time finding particular items instead of rummaging in all your kitchen drawers to search for one kitchen essential.

We hope you found this article helpful! Let us know your thoughts or if you have any more organisational ideas to share in the comments below.