Consider a spring loaded drawer divider. Keeping everything from sloshing around can make a surprising amount of space.

My drawer in the image used to be a nightmare. Everything used to move around and it would jam when opening sometimes. Adding dividers got it organized enough to leave a third of it free, which is now the rightmost section that's filled with tea.

It's been over a year and I still feel a small sense of joy when I open it sometimes. There's still messes of junk in the back left and right, but they stay put.

every family has a drawer like that, mine has two

I’d say that every house has a junk drawer, but I wouldn’t call this a junk drawer. It mostly looks like random kitchen tools. I guess you’re both right, in a way.

Maybe what you need is a wall-mounted rack to hold some of your other stuff without taking up valuable counter space. For example, I’ve heard people swear by magnetic knife holders. You can probably find magnetic tool holders at a hardware store for less than you’d find knife holders at a store that specializes in kitchen stuff.

Or maybe just get some hooks. Perhaps some little shelves. Whatever. The point is, make the stuff you use most often more accessible, and use the freed-up space in other drawers to clean out this drawer. Then turn it into a proper junk drawer, with shit like loose rubber bands, half~dried superglue, an awkwardly shaped pen from a real estate salesperson, and a tape measure that’s branded with the logo of an NFL team for some reason.

I have accessory drawers, but they have organizers in them and I never put sharp things just randomly strewn i n a drawer. I have some baskets with random stuff in them for like extra cotton balls, the other of a 2 pack of soap, and stuff like that which could be considered "junk drawers", but none of it is junk really. And I do have in my basement workbench a drawer that has random leftover parts from projects like screen spline, insulation spools, etc. That could definitely be called a junk drawer, but non of that is dangerous to reach in and grab, nor will any of the items damage each other when fumbling through them.

Technically, mine isn't a drawer, it's a shoebox tucked under the coffee table, but yes.

We have that drawer, plus a bowl in a cabinet full of stuff like that.

Proud junk drawer owner checking in.

Yes everyone has this drawer

I see enough squish things tools to designate it the squishing drawer.

There are probably houses out there somewhere that do not have one of these, but I have never encountered one. They appear with the same frequency as 10 million dollar lottery tickets.

I wouldn't put the scale in there but yes, miscellaneous drawer.

Even the community kitchen I use has one of these...

We have essentially the same drawer but with no scale and more ladies, measuring spoons, etc.

I'd probably put that scale somewhere else since it's a precision device, and it can't be too healthy for it to live like that.

I also don't have that drawer, but I have a box next to the toolbox labeled "useful crap that aren't tools"

Brother, it is the junk drawer that keeps you sane. For trying to organize everything is impossible.

At first I was thinking I don't have this drawer, but I suppose I have a version of it. Anything that doesn't get used weekly goes into a misc. box that I store in the pantry to keep clutter out of drawers, e.g. icing spatula, fat separator, some baking items, etc.

My knives are upright on my counter and my scale is in my cabinet though, so that also frees up space. A few trays in your drawer might help?

She's right. Always.

At my parents' place, EVERY drawer is like that!

Every family has a junk drawer. Just accept it and move on in your life.

Yep, this is a junk drawer at its nascent stage.

My mother got into the pampered chef selling bulldonkey when I was young, and despite the dozens of items we got from them, only four really stood out, and she still has three of them. The ice cream scoop (how hard is it to make a shaped chunk of metal, after all), the kitchen shears (which were actually good quality), the slap-chop before there was a slap-chop brand (the one that is now missing/broken), and the kitchen organizer thing for the countertop: pic related. It was great for the longer shaped things, like some of what you have in the drawer. If the drawer bothers you that much, consider something that goes on the countertop or on the wall (or even a hanging pot organizer, which I love above a kitchen island.

It can be sorted quite nicely if you get an organiser division thingy. Even if you're only going to keep one thing in each section, it's nice to have each thing in its own place. The difficulty with that is remembering where it's supposed to be, and that it takes more space.

A little basket is suitable for keeping most of those things if you simply accept that them being in the same basket is actually the correct placement for them.

A drawer full of emergency makeshift weapons? Yes. Also a junk drawer? Yes, more than one.