A Simple Way to Organise Kitchen Drawers!

If you’re anything like me, you have to organise kitchen drawers on a constant basis. Not because it’s an intense impulse, but because you tend to throw anything into them.

Thank you Simply Alex Jean for this wonderful guest post!

If you’re anything like me, you have to organise kitchen drawers on a constant basis. Not because it’s an intense impulse, but because you tend to throw anything into them. Call it my toxic ADHD trait, but every drawer in my house is a ‘junk‘ drawer. Can’t find the spare car key? It’s in one of many junk drawers. Lost my wireless headphones? Yep, in a junk drawer! My husband hates it, and while I do too, it’s nothing a good organisation session wouldn’t fix. Temporarily!

Image by Jarek Ceborski.

The simple way to organise kitchen drawers!

By Simply Alex Jean.

My kitchen is one of my favourite places to be! To be honest it’s a big portion of why we bought the
house we bought! I adore how big and beautifully designed it is but, what I don’t love is that with
all this storage comes great chaos! Yes, I’ve got a fantastic amount of storage but without proper storage techniques, my kitchen becomes the most stressful zone of my house. And what’s the worst place? The kitchen drawers!

They’re so simple to just toss items “to deal with later.” But when does later come? I’ll let you know when I find out! Either way, I learned quickly that to stop the clutter building, I needed to implement a plan!

But where do you even begin!? Let’s dive into how to organise kitchen drawers easily!


Empty everything.

This is both my favourite and least favourite part of organisation. While I love taking everything out and really seeing what I own, I don’t like being faced with everything laid out in front of me.

To begin, empty out all of your drawers. I did mine at once, much like ripping off a band-aid, but that’s entirely up to you. While one by one seems easier at first, you may find yourself going back and forth between drawers, ultimately slowing you down. No matter what you choose, place a dish towel or blanket onto any available surface and just tip it upside down!

Time to sort! With each item take a moment to decide if you want to keep, donate, or toss. Create three piles and sort as you go.

If you’re having difficulty with some items such as family heirlooms or “just in case” items, place them off to the side. You can return to them at the end to make your decision once you know what your keep pile looks like.

*Be mindful that if donating items they shouldn’t be heavily used items, broken, or straight-up garbage.

Categorize your items.

Place your garbage pile into the garbage, the donate pile to the side and spread out your keep pile. Now you can clearly see each item. Now you can begin to create categories for items such as cooking utensils, celebration items, lighters and matches, tools, measuring items etc. When you have an idea of how much of each category you have, it’s time to decide on the ideal space. It’s also a great time to go back to your ‘just in case’ pile to see where they best fit.

To learn how to better organise and manage your home office, check out this post!

Image from Aaron Doucett.

Storage Ideas.

Look at all your items and determine what needs storage solutions. It might be a bunch of matches or it might be measuring cups. No matter, now is the time to determine how to store various items. Utilise any spare containers you might have to place small, fidgety items into so they don’t become lost. Stack dishes and tupperware from largest to smallest, and disregard any overused utensils. Not everything is a keeper, after all, and some items may be well past their use-by date.

Take a look around your kitchen and determine what unused storage solutions you already have before going out to purchase new ones. Remember you can also DIY your own storage solutions if you have the means and skills!

Having sustainable systems such as organized bins and pouches will help with any future organization.

Cleaning your drawers.

Before you place the items back in their drawers, it’s important to do a deep clean. While it may only be dust and crumbs, bacteria are still breeding. Cleaning them while they’re empty is simple and really helps to reset the space. You can even use some of your favourite essential oils or smells to keep your kitchen smelling fresher for longer. Once clean you can place all your items back in the drawers now organized.


There you have it! A simple and easy way to organise kitchen drawers to keep your home feeling stress free for longer. I for one struggle to feel good when my space is immediately cluttered. When things are too untidy or even dirty my mind feels out of control, and my stress levels soar. If you’re struggling mentally, try assessing your immediate surroundings. While for some it may be a stretch to say an organised and clean home is a mood booster, it’s not far from the truth for others! It’s not a magic fix, but a quick one!

If you have any other tips on how you organise kitchen drawers or any area of your home, we’d love to read them in the comments!

24 comments

  1. Your website provides a very unique concept and information. Keep posting helpful and interesting posts ,
    For working space mostly people prefer coworking spaces there are so many in my town now days

  2. We recently moved to a new apartment and we have 1 junk drawer that needs some serious organization. We have already gone through sorting and throwing things out, but we need to work on organizing!

  3. We have draw inserts that helped to separate all the cutlery etc. Tidy and organised drawers are so much better. I hate messy drawers. Thank you for sharing.

    Lauren x

  4. Oh I am totally the same! Every drawer is a junk drawer and then one day I decide to temporarily organise it, it doesn’t last long usually but it’s very liberating! Need to take some of these tips and try to stick to them x

  5. These are helpful and practical tips. Love the idea of using our favorite essentials oil. Would love to try. Thank you for sharing these.

  6. Thank you for sharing this. We all have those drawers, but with a toddler running around it’s getting worse in our house. I spend my weekends tidying her many toy drawers and finding essential items, we need, that are lost.

  7. Eek! My drawers are organized, but I’ll have to admit that I’m not great at doing the occassional cleaning. Thanks for the reminder!

  8. This is like going back to the drawing board about any sort of cleaning. I agree with each one of your suggestion. I also want to add – stop hoarding. That is one of the major reasons for chaos in kitchen area.

  9. hahaha, I’m so happy that I am different. Everything goes into its place. But I will read it again once I change. Thanks!

  10. Wow! these is a great way to organize to Kitchen drawers. I do categorize and clean my drawers but would love to add those storage ideas.

  11. Hehe….you use the same method Mummy uses here, in her home. And I must say, all the kitchen wear turns out really cute in their respective drawers and compartments.

  12. I love your tips. organizing my Kitchen and drawers is one of the things I dread on the weekends but thanks for making it easier for me.

  13. I love all of these tips. I spend so much time in my kitchen, and the disorganization is just so rampant. LOL.

  14. I like to have clean and organized drawers and cupboards, etc. I have moved into an apartment that has a smaller kitchen so I’ve not been able to get things as sorted as I like; this has given me some great pointers to help me out!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Verified by MonsterInsights