For anyone who loves to cook—especially the “head chef” of the house—nothing beats the joy of working in a well-organized kitchen. After all, if you feel like you have to travel to London for a spatula and fly over to New York just to grab a whisk, are you actually going to focus on cooking, or spend all your energy just commuting from one end of the kitchen to the other?
Lately, we’ve been sharing a lot of deep-dive guides on kitchen organization—in fact, we practically have an entire series running on mastering the kitchen pantry! As you might know, we love bringing you practical home ideas that take you right from the heart of your kitchen out to your backyard garden.
When it comes to the kitchen, one of its biggest assets is the setup of pantry racks and drawers. They give us the perfect spot to store almost everything separately, neatly, and within easy reach. Honestly, if you love clean and minimalist storage, it really doesn’t get much better than a well-designed drawer.
That’s why today, we’re going to talk all about how to organize kitchen drawers the simple way. Hopefully, after reading this guide, your humble little drawer won’t feel as vast and mysterious as the Atlantic Ocean anymore—and your favorite tools won’t go missing in the back corners ever again!
5 Simple Steps to Organize Kitchen Drawers
Just hearing that you have to pull everything out and make a giant mess before putting it all back together is enough to scare a lot of people off. But let’s be honest—figuring out how to organize kitchen drawers isn’t like launching a rocket into space or steering a massive ship across the open ocean! Since the world doesn’t stop launching rockets or sailing ships just because it takes a little effort, we really shouldn’t keep putting off our kitchen drawers either, right?
To get started, we first need to take everything out and give the empty drawers a proper, deep clean—and if there’s stubborn grease or grime, don’t hesitate to use a good kitchen cleaner or disinfecting wash. Once they are spotless and dry, slide all the drawers right back into their tracks. Next comes the real game-changer: before putting anything back inside, sort and group all your items right there on the counter, assigning each pile to a specific drawer by name. That way, no random gadget gets Forgotten, and every single item is prepped and ready to go to its rightful home. Finally, just load everything back inside one by one in a neat sequence. By following this simple flow, every tool gets its own designated spot, and nothing ends up left behind!
How to Organize Every Type of Kitchen Drawer
In almost every organization guide we write, we end up talking a little bit about categories and tags (or labels)—and this post is certainly no exception! If you don’t group your kitchen items into clear categories and add simple tags or labels where needed, tracking things down later is going to be a real headache.
In fact, if you really want to go the extra mile—especially if you have a lot of drawers—you can even create a quick “drawer index” and jot it down in a small diary or the Notes app on your phone. That way, you (and anyone else in the house) will always know exactly what lives where.
Once you have your categories in mind, here is how to tackle each specific type of drawer in your kitchen:
Everyday Silverware and Cutlery: The top drawer right next to your dishwasher or sink is the best spot for your daily forks, spoons, and butter knives. Drop in a simple divided tray and sort everything by size, so you can grab the right spoon almost with your eyes closed.
Cooking Utensils and Long Gadgets: Keep your heavy-hitting cooking tools—like ladles, spatulas, tongs, and whisks—in the drawer closest to the stove. If you have extra-long tools that love to jam the drawer shut, try laying them diagonally or use long dividers to keep them from shifting around.
The Spice Drawer: When you store spices on a cabinet shelf, the bottles in the back almost always get forgotten. Instead, use a shallow drawer near your stove and lay your spice jars flat on an angled tray. Just make sure the labels are facing straight up so you can spot the exact spice you need at a single glance.
Deep Drawers for Pots and Food Containers: Those deep bottom drawers are ideal for heavy pots, pans, and plastic food containers (Tupperware). The golden rule here is simple: never stack containers with their lids on. Nest the empty containers inside each other to save space, and stand all the lids upright on one side—just like files in an office cabinet.
Taming the Kitchen “Junk Drawer”: Batteries, pens, sticky notes, rubber bands, spare keys—every kitchen has that one catch-all drawer where random small items end up. The easiest way to keep this drawer under control is to fill it with a few small, open bins or shallow bowls. This gives every tiny category its own little boundary so they don’t mix into one giant mess.
At the end of the day, learning how to organize kitchen drawers doesn’t have to be an all-weekend project. Once every spoon, spice jar, and spatula has its own categorized and tagged spot, you’ll spend way less time hunting through the “Atlantic Ocean” and a lot more time actually enjoying what you cook. Start with just one messy drawer today—your inner head chef will thank you every single time you step up to the stove!
What goes in the top kitchen drawers?
Keep your most-used everyday items in the top drawers. The top drawer near the sink or dishwasher is best for silverware, while the top drawer next to the stove should hold daily cooking utensils and spices.
How can I organize kitchen drawers without buying dividers?
You can easily repurpose items you already have at home! Cut-down cereal boxes, sturdy shoebox lids, muffin tins, or small plastic food containers work great for separating small tools and junk drawer items for free.
How do I stop drawer bins from sliding around?
Lay down a non-slip rubber drawer liner before placing your bins inside. You can also stick small adhesive bumper dots or a tiny piece of double-sided tape under the corners of each organizer to lock them in place.
Should pots and pans go in drawers or cabinets?
If you have deep bottom drawers, use them for pots and pans. Unlike dark cabinets where you have to kneel and dig toward the back, deep drawers slide all the way out so you can easily lift heavy cookware from above.