• Home
  • ABOUT
    • About Me
    • FEATURED
    • LINK PARTIES
  • Policies
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • DISCLAIMER & TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT
    • DISCLOSURE POLICY
    • COPYRIGHT POLICY
  • CONTACT
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Refined Rooms

Organize | Design | Inspire

  • BLOG
  • Organize
    • Organizing Project Gallery
    • By Space
      • Bathroom
      • Bedroom
      • Closet
      • Command Center
      • Craft Space
      • Dropzone
      • Garage
      • Home Office
      • Kitchen
      • Mudroom
      • Pantry
    • The Process
    • Habits & Routines
    • Organizing Products & Tools
    • Paper
    • Photos
    • Information
    • Kids and Families
    • Holidays
    • Preparedness
  • Decorate
    • Decorating Project Gallery
      • Room Reveals
      • One Room Challenge
    • Tips & Tricks
    • Tools & Inspiration
    • Shopping Guides
    • Home Improvement
    • Home Staging
  • Be Productive
    • Productivity Processes
    • Productivity Tools
  • Challenges
    • The Organize Your Holiday Challenge: Be Prepared This Year!
    • The Organize and Refine Your Home Challenge
    • THE 10-WEEK DIGITAL PHOTO ORGANIZING CHALLENGE
    • THE 40 BAGS IN 40 DAYS DECLUTTER CHALLENGE
    • THE ONE PILE AT A TIME PAPER DECLUTTER CHALLENGE
  • SHOP
  • RESOURCES
    • ORGANIZING PRINTABLES VAULT
    • SERVICES I LOVE
    • BLOGGING TOOLS & RESOURCES I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT

BECOME A VIP

GET ACCESS TO MY ORGANIZING PRINTABLES VAULT

By opting in, you agree to receive my newsletter and ongoing resources. Unsubscribe at any time.
You are here: Home / Organize / By Space / Kitchen / KITCHEN DRAWER ORGANIZATION TIPS & INSPIRATION

KITCHEN DRAWER ORGANIZATION TIPS & INSPIRATION

Welcome to the final week of kitchen organization month…woo hoo! Ready for the final Challenge assignment? We’re tackling kitchen drawer organization starting….NOW!

{DOWNLOAD THE KITCHEN CHALLENGE CHECKLIST HERE}

KITCHEN DRAWER ORGANIZATION

Follow this 5-step kitchen drawer organization process via Refined Rooms

 

 This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission, which helps keep my blog up and running but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

EVALUATE & PREPARE

Got your decluttering kit and your cleaning caddy ready? Great!

This week’s assignment really is a continuation of last week’s kitchen cabinet organization project. Just replace the word “cabinet” with “drawer”. Like last week, you’ll need to devote some time to mapping out a plan for which categories of items will reside in each kitchen drawer. If you’re struggling with this step, check out this post, where I offer some guidance for assigning homes for your items during the organizing process.

It’s likely that you already made the majority of these decisions last week when you set up various zones throughout your kitchen. As a reminder, the common kitchen zones include:

Food preparation (cutting boards, colanders)

Cooking (pots & pans, bakeware, spices, pot holders)

Clean up (cleaning products, dish towels, sponges)

Eating (plates, glassware, utensils)

Food storage (plastic ware, plastic wrap, aluminum foil)

Utility (candles, tools, office supplies, medications)

Creating these kitchen zones up front makes it easy to figure out what goes into that Relocate bin when it’s time to sort and purge. Remember my tip for using Post-It notes as temporary labels during the kitchen cabinet organization process? This works great for kitchen drawer organization as well.

EMPTY OUT & CLEAN

Not only will you get to cross off “ORGANIZE KITCHEN DRAWERS” from your task list at the end of this week; you’ll also get to cross off one more item from your spring cleaning checklist. Awesome!

You’ve got your cleaning caddy on hand, right? Now’s the time to use it. Start by removing ALL of the contents from the drawer, then give the drawer a thorough cleaning. I’m always amazed at the dirt and crumbs that accumulate in those kitchen drawers (please tell me I’m not the only one).

SORT & PURGE

Ready to sort? Use your purging prompts to help you make decisions about what belongs in the Keep, Trash, Donate/Sell and Relocate bins. You’ll more than likely come across several “no brainer” items to toss during the kitchen drawer decluttering process.  Think duplicates, broken or damaged items, and items you’ve never used.

If you have limited storage space in the kitchen, plan on relocating seasonal items to another area of your home (think basement or garage).

After you’ve completed your initial sort, go ahead and remove the trash, relocate items that don’t meet the criteria you established during the Evaluate step, and place those items from the Donate bin into the car. Now, all that’s left to deal with are the items in the Keep pile.

Sort these items into logical categories. Common categories include:

  • Flatware
  • Serving/baking utensils
  • Potholders
  • Dish towels & rags
  • Plastic wrap/food storage bags
  • Paper goods
  • Food storage containers
  • Spices
  • Tools & utility items (a.k.a. the “junk drawer”)

ORGANIZE

Ready to set up your zones and put everything back? Begin by keeping those basic organizing principles in mind & consider using organizing products that will help keep your item categories corralled within the drawer.

For example, if you have a drawer devoted to spice storage, consider using a tiered drawer insert specifically designed for spices:

Follow this 5-step kitchen drawer organization process via Refined Rooms

 

Use drawer organizers to create compartments for organized utensil storage:

Follow this 5-step kitchen drawer organization process via Refined Rooms

 

I also like to use drawer organizers in the kitchen “junk drawer”:

 

Follow this 5-step kitchen drawer organization process via Refined Rooms

 

 

Use a silverware organizer to keep the knives, forks and spoons from intermingling:
Follow this 5-step kitchen drawer organization process via Refined Rooms

 

If you’re the DIY type, be sure to head  over to my Pinterest Kitchen Organization board to find lots of DIY and low-cost kitchen drawer organizing ideas.


MAINTAIN

Plan to go through this process on an annual basis to keep your drawers in good shape. It’s helpful to schedule your kitchen drawer maintenance session in conjunction with your spring or fall cleaning.

Your Assignment for this week:

{Repeat this process for each drawer in your kitchen}

  1. Determine the categories of items you’ll store in the drawer
  2. Empty the drawer & clean it thoroughly
  3. Sort items into Keep, Donate, Relocate & Trash piles
  4. Explore options for maximizing storage & containing item families (if necessary)
  5. Put items in your KEEP pile back into the drawer using basic organizing principles
  6. Schedule a yearly appointment in your calendar for decluttering and organizing kitchen drawers

Also, be sure to check out a few other posts that you may find helpful as you complete this week’s assignments:

Organizing your kitchen? Use this step-by-step guide to organize your plastic ware via Refined Rooms
How to Organize Plastic Ware
Use Expiration Dates to Speed Declutter in the Kitchen & Bath @ refinedroomsllc.com
A Kitchen Speed Decluttering Tool

Top 10 "No Brainer" items to toss during your kitchen declutter session via Refined Rooms
No Brainer Things to Toss During a Kitchen Decluttering Session
Organizing Projects to Complete Over Holiday Break

After you’ve completed this week’s assignment, share a photo of the items in your toss pile OR a photo of one of your newly organized kitchen drawers on Instagram (use the hashtag #OrganizeandRefineChallenge and don’t forget to tag me) and/or share it in the Refined Rooms Facebook community.

Got kitchen decluttering and organization on the brain? Get kitchen drawer organization tips, ideas, and a whole lot of inspiration! | #kitchendrawers #kitchendrawerorganizing #kitchendrawerorganization #kitchenorganizing #kitchenorganization #organizeandrefinechallenge #RefinedRooms

 

—————————————————

This post is part of the Organize and Refine Your Home Challenge

 

Join the Organize & Refine Your Home Challenge!

Organize   refine your home challenge logo square

Get the Monthly Organize & Refine Your Home Challenge assignments sent directly to your inbox

You're IN! Look for your Organize & Refined Your Home assignment emails to arrive in your inbox at the beginning of each month!

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit

Decluttering// Kitchen// Organize// Organize & Refine Your Home Challenge// Organizing Process// Organizing Products & Tools10 Comments

« ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THOSE #MOMFAIL DAYS
ORGANIZE YOUR LIFE WITH THESE 4 AWESOME RESOURCES »

Comments

  1. Heidi says

    April 23, 2017 at 10:16 pm

    I definitely need to drawer organization! Thanks for the tips and inspiration to get her done!

    Reply
    • Natalie Gallagher says

      April 25, 2017 at 9:31 am

      Thanks for hanging out with me on the blog Heidi!

      Reply
  2. Lindsay says

    May 11, 2016 at 3:41 pm

    OMG this is AMAZING!! Can you come organize my kitchen? Thanks for sharing at Funtastic Friday!

    Reply
    • Natalie Gallagher says

      May 12, 2016 at 11:45 am

      Thanks for HOSTING it Linsday! I’d say you don’t really need any help!

      Reply
  3. Mary-the boondocks blog says

    May 7, 2016 at 9:49 am

    Natalie, these are all really great tips. Now if only the drawers would stay organized! I am hosting a new link party, Sweet Inspiration and would love to have you join us. It runs Friday to Tuesday.

    Reply
    • Natalie Gallagher says

      May 9, 2016 at 11:28 am

      Mary,

      Thanks so much for the invite! I will definitely check out Sweet Inspiration!

      Reply
  4. Marie says

    May 5, 2016 at 10:21 am

    This is fantastic! I’m always up for organizing 🙂 Thanks for sharing at Merry Monday this week!

    Reply
    • Natalie Gallagher says

      May 5, 2016 at 2:30 pm

      Thanks for stopping by Marie!

      Reply
  5. Nicole @ The Professional Mom Project says

    May 1, 2016 at 9:22 pm

    These are great tips. My silverware drawers are pretty organized but I have a couple of “junk” drawers that are in desperate need of organization. I’m going to pin this to give some of your ideas a try. Found your post at #MondayMadness

    Reply
    • Natalie Gallagher says

      May 2, 2016 at 8:29 am

      I think everyone has at least one of “those drawers” Nicole! By the way, LOVE the name of your blog!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING?

Woman holding a gift

FOLLOW ME ON BLOGLOVIN’

Follow

SEARCH BY CATEGORY

COPYRIGHT

I love it when you share my tips, ideas and inspiration! Please keep in mind that all images and text on this site are the property of Refined Rooms, unless otherwise stated (regardless of whether photos are watermarked or not). Feel free to use one image, provided that a link back to my original post is included. Please do not remove any watermarks, crop, or edit any of my images without first obtaining written permission from me. All free printables are for personal use only. Pinning is always welcome and appreciated! Thank you!

DISCLOSURE

This site contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission, but it won’t cost you a penny more). Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Copyright © Refined Rooms 2019 · Savory theme by Restored 316 | Site Designed by Courtney Kirkland