Ask Lemmy

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

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

every family has a drawer like that, mine has two

In my house it’s a whole room instead of just a drawer.

Yeah, I've got that drawer

Where else would you sort the strange kitchen tools?

They don't belong anywhere in particular, so they are clumped together.

You can at least make some compartments so it's not all jumbled together

But yes, I do have a couple of those drawers

You lost this one.. They've even written songs about it....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LuJHgb5RB-4

I'm too anal about cleanliness and organization, my house typically doesn't have a drawer like this. My favorite mantra in the home, which my chronically disorganized wife is tired of hearing me repeat, is "a place for everything and everything in its place."

However. I inherited my childhood home when my dad passed away this year (my wife and I had already been living here for a few years, in a separate apartment in the house) and my dad had a junk drawer like this. As a matter of fact, my dad was extremely messy and almost every drawer in his house looks like this. It's probably the reason I'm so anal about organization in my life; having to grow up in a constantly messy home.

Growing up in this house, though, my family always had 2 drawers side-by-side in the kitchen which were always filled with random junk. They're still here. I haven't gotten to them yet. So yes, my current house has a couple junk drawers. But if I have my way, they will be organized and cleared out. If there's going to be any messy containers filled with miscellaneous junk in the house, it'll be boxes stored in the garage or basement - not a random drawer.

K. :🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥💣💣💣💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥🔥🔥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💋🫂👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨🍑🍆

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.

Most of my drawers are junk drawers. IDK how I find anything

Sepparate utensils into three groups. Prep and baking tools should be near the largest counter space. Cooking tools should be near the stove. Single use tools should be near the curb.

This is all of the drawers in our kitchen.

Yes we all have it.

Planer, pizza cutter, egg cutter, and scraper go in the knife drawer. Funnel goes with measuring cups, scale goes on the counter or take the stuff out from under it so it sits flat. Garlic press and that chacram looking thing go in the trash.

In our house this is similar to the spoons drawer, the drawer that holds all the stirring utensils for cooking.