Welcome to Day 9 of my month long series “How to Organize Your Kitchen Frugally in 31 Days”. Every day during the month of October I will be sharing an organized space in my kitchen with you. My goal is to inspire you and give you ideas on how you can organize your kitchen.
If you missed it, you may want to read why I’m embracing my outdated kitchen. It might give you a little perspective on why the pictures of my kitchen organization won’t be “magazine worthy”, but helpful for real life organization.
Oh, the dreaded kitchen utensil drawers! Do you struggle with constantly having to dig through a pile of gadgets and utensils when you are making a meal?
Today I’m going to show you how I simplified things in my kitchen by separating gadgets from utensils. They are not the same thing, and do not need to be stored in the same drawer.
If you like to cook and bake, you’ll know what I’m talking about when I say that gadgets have babies. If you want to get a job done well, you just need the right tool, isn’t that correct? While I agree with that theory, your kitchen can become overrun with handy little gadgets before you can blink your eyes.
Confession: I am a gadget lover. I love technology and gadgets that make my life easier. But sometimes you have to step back and ask yourself how much you really need the things you have and if it’s worth taking up space in your kitchen to keep them.
I once bought a strawberry huller. Seriously? Why did I think I needed that? I can understand how it might come in handy if your favorite past time is making homemade strawberry jam. Mine is not. So why did I “need” that? I didn’t, so I got rid of it. I also thought I could use a cherry pitter at one time. I’m shaking my head right now wondering where my brain was when I had that thought since I think I’ve bought cherries 10 times in my married life. We don’t even really like cherries that much!
It is a very good idea to take a look at the things you have hidden in your drawers and evaluate how often you use them.
Here is the point: If you like it, have space for it, and use it – keep it! If it doesn’t meet one of those criteria, get rid of it.
So how do I organize my kitchen gadgets? First, I only keep gadgets I actually use and have space for in my kitchen. Second, I do not keep them with my cooking utensils. I’ll show you how I organize utensils, tomorrow. Third, I keep them “contained” in small baskets.
I used to have a knife block that sat on my countertop, but I just didn’t like it sitting out all the time and really wanted to keep my knives in a drawer. But, the cost of knife drawer organizers is crazy!
One day as I was walking through Ikea, I saw a wooden knife block I thought would work, and it was super cheap! This one is similar, but larger than mine. I brought it home and it turned out to be just a little too long to fit in the drawer. My handy hubby carefully cut off the end, then cut away the extra inches, and reattached the end. It turned out beautifully. It cost a fraction of other knife organizers and now fits perfectly in my drawer.
I already had my gadgets in contained in small baskets that I picked up at a dollar store years ago. One thing I do to maximize the effectiveness of a space like a drawer is to fill it with smaller baskets and containers so everything has a clear place to “belong”. Even my kids know that the front two baskets are for kitchen gadgets, so when they empty the dishwasher, they know where things go. The back basket is for candles and a few birthday supplies. I keep my other cake decorating supplies in my pantry, but since these are used so often, I keep them here. We have birthdays every other month in this house. 🙂
When I put the knife block in the drawer, I was left with a little space between the block and the baskets. It’s actually a perfect space to keep my son’s favorite “dinosaur sandwich cutter” and my tuna and hamburger presses. Even though they are not specifically in a container, they are still “containerized” and have a space of their own. It’s simple to put things away when they have a place.
If you’re curious what gadgets I keep in this drawer, I listed most of them here:
Finally, this drawer is strategically placed in my “Food Prep Zone” because everything in this drawer is used for preparing food. Tomorrow I’ll show you how I separated my cooking utensils and keep them in my “Cooking Zone”.
I wish I could give credit where it was due but I can’t remember where I read this tip – it worked so well for me however, that I’d like to share it here. If you have numerous kitchen gadgets and can’t imagine parting with any of them, put them all in a basket or box on your countertop. When you use a utensil, place it back in its normal storage area. What is left in the basket after 2 – weeks can be given away since you’ve proved to yourself that you aren’t using it regularly.
Im loving this series of posts. I have had ‘half’ a kitchen for the last 5 years as started remodelling but the project got put on hold . Hopefully I will be getting the roof replaced on the kitchen shortly and then we can finish it off, so the ideas in your posts have come at the right time for me. I still wont have as much room as I would like (its a small kitchen), but these tips will help me make the most of the space that I do have.
Im looking forward to seeing what the rest of the series brings.
Thanks
:o)
Hi Ginny! Thank you for this idea. I feel like I should get out of the house more often because I’ve never seen a knife drawer organizer until today! This is great! Also, thanks for the link where I can obtain one. You are awesome! 🙂
Will you also be showing how you organize your measuring cups and spoons? I’d think they’d be included in the food prep zone but maybe not maybe the cooking zone.
I love gadgets too! In fact, I see some familiar ones in your drawer…lol! This is one area where I need to purge, but it will be hard. I’ll have to follow your rules for keeping things. I do have containers to hold the gadgets, which helps, but purging unused items will help make it a better space. I keep my gadgets in my baking zone, which is in a desperate state right now. I’ll get there…
Isn’t it interesting and funny how one person’s “can’t do without” is another person’s “unnecessary” and vice-versa! I do make strawberry jam and can cherries (I love them, LOL) so my little strawberry huller (which I also use to core tomatoes before slicing) and cherry pitter (you try putting up 20+ pounds of cherries without a pitter, 🙂 ) are essentials to me. But, I shape my hamburger patties, salmon croquettes, etc., by hand, separate my eggs, on the very rare occasions necessary, the old-fashioned way and I also broke several garlic presses before giving up and now find finely dicing it by hand to be just as quick and easy (I prefer to remove the kernel that grows in the center and makes it bitter) and so definitely don’t need any of those gadgets. Love to see how everyone is different and what we all keep in our cabinets. P.S. what is your sandwich press? I don’t think it is the same thing I think of as a sandwich press to make paninis? P.P.S. You are quite lucky to have a handy husband! That was an awesome mod he made to get your knife block to fit.