We all have that kitchen junk drawer; you know, the one. The one that holds all the little items that are not large enough to have their designated space. These little things can be challenging to store and usually get stored in several places in the home. This place can easily be a dumping ground for anything and everything. But this valuable drawer needs to be organized, too! I divided random items into Useful items for emergencies and repairs, Useful items for cooking and storing, handy notetaking items, and other useful items.
They are the first items bought in multiples because they can easily be misplaced and overlooked. So, to help you organize these junk drawer items, I created a list of articles that "should" be stored in or near the junk drawer. Let's begin.
14 Essential Items to Keep in Your Junk Drawer
Jump to:
- Benefits of having a well organized junk drawer in your kitchen.
- Valuable items for emergencies and repairs for the junk drawer
- Some more useful things.
- Useful items for cooking and storing in your junk drawer
- Notetaking items to have in the junk drawer
- The rest of the useful stuff is in a junk drawer.
- How to organize the junk drawer
- Measure the inside of the drawers before you shop online or in the store.
- Decide on what style you want.
- How to deal with several small junk drawers.
Benefits of having a well organized junk drawer in your kitchen.
There is always one drawer that holds small things that can easily be lost if not stored properly. This is called a catch-all drawer or junk drawer. Organizing this drawer will allow you to find things easily while preparing meals, repairing a tool, or having to aid in a burn incident. Below are the benefits of organizing these areas.
- Able to prep easily. If you use cooking twine, you may want to store it in this area for easy access when prepping your meal.
- Is the handle on your kitchen pot falling off? Having a screwdriver (affiliate) in this drawer will make it easy to repair while you are seeing the issue.
- Did you burn or cut yourself while prepping dinner? Having a bandaid and ointment in this drawer will quickly help you take care of yourself (affiliate).
- Quick access to finding small kitchen things. There are small things that need to be kept in the kitchen, or they will be lost in other places in the home.
Valuable items for emergencies and repairs for the junk drawer
Flashlights - A small flashlight works perfectly for the drawer. It can lay on the back of the drawer in case of emergencies. Check out our collection of Emergency Preparedness posts!
Batteries—These items tend to roll around a lot in a drawer, so a small drawer bin works excellently to keep them contained.
Roll of tape - Did you ever need to wrap a present or tape an envelope? Having this in the junk drawer will help you finish your task quickly. Depending on your drawer's depth, I like to have them stand on their side to spot it easily.
Pliers - This one is helpful for those items that loosen in the kitchen. Store this one in the back of the drawer. Get a bin that fits all of these items for easy access in an emergency.
Some more useful things.
Screwdriver (affiliate) - This one also helps with my pots and pans handles. Storing this one in the back of the drawer works great because it is not used often but can be pulled out in a pinch.
Band-aids - I am not talking about keeping your entire stash of band-aids and burn ointment creams in the junk drawer. You only need a few emergency kit items in this place, so you don't have to take out your large emergency kit. I like using a travel emergency kit about the size of my palm.
Super glue - You would be surprised how often we use this item. It helps if something breaks or chips. I particularly like single-sized glues because you can get rid of them after opening, even if it is partially used—no more dried-out crazy glue.
Tape Measure (affiliate) - And, last but not least, a small tape measure (affiliate). This item allowed me to measure things in a jiffy, and I didn't have to go into our tool room. Storing it with the other tools (affiliate) works nicely.
Scissors - Always, always, always have a pair of scissors in the drawer. As a kid, finding scissors in my house was hard because it didn't have a home. They would be moved from room to room but never returned to their home.
Useful items for cooking and storing in your junk drawer
Cooking string - I place the cooking string in a baggie to keep it protected since it is an item we use while cooking. Plus, it doesn't get unraveled when it is inside. =)
Rubberbands - Collecting a few rubber bands (affiliate) is very helpful when keeping things together. Storing them in a small drawer organizer (affiliate) works great.
Chip Clips - These items are helpful for more than just chips. They work perfectly for large bag items like frozen veggies, frozen fruit, etc... Store them in a larger bin with the cooking string.
Notetaking items to have in the junk drawer
Pens and Pencils - You not only need pens and pencils, but you can also use a permanent marker (affiliate) (black) and maybe a highlighter. The permanent marker (affiliate) is ideal for writing on plastic freezer bags when I am doing a freezer meal. The highlighter helps when looking through a magazine and finding a recipe I like. I pull out the magazine, and they highlight the ingredients I need to purchase for the recipe.
Notepads - Do you get small pads that came free from charities? These are the notepads I am talking about; they are thin and long and can be stored standing up on their side in a bin or near the edge of the drawer.
The rest of the useful stuff is in a junk drawer.
Some other things that are useful to have are:
Birthday candles (affiliate) - This is where these delicate items will not break. Keeping them on their side up against the drawer side or lying flat above other things will protect them.
Twist ties are handy if you break a tag from a bread bag.
Takeout menus - Optional - Only add these if you have a large enough drawer or two drawers. And always place them in a large drawer bin that fits the largest menu.
Paper clip - A few paper clips in this drawer are a great grab when needed.
How to organize the junk drawer
Let's not forget the drawer organizers (affiliate)! If you have one, the first step is to clear the drawer completely, including the liner.
Now, declutter the small items you may not need. Get rid of duplicate pieces and unwanted items.
Then, organize these items into like items if possible. Determine how much space you need for each item.
Several junk drawer organizers (affiliate) will create a great storage solution. Below are additional tips for organizing a typical junk drawer.
Measure the inside of the drawers before you shop online or in the store.
Nothing is more annoying than buying a kitchen drawer organizer (affiliate) that doesn't fit your drawer. Trust me, I know. =/ Here are some examples to help your drawer get more organized. (Full disclosure: These links are from Amazon (affiliate); feel free to click through and buy these items from them. I will receive a small referral fee at no cost to you. )
On Amazon (affiliate), they have a filter where you can sort the junk drawer organizers (affiliate) by width, height, and depth.
Decide on what style you want.
Are you looking for a junk drawer organizer (affiliate) that is one unit? Is expandable? Do you want one that is a particular color? Deciding this beforehand will help when you are looking for them.
How to deal with several small junk drawers.
If you have several small drawers and can't fit everything in one, you can do something like this, which I did with my client. One of my clients decided she needed two drawers. The images below show how we organized them. One has various items in this handy organizer.
That's pretty much it. Organizing the junk drawer is what I call quick organizing. It's large enough to see the transformation but small enough not to take long. Good luck with your junk drawer project.
Let's continue the conversation. Do you store anything else in your junk drawer? Please leave a comment below. If you want other kitchen organizing tips, visit our Solutions for Kitchen section.
If you need help, please visit my virtual organizing consultation services. I can help you organize this and other areas of your kitchen.
Are you looking for some more tips on organizing junk drawers? Check out these articles from other experts.
Tiny Spring Cleaning: How to De-Junk Your Junk Drawer from HGTV.com
8 Smart Ways to Finally Wrangle Your Junk Drawer from Good Housekeeping.com
Kim says
You described my junk drawers almost to t. And yes I have two but one houses things like baggies and some BBQ utensils, twist ties, elastic, etc. Good idea about the cooking string. I do tend to have to unwind it every once in awhile. I guess we need to have at least one junk drawer.
Maureen DeGarmo says
We can, indeed have a beautifully organized "junk drawer."
Jodi says
Believe it or not -- I just organized my junk drawer and put everything in plastic baggies. A drawer organizer would for sure be a better solution!
Hazel Thornton says
You know I love drawer organizers! An alternative is to use old checkbook boxes and to corral small items into appropriate size and weight zip-close baggies. Say, a lightweight snack-size baggie for rubber bands. And a quart sized freezer bag for batteries. This, like organizer compartments, helps control the quantity of any given "junk drawer" item so it doesn't get....junky.
I, too, struggle with the term "junk drawer" and, actually, I think every home needs two drawers: One a utility drawer such as the one you describe in this post. (Which, to get many people to understand what you are talking about, you need to still call a junk drawer.) The second, a true junk drawer where you toss little things you don't have the time and energy to deal with right now. The trick being to NEVER let it overflow; to periodically dump it out, sort, purge, and find true homes for the things you want to keep.
Janet Barclay says
It's hard to imagine calling this a junk drawer! It's so purposeful and well-organized, it should be called a utility drawer. 🙂
My junk drawer is tiny (it's built into the paper towel holder) so all that in it are scissors, twist ties, and probably a tiny bit of tiny junk. 😉
Seana Turner says
This is an interesting one! I don't usually like the term "junk" drawer because we don't really buy junk:) But you are right that there are some basic supplies that every house needs to figure out where to store. I love the drawer organizers. It is impossible to have an organized drawer without tools like these. Once you put them in place, keeping the drawer organized is pretty simple!