In most parts of the country, it’s getting cold outside. One positive side effect of all of this cold weather is the opportunity to spend more time checking indoor tasks off your to-do list. For example, if you haven’t emptied and organized your kitchen drawers lately, December is a good time to do it.
Most of us use kitchen drawers as catch-alls for everything and anything: receipts, key chains, and gift cards; screwdrivers, tape, and pencils or pens. Drawers tend to fill up with items we rarely use or things we forget about, and in the end, they’re overstuffed. Even drawers assigned to specific items like silverware or serving spoons can end up storing old chopsticks, cookie cutters that haven’t been used in years, and forks that no longer match anything else in the house.
The following steps should transform your kitchen drawers from overstuffed to organized:
- Set aside time, maybe a few hours one morning or an afternoon, to tackle your kitchen drawers.
- Line up a paper garbage bag for paper recycling, a trash bag, and a box for donations.
- One by one, remove your kitchen drawers and dump the contents on the counter or floor. Keep the contents separated by drawer, so you can return the appropriate items to the appropriate drawers.
- Pick out any paper products. If important receipts or appliance user manuals have been stuffed in a drawer, file them in a filing cabinet. If old notes, useless receipts or other paper have piled up, put them in the bag designated for paper recycling.
- Throw any useless items in the garbage bag. The corkscrew that no longer works, the plastic-coated gift bag that’s too crumpled to reuse, the empty tape dispenser, the spoon that has become mangled in the garbage disposal and no longer matches any other cutlery…out they go.
- Place any useful items that you don’t need in the donation box. If you never use those perfectly good salad servers, donate them to a local charity or thrift store. The same goes for any useful kitchen items that you no longer use or need, such as serving spoons, whisks, or ice cream scoops. Sometimes we end up with two of a given item; if you only need one, donate the other.
- Place organizers in your drawers. Wipe your drawers clean, and then place organizers in the drawers to prevent them from becoming unmanageable again in the future. Organizers are available in varied materials and can help you efficiently store cutlery, cooking items, and other kitchen drawer contents. Downsview Kitchens is just one of the premium cabinetry companies represented in our showrooms that provide organizational and storage solutions for kitchen drawers and other areas of the kitchen.
- Replace items. Replace the items that are usable and that you really need, organizing them by drawer and location (cutlery should be stored near dishes, for example).
Martha Stewart offers a list of what she calls “essential items” that should be stored in the drawers of a fully stocked kitchen. Her list includes:
- Everyday flatware
- Cake and Cookie decorating supplies
- Office supplies that you might need to grab while in the kitchen
- Hardware basics
- Cocktail napkins
- Wooden tools
- Zesters, graters, and peelers
- Tea supplies
- Napkin rings and chopstick rests
- Silver Flatware
- Skewers and Picks
- Knives
- First Aid Kit
- Dishtowels
- Small hand tools
You might not need every item Stewart considers indispensable, but her list is a good starting point if you want to consider what to store in your kitchen drawers. If you’d like advice on organizers for specific items, stop by one of our showrooms; we’ll be happy to help.
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