One Simple Tip Makes The Most Of Deep Kitchen Drawers Prone To Clutter

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A deep drawer should be a blessing for your kitchen, but the abundant storage capacity it offers can often tempt us to adopt an attitude of "out of sight, out of mind." Soon, it is so crammed with clutter of all kinds — pots, pans, utensils, old takeout menus — that you have little idea what's really in there, and digging through it all to find out becomes a dispiriting prospect. Happily, there is a way to reclaim your deep kitchen drawer's full potential — by employing stackable organizers to make the most of the available space. 

Stackable organizers turn the contents of a deep drawer from an impregnable morass into a series of easily separated layers — if what you're looking for isn't in the first organizer, you can just lift it out to reach the second. An organizer will also do exactly as its name suggests, allowing you to keep everything compartmentalized in its distinct spaces, from skillets to canned goods, which you can store in this sneaky spot to free up kitchen cabinet space. You can either use modular organizers — think of them like a cutlery tray, only more versatile — or separate sections that can be taken out individually. For maximum visibility, you may wish to go for some clear plastic organizer bins such as those available on Amazon from mDesign.

Unfortunately, before you can achieve the perfectly segmented order that stackable organizers can bring to your kitchen drawer, you'll need to clear everything out. After preferably giving your empty drawer a good clean, measure it carefully so you can purchase organizers of the appropriate size. Think hard about what you really want to put back in (for example, appliance manuals are often the kitchen drawer relic you can safely toss to free up space) and what items you're likely to use most often, then consider how best to arrange the results. 

For obvious reasons, it generally makes sense to keep bigger, heavier items on the bottom, with a shallower organizer for utensils and smaller kitchen necessities on top. Remember that if you are storing your pots and pans all wrong, there is a simple fix in placing them on a pot rack (ideally, one that can also accommodate lids) to prevent the damage that can occur when they're stacked on top of each other. Beyond that, categorizing everything in your organizer by type — wooden spoons, kitchen knives, measuring cups, etc. — means you should be able to locate what you need quickly and easily. 

If you really want to make the best use of absolutely every inch of your kitchen drawer, you can invest in either an adjustable organizer, which can expand or retract to fit the drawer's dimensions, or a custom-made one. Whichever kind you choose, stackable organizers are a simple solution to clutter that not only makes your storage space more efficient, but also keeps your kitchen looking tidy.