Help: My New Kitchen Only Has One Drawer!

February 17, 2010

Moving is not easy. First, I had to search for a decent kitchen. Then I had to prioritize my needs — yes I must have a dishwasher and an island. Next I had to pack the entire kitchen and my extensive recipe collection.

Finally, I've officially moved in, start to unpack, and realize that my new kitchen only has one drawer. One drawer. With all my serving ware, utensils, bar tools, random gadgets (egg poacher, immersion blender, etc.), and food storage (foil, parchment paper, saran wrap, etc.), I definitely need more than one drawer. What should I do? Put a dresser in the kitchen?

Get a food storage shelving unit? Help readers! I would love to hear your advice.

21 Comments

3 years 12 weeks

I just lost my utensil drawer due to the installation of a dishwasher and purchased a rotating utensil holder: http://www.target.com/Room-Essentials-Revolving-Utensil-Holder/dp/B002PMSSQO/ref=sr_1_9/186-3859751-9318248?ie=UTF8&activetab=Reviews I ended up having to put some non-grip padding at the bottom so the utensils wouldn't slip out at the bottom, and now it works great!

3 years 13 weeks

My friend bought food storage shelving (as you linked to in your post) from HomeDepot/Lowe's and she kept it next to the kitchen in her dining area. What I LOVED about it though - was that she bought a fairly solid fabric and sewed it into panels, used grommets at the tops of the panels and sewed coordinated (patterned) ties for the tops to tie the panels to the metal racks. It kept the storage pieces hidden, but kept the dining area looking warm (and not industrial - or cluttered.) Loved it.

Read2me 3 years 13 weeks

You can take rinsed out coffee cans or other containers and use modge podge to cover them with fabric or paper for cheap but fun utensil holders. (I even used some soup cans and made mini ones for my daughters play kitchen)

26rosebud 3 years 13 weeks

I love how not martha used her wall space for storage: http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/smallkitchen/

Soniabonya 3 years 13 weeks

And I thought my kitchen was small. o.o I'm running out of space in my kitchen as well, and have been contemplating getting one of those metal shelving units you can find at Lowe's etc. I've see pictures of them holding baskets of kitchen gadgets and such, standing right near the kitchen. I think it would be great to get one of those, but only if you have the space near your kitchen to put it. Anon 12, I would love to see a picture of the peg board!

3 years 13 weeks

I have the exact same problem! My fiance put up a big pegboard like in Julia Child's kitchen. I spray-painted it bright green and I hang everything on it. Pots, pans, cutting boards, measuring spoons, anything, and the color adds some fun to the otherwise bland room. Just make sure you get separators to add some space between the wall and the pegboard so the hooks can fit and anchor it to the wall really, really securely. Mine is anchored in 9 places and holds up 2 saucepans, 4 skillets, an All-clad saute pan, and lots of kitchen odds and ends. I love it. It's one of my favorite things about my apartment!

syako 3 years 13 weeks

There are tons of things you can install inside your cabinets that are drawer like. For example: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/54259583 or these from bed bath and beyond: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=12307632&RN=205 http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=120640&RN=205

skigurl 3 years 13 weeks

just as an aside, for anyone who actually has the luxury of designing their own kitchen - i just moved into my new house and for the first time ever we have 3 regular drawers but then in lieu of 2 cupboards, we have three large drawers as well (pot drawers) - so two small drawers are for utensiles, one is for kitchen linens, one is for pots and pans, one is for big bowls and tupperware, and one is a junk/catch all drawerit's much easier to use drawers than to use cupboards, so think about that when designing a kitchen for sure!!

skigurl 3 years 13 weeks

just as an aside, for anyone who actually has the luxury of designing their own kitchen - i just moved into my new house and for the first time ever we have 3 regular drawers but then in lieu of 2 cupboards, we have three large drawers as well (pot drawers) - so two small drawers are for utensiles, one is for kitchen linens, one is for pots and pans, one is for big bowls and tupperware, and one is a junk/catch all drawer it's much easier to use drawers than to use cupboards, so think about that when designing a kitchen for sure!!

skigurl 3 years 13 weeks

if it has lots of cupboards but just fewer drawers, you could get little baskets from any home store or ikea or whatever and put your stuff in this and place it in a cupboard...it would do the same trick as a drawer, by containing smaller items, but you'd just have to pull the basket out when you needed into it...i had to do that once in a dorm room for my socks and underwear, i had little baskets under my bed and just pulled them out as needed, much like a drawer would work

skigurl 3 years 13 weeks

if it has lots of cupboards but just fewer drawers, you could get little baskets from any home store or ikea or whatever and put your stuff in this and place it in a cupboard...it would do the same trick as a drawer, by containing smaller items, but you'd just have to pull the basket out when you needed into it... i had to do that once in a dorm room for my socks and underwear, i had little baskets under my bed and just pulled them out as needed, much like a drawer would work

smileyface 3 years 13 weeks

I basically only have one drawer also. There are 2 in my kitchen, but the second one is smaller so I use it as a junk drawer and the bigger one for my utensils. I have one of those metal 3 tier racks that I use for extra storage. Maybe you could get one of those and put some nice boxes or trays on them to store your various utensils. Or you could get various utensil holders so that they are easier to get to. Good luck and let us know what you decide!

smileyface 3 years 13 weeks

3 years 13 weeks

I had this problem also.Both the container store and home depot have free standing drawers that you can customize to your needs. The top is also a nice flat surface that doubles a extra work space. I put mine on wheels so I could move it around since I had limited counter space as well.

Happsmjc 3 years 13 weeks

UGH, my old kitchen had one drawer as well, which of course we had to use for everyday utensils (forks, spoons, knives) and since it was very narrow not much else would fit. We put the cooking utensils in a nice jar, we still had left overs. I forget where we put our knives. We put our ziplocs, foil, etc. in the one drawer in the rolling kitchen cart we had on the one side of the kitchen. We folded our dish towels and they were in a cabinet, but I bet you could do something really cute. It was strange but I guess we found a place for everything one would want to put in drawers. We also had no counter or cabinets either, I don't know how we survived!!

lilegwene 3 years 13 weeks

My friend had this problem, but she had more counter space than the pictured kitchen. Anyhow, she got a nice jewelry chest with drawers long enough for her utensils and had it on the counter.

Spectra 3 years 13 weeks

My kitchen has plenty of drawers, but no counterspace, so I got a set of shelves that go against the wall. Then I put baskets on them to hold all my stuff. You could maybe try something similar. They also make drawers that you can bolt onto the undersides of your cabinets.

fuzzles 3 years 13 weeks

Utilize the space on top of your cupboards. Possibly fashioning "drawers" out of attractive wicker bins and baskets. Also, for your chef's knives, consider swapping out the bulky cutlery block for a magnetic strip near your prep area, thus giving you a bit more counter space to work with. limelindsey--super (and cute) idea!

pharm_chick 3 years 13 weeks

2 examples (mine wasnt exactly like this however) http://www.walmart.com/ip/3-Shelf-Bamboo-Top-Work-Island-White/10963573 http://www.walmart.com/ip/Modloft-Bleecker-Buffet-with-Two-Shelves/13247638

pharm_chick 3 years 13 weeks

i never had just one drawer but i had very few drawers in one of my kitchens, so i got a cute shelving unit from walmart.. it kind of looks like a curio, so you can store stuff on the top shelves, and the bottom shelves are covered by a little door. adds sotrage no doubt. on a side note, my new kitchen has a pantry and i LOVE it. never had one before but the storage there (and all the millions of closets all over the place) makes the place so lovable lol

limelindsey 3 years 13 weeks

I don't have this problem in my current kitchen, but the last place I lived only had a few drawers. I went to a paint-your-own-pottery place (though you don't have to do this - I just like painting my own stuff!) and got a utensil holder. It's fairly large - about the height of a coffee can but not quite as big around. I put all my highly used tools in the holder and then placed it by the stove. It's perfect because it matches my kitchen and it's really handy! No trying to open a drawer with a gunky hand because I forgot to get a spatula out. If it were me, I'd use the one drawer for my silverware and knives, for safety's sake. Just as an aside: who the hell designs a kitchen with only one drawer??? I'd be interested to see if your neighbors have a similar problem.

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21 Comments

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