Pulling Power: Clever Drawer Tactics for a Kitchen in Apple Pie Order
It's not how many drawers you have in your kitchen – it's how they work for you
Have your kitchen drawers turned into alarming tangles of plastic and metal, cunningly hiding whatever you are hunting for? Are your knives nicked and blunt from being thrown into the fray? Coffee cups chipped? Can’t find the cinnamon or the lid of your favourite pan? Depressing, isn’t it? All hard-working kitchens descend into disarray occasionally, but if chaos is your daily kitchen companion, it may be time to reassess your storage. Whipping everything back where it belongs (and where it can be found again), and saving precious bench and fridge space is a piece of cake with some basic drawer strategies. See how to maximise pull-out convenience to keep your kitchen shipshape.
Store glassware upside-down on non-slip rubber draw liners, sold in kitchen and cookware shops, to cushion rims and prevent sliding. Silky smooth soft-touch drawers are best for glassware storage, especially stemmed wine glasses, which may tip.
Reunite saucepans with their lids
There are many ingenious cabinetry ideas for keeping pots and pans in close proximity to their lids, like a rear or side divider or a shallow internal drawer above your pots.
TIP: Pots and pans are usually standard sizes, and often a saucepan comes with a lid that will fit several other pans. Save space by not storing every lid – just a few that multi-task.
There are many ingenious cabinetry ideas for keeping pots and pans in close proximity to their lids, like a rear or side divider or a shallow internal drawer above your pots.
TIP: Pots and pans are usually standard sizes, and often a saucepan comes with a lid that will fit several other pans. Save space by not storing every lid – just a few that multi-task.
A dedicated lid drawer with vertical storage slots is a space-savvy way to keep lids neat.
TIP: Talk to a kitchen designer about squeezing extra depth into your benchtops – the deeper the bench, the deeper your drawers. An average bench is 50cm deep. By adding just 10cm to the depth of a 2.5m bench run, you gain .25sqm of drawer and cupboard storage.
TIP: Talk to a kitchen designer about squeezing extra depth into your benchtops – the deeper the bench, the deeper your drawers. An average bench is 50cm deep. By adding just 10cm to the depth of a 2.5m bench run, you gain .25sqm of drawer and cupboard storage.
Oh for storage like this with plenty of room for pots and lids to cohabit. Two-tiered shallow drawers in a bench-to-floor cupboard mean no stacking of pots. Does anyone actually cook in these beautiful things?
Plastic containers often mysteriously become separated from their lids, too. A couple of internal shelves is a tidy solution. Instead of throwing containers of every shape and size into this drawer, save similar containers that fit into each other and stack them neatly in separate piles.
Stay sharp
Treat your knives like the fine instruments they are. Never ever put them loose in drawers with other equipment – that way lies cut fingers and scratched, blunt blades. Store them off the benchtop in a shallow drawer fitted with knife cavities or a slotted timber block that fits horizontally into the drawer, to maintain their sharp and undamaged edges for many years.
TIP: Out-of-sight knives can’t tempt little fingers.
Treat your knives like the fine instruments they are. Never ever put them loose in drawers with other equipment – that way lies cut fingers and scratched, blunt blades. Store them off the benchtop in a shallow drawer fitted with knife cavities or a slotted timber block that fits horizontally into the drawer, to maintain their sharp and undamaged edges for many years.
TIP: Out-of-sight knives can’t tempt little fingers.
By sacrificing 15 to 20cm of cupboard space, you could put a timber knife block fitted into a narrow pull-out cavity near your prep bench.
Get on board
Another use for a narrow space is a pull-out chopping board and tray drawer. It can be integrated behind a door like the rest of the cabinetry but is a good spot to display decorative boards and trays.
Another use for a narrow space is a pull-out chopping board and tray drawer. It can be integrated behind a door like the rest of the cabinetry but is a good spot to display decorative boards and trays.
An extra board, like this pull-out one, is always handy, to separate chopping jobs – nobody likes onion-flavoured apples! Make sure it is at comfortable working height and is firm enough to work on without wobbling or tipping.
Don’t waste an inch of space – fit a removable chopping board over a shallow drawer.
Get a kick out of your drawers
Who thought of toe-kick drawers? Give that person a medal. Depending on your cabinetry construction, drawers can be retro-fitted in this forgotten space. Keep drawer pulls simple and flat to avoid accidentally kicking them.
Who thought of toe-kick drawers? Give that person a medal. Depending on your cabinetry construction, drawers can be retro-fitted in this forgotten space. Keep drawer pulls simple and flat to avoid accidentally kicking them.
Toe-kick drawers are handy for: horizontal wine storage; infrequently used platters, trays and boards; table linen and tea towels; instruction books and paperwork; oversized cooking pans, like a paella pan; a hidden supply of chocolate for when you feel down; storing pet bowls away from other items; or as a lockable spot for valuables.
TIP: Avoid storing good wine in the kitchen if you can help it. It’s probably the hottest room in the house. Lie bottles down in toe-kick spaces – a better, cooler option than out in the open kitchen area.
TIP: Avoid storing good wine in the kitchen if you can help it. It’s probably the hottest room in the house. Lie bottles down in toe-kick spaces – a better, cooler option than out in the open kitchen area.
Give drawers air for food storage
Store some vegetables, for example, onions, garlic, uncut pumpkin and potatoes, in ventilated drawers to maintain their flavour and save fridge and bench space. Potatoes particularly hate the cold, as the starch converts to sugar, and texture and taste suffers. Don’t refrigerate tomatoes, either – they taste better at room temperature. Lemons and oranges also give up more juice when not chilled. A low-level drawer with a mesh screen front is ideal for fruit and veg storage.
Store some vegetables, for example, onions, garlic, uncut pumpkin and potatoes, in ventilated drawers to maintain their flavour and save fridge and bench space. Potatoes particularly hate the cold, as the starch converts to sugar, and texture and taste suffers. Don’t refrigerate tomatoes, either – they taste better at room temperature. Lemons and oranges also give up more juice when not chilled. A low-level drawer with a mesh screen front is ideal for fruit and veg storage.
Cane baskets in wooden frames on runners or brackets maintain air circulation around vegetables and are a rustic touch for a country-style kitchen.
“Egg of an hour, bread of a day, a wife of twenty years” … or something like that. Crusty artisan bread should be eaten as soon after baking as possible. Commercial sliced bread is best stored somewhere cool, but not cold, and sealed against any wandering pests. Bulky benchtop bread bins take up prep space, and fridge storage can actually accelerate staleness, so consider a bread drawer with a cover and an insulating pad in the base.
TIP: Freeze sliced bread after two to three days for toasting, and crusty bread after one. There are many uses for less-than-fresh bread, from garlicky, olive oily panzanella salad, bread crumbs for gratin dishes, to yummy, eggy French toast and berry-soaked summer puddings.
TIP: Freeze sliced bread after two to three days for toasting, and crusty bread after one. There are many uses for less-than-fresh bread, from garlicky, olive oily panzanella salad, bread crumbs for gratin dishes, to yummy, eggy French toast and berry-soaked summer puddings.
Look at the hole picture
What a mouth-watering display – no more delving in the pantry. Do you love to make curries and spicy Asian and Moroccan food? This spice ‘library’ does need space, but saves plenty in the pantry. I like how it is at convenient bench height and how the lids can be popped off when you want a pinch of this or that.
More: 10 Storage Ideas for Your Herbs and Spices
What a mouth-watering display – no more delving in the pantry. Do you love to make curries and spicy Asian and Moroccan food? This spice ‘library’ does need space, but saves plenty in the pantry. I like how it is at convenient bench height and how the lids can be popped off when you want a pinch of this or that.
More: 10 Storage Ideas for Your Herbs and Spices
Make a ‘go-to’ multi-purpose drawer close to your prep surface. Keep frequently used herbs and spices and, if you bake, items like flour and sugar dredgers alongside everyday implements like vegetable peelers, can openers and tongs in side compartments.
TIP: Store bandaids and burn cream in your ‘go-to’ drawer.
TIP: Store bandaids and burn cream in your ‘go-to’ drawer.
A drawer insert with holes cut to fit metal or plastic buckets (very cheap) will help you get a handle on cooking clutter.
TIP: Separate utensils into wooden, plastic and metal so you can grab something quickly.
TIP: Separate utensils into wooden, plastic and metal so you can grab something quickly.
Soak up spills fast
Kitchen paper rolls need to be at the ready for quick action in case of spills and splashes. A clever little alcove in a drawer front puts rolls at your fingertips.
Kitchen paper rolls need to be at the ready for quick action in case of spills and splashes. A clever little alcove in a drawer front puts rolls at your fingertips.
Simplify under-sink space
Under-sink drawers that fit around plumbing fixtures are often an awkward shape. They can quickly turn into sorry chaos, chocka with bits and pieces. Crawlies love the warmth and sometimes moisture of this cavity so don’t cram stuff in. Which items do you actually use in the kitchen? Do you wear more than one pair of rubber gloves at a time? Could some of it go, say, in the laundry? Pare down items like gloves, brushes, cloths and detergent for day-to-day use and top up from a centralised supply as needed.
Under-sink drawers that fit around plumbing fixtures are often an awkward shape. They can quickly turn into sorry chaos, chocka with bits and pieces. Crawlies love the warmth and sometimes moisture of this cavity so don’t cram stuff in. Which items do you actually use in the kitchen? Do you wear more than one pair of rubber gloves at a time? Could some of it go, say, in the laundry? Pare down items like gloves, brushes, cloths and detergent for day-to-day use and top up from a centralised supply as needed.
This is a practical arrangement for under-sink storage. Narrow drawers either side store cleaning products while rods multi-task to hang paper rolls and tea-towels.
Put rubbish in its place
We all recycle now, right? Double bin drawers neatly separate recyclables, or general waste from paper and glass.
TIP: This joinery design allows bins to be easily removed from the side, rather than lifting them clear of a side rail.
We all recycle now, right? Double bin drawers neatly separate recyclables, or general waste from paper and glass.
TIP: This joinery design allows bins to be easily removed from the side, rather than lifting them clear of a side rail.
In a small household, full height bins might be overkill and will waste space. If side-by-side bins or just one shorter bin deals with your rubbish load, use the extra drawer depth for a bag holder. This creates a cavity underneath for infrequently used items and room for a handy drawer above the kick space.
Wire your drawers
Do you need your technology while you cook, perhaps to look up recipes or cooking hints, make cooking notes, play music or make diary entries? A powered drawer keeps your electronics off the bench and away from cooking mess and moisture.
READ MORE
Clever Corner-Cupboard Storage Solutions for Your Kitchen Renovation
Push and Pull: Kitchen Hardware That’s as Practical as It Is Pretty
TELL US
Have you got a clever drawer tip to share with us? Tell us in the Comments section.
Do you need your technology while you cook, perhaps to look up recipes or cooking hints, make cooking notes, play music or make diary entries? A powered drawer keeps your electronics off the bench and away from cooking mess and moisture.
READ MORE
Clever Corner-Cupboard Storage Solutions for Your Kitchen Renovation
Push and Pull: Kitchen Hardware That’s as Practical as It Is Pretty
TELL US
Have you got a clever drawer tip to share with us? Tell us in the Comments section.
You’ll never regret a cup drawer – it’s so much easier than digging in an overhead cupboard. Make sure it is deep enough for your tallest mugs, about 18 to 20cm, storing them upside-down to protect their rims. Cups have a habit of multiplying, so estimate how many you really need. If you have half a drawerful unused after two or three average usage days without running the dishwasher, donate them or store them elsewhere for emergencies.
A side compartment for tea, coffee, spoons and sugar completes a tidy and convenient coffee break station.