I Finally Tamed My Junk Drawer w/ These Kitchen Drawer Organization Ideas
Need kitchen drawer organization ideas? Here’s how to organize a junk drawer!
Let’s tackle this mess once and for all with my kitchen drawer organization ideas.
Wondering how to organize a drunk drawer? From tackling the clutter to the very best way to fold all your kitchen towels, here’s how to easily get your messy junk drawers organized for the new year!
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I LOVE the feeling of everything having a place and I enjoy reading & watching easy organization ideas, which I’m sure is why you’re here too!
But I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not the most organized person in real life. My house may look super tidy where I photograph recipes and DIY projects, but the mess always seems to creep in behind the scenes. 😅
This brings me to my post…
How to organize a junk drawer.
After the New Year, I’m always inspired to tackle a few spaces for a fresh start. I know the junk drawer can oftentimes be the most frustrating drawer for many people to get organized, stay functional, and look pretty. So, I’m here to help with a few easy kitchen drawer organization tips!
In fact, my Hip sidekick, Sara, recently organized her junk drawer too so we’ll both be sharing tips & pictures so you can see how well these kitchen drawer organization ideas work!
First, you’ll want to clear out your drawer completely.
Starting with a fresh, clean slate when you’re organizing anything is key to perfecting a functional space. This enables you to assess the space you’re organizing and maximize every inch when putting the drawer contents back in.
Then, you’ll want to group everything so you know what you’re working with.
Group like-items together like batteries, paperclips, pencils, etc. This is also a great time to trash broken items, donate what you don’t need, and potentially put stuff that doesn’t belong in the junk drawer back in its permanent home.
I also take this time to test all the pens and throw out ones that don’t work and sharpen pencils so every writing tool is ready to use when you need it.
Next, you’ll determine how many junk drawer organizers you need.
When it comes to kitchen drawer organization, storage containers are a must! Chances are you may already have a few organizers laying around, but in the chance you need to splurge on a new junk drawer organizer to tidy your space, here is a couple we recommend:
- Made Smart Bins 8-Piece Set $6.33 – This junk drawer organizer has an interlocking feature to help create a custom organizational system to fit any drawer.
- Kootek Clear Organizers 9-Piece Set $15.29 after you clip the coupon – This bin has a modern, sleek design that also prevents sliding around in drawers.
- Brightroom Acrylic Drawer Bin $4+ – This junk drawer organizer is a stackable, non-slip clear bin that’s perfect for items like utensils.
- Vtopmart Clear Organizers 25-Piece Set $14.39 after you clip the coupon – This organizers are trendy, stackable can come in a plethora of sizes.
If you really want to be sure your organizers don’t slide around, you can also cut a piece of non-slip shelf liner. It’s grippy and really works. 🙌🏻
Sometimes despite having the best “non-slip” organizers stuff can still get shuffled around. So to ensure this doesn’t happen, take this extra precaution to keep your space tidy long-term.
Then begin to fill your organizers!
Keeping your groups together, start to fill your organizers. If you have smaller organizers, save those for tiny items like paper clips, erasers, etc. to eliminate them getting shuffled with other items with daily use.
Putting everything back in your “no longer junk drawer” is the fun part! 😍
But let’s not forget about those pesky towels. If you’re folding them in squares, your drawer will quickly end up messy again before you know it.
One of my favorite kitchen drawer organization ideas is to roll your kitchen towels instead of folding them.
By simply folding your towels in half or thirds and then rolling them, your drawer will remain organized and more functional than it ever has!
Plus, you’ll be able to easily fit all your towels without struggling to stuff them back in each time.
This organizing hack also maximizes your drawer space & looks super pretty too! 😍 You may even discover extra space you didn’t have before allowing you to organize other things that once wouldn’t fit.
Hip Tip: My cotton kitchen towels from Williams Sonoma and are my absolute favorite! They’ll last for years! 🤩
Now that we’ve talked about kitchen drawer organization, let’s take a minute to admire our before and after photos:
Here’s my junk drawer before…yikes 😅
…And here’s my after! 🤩
A before & after like this makes me so happy! 🥰
Here’s my Hip sidekick, Sara’s junk drawer before…
…And here’s her after! 🤯
I love how organized and put together our junk drawers look with very little effort on our part. 👏🏻 Not so junky after all, huh?! 😏
Tackling your messy drawers is a quick, easy way to eliminate the stress that takes up unnecessary space in your mind. I hope these easy kitchen drawer organization ideas were helpful!
Now that your junk drawer is done, try our 9 easy tips for organizing your garage!
I use cute contact paper, cut to size for each little compartment in the organizer tray. Takes a little time, but it’s nice seeing the fun contact paper peek out from under the pencils and tape in the junk drawer.
Whoa came to check out the comments and see mine from last year. Ha!
Hi Lina..i love the color of your sink/bathroom cabinet, it looks like SW let it rain but it’s a little bit grayish, do you happen to know what paint is that? Thank you very much!
Thanks! It’s actually the color called “software” by SW…https://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-family/SW7074-software
Thank you!!!. I will check it out later, the color is beautiful for cabinet.
Oops above comment lol Lina I dream to be a home maker like you 🙂
oh thanks Monique – that’s very sweet! <3
Any ideas for a deep kitchen drawer? Had expandable dividers but that didn’t work well. Things spilled over top. Drawer is used for utensils and odds and end kitchen stuff. They are about 10 inches deep.
Is any of the stuff 10in or less in length? Could you look for organizers that stand things vertically to help use the space? I’m looking into this for some of my drawers that are 6ish inches deep, looking for ideas… Our home has lots of deep drawers like bathrooms are 10in like yours so I stood up hair dryer, straightener, brush, anything I could really. Got some bins to keep them standing when the drawer is pulled open.
What a great idea. I have two drawers of vintage linen towels I got in flea markets in Germany. I am going to roll mine up and see if I can get them more organized. My favorite ones are the ones from France. Thank you for giving me something to do today. Working from home is so boring I have started trying to get more organized and am painting walls.
Ahh I bet that will be beautiful Pat! Those towels sound amazing. I hope to travel and collect things like that one day <3
We were stationed there from 72-96 so we traveled a lot over there. I think I got them in the 80s when people didn’t really think old things were worth much. LOL
Yes, I ordered some of those containers to organize our bathroom drawers and junk drawer and love them! Great idea about the non slip to put under them…thanks!
Sure! I’m glad you like those also!
I roll my towels too! My favorite are the ones from IKEA (white with a red stripe) for less than $1 each! 🙂
Oh nice!! That’s a great store to buy kitchen towels. Thanks for sharing!
I got some green drawer dividers at The Container Store a few years ago for my drunk drawer annnnnd now they are a mess LOL. I kept them organized for awhile but then just starting throwing everything in each again so they overflow. Lord help me 🤦♀️ ha ha.
Enjoyed reading the post tho 🧡. I roll my towels also.
Oh thanks! Yes it’s hard to resist throwing more stuff in top sometimes! Ha
I have drunk drawers too!!!
Lol!!
Where I’m from that’s how we say it 🤣. I should probably not type how I speak sometimes lol.
Sara, I would hesitate to store batteries end to end like that; at least store them sideways so they are not making contact with the positive and negative poles. On TV, a homeowner burned down his house by improperly storing a “dead” 9 volt battery against something that made contact with both poles.
That’s an excellent point Joann! I would think the conditions necessary to cause a fire might be one in a million, but I tend to be a bit hypervigilant so that equals a 50/50 chance in my mind. I have the whole ‘angel and devil on each shoulder’ thing going on, where one’s rational but the other one can never be sure….
Anyway, the acid can and will leak out eventually even if the batteries have never been used. We can thank planned obscelence for gifting us with that. But it could ruin something like Pat’s vintage towels and that would be devestating!
I have them all organized similarly, but I now have 6 junk drawers!! I seriously have to figure out how to get rid of this stuff!!! pencils, gum, tape, spare toy parts, nails, screws, glue sticks, charging cords, change, masks, hand wipes of every kind, sanitizers, lip balm, lotion, screwdrivers, lint rollers – seriously need to consider moving it all to a closet storage to free up the drawers 🙂
I love this post! I immediately organized my drawer. Thank you! Would Hip2Save consider doing one post a week like this that focuses on a different area each week? It makes it seem quick and easy and motivates me to get it done without seeming overwhelming.
Oh thanks so much! That’s a fun idea. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for your detailed post, pictures and work Lina. I am in the minority here and think a junk drawer is fine being a jumble of c-rap. LOL 🙂 Maybe I’m just “old”. It is driving me nuts the trend of buying tons of containers for the purpose of organizing things. There *are* ways to organize your entire house with zero dollars spent. Try to repurpose old baskets or trays that you already have. Buying organization trays and bottles etc. adds up really fast – especially these days. To each their own and organize away! 🙂
*Adding that my junk drawer is only one drawer and never takes up any “space in my mind”. I simply open it when I need something (tape, pens, etc.) and then shut it when I don’t need to see it anymore. 😉
Hey Jen! You can definitely utilize baskets, organizers, etc. that you already have laying around! We linked up some of our favorites in the post to for those that may be interested in some new ones. 🤗 Love to hear what works best for you! We sure appreciate hearing everyone’s honest opinions. 💞