#Get It Done: Organize Your Kitchen Drawers

Clear 'em out and give the contents a neat-as-a-pin new home with these organizing and storage tips

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This week you don't have to complete this Get It Done task; you just need to give these ideas a once-over and then keep them in mind as you do your holiday baking and entertaining. This is because you'll inadvertently be doing lots of recon during the coming weeks — pulling out kitchen items you probably use only once a year, like cookie cutters, platters and double boilers; scavenging around for items that are hidden too deep; or perhaps wondering why you have five spatulas when the most you'll ever need at once is only two. You'll be rejecting table linens, figuring out that some sets are missing key pieces and discovering items you haven't unearthed in years — paper umbrellas for drinks you never make, anyone? These things need to go.

Nancy Sloop

In our recently renovated 1982 kitchen, I had all of the lower cabinets fitted with pull-out shelves rather than deep drawers due to increasing disability in my hands and wrists: I just wouldn't be able to lift a stack of dishes (plates or bowls), and I prefer to rotate their use so that the same 2 or 3 don't get used exclusively. I have a plate rack in the lower portion of my open shelving above the dishwasher where the plates reside and bowls are in the adjoining shelf in stacks of 4-6 - a manageable amount for me.

I love the ideas presented, and saved several in idea folders - but no one size (or organization tip) fits all.