How to Organize Every Drawer in Your House

Organize every drawer in your house with these simple tips and tricks and beautiful inspiration photos!

I’ve organized a lot of drawers over the years. Dresser drawers, kitchen drawers, bathroom drawers… I’ve organized them and re-organized them and updated them, trying to find the way that makes the most sense for the purpose we needed them to fulfill.

I thought it would be fun, then, to get all of our organized drawers together for a little “drawer tour,” first, because drawers are surprisingly pretty, but also to share some inspiration or ideas with people who may be looking to get their own drawers more organized!

Organized pantry with decanted baking items, pasta, and spices

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How to Organize All of the Drawers in Your House

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How to Organize Dresser Drawers

Let’s start with my favorite drawers– the dresser drawers! We started using the filing method of folding (aka the KonMari Method) several years ago, and it was a total game changer. I love it because it allows me to see everything in the drawer at the same time, without having to sort through piles of clothes to find what I need.

Shirts file folded using the KonMari Method by Marie Kondo

Sometimes if the clothes need a little help standing up, I will add bins to help divide the space and add some extra support. These SKUBB boxes from IKEA are perfect drawer inserts!

Pants and Pajamas Folded Using the KonMari Method, Organized Drawer

There are also narrower bins in the SKUBB set that are perfect for socks and smaller items…

Another thing I love about the filing method of folding is that it can be tweaked and adjusted for all sizes and shapes of clothing. Donnie’s clothes are bigger, so I just add an extra fold so that the shirts still form a small rectangle. (You can see a video of how I fold our clothes here.)

Men's T-Shirts Organized in IKEA SKUBB Boxes Using the KonMari Method of Folding

Organized Men's Shorts Drawer, KonMari Method

Our boys share a room and there is only space for one dresser, so using the filing method is the only way I could fit both of their clothes in such a small amount of drawer space!

Child's Shirt Drawer Organized with the KonMari Method

Being able to see all of their clothes helps them be more independent; they can grab their own items whenever they need them.

Organized Boy's Shorts Drawer, KonMari Method

How to Organize Kitchen Drawers

We use the kitchen so much that having organized drawers is a must! The cooking process is so much easier when we can quickly find everything we need.

I love the combination of a pretty drawer liner + acrylic organizers– so practical and beautiful at the same time!

Organized Silverware Drawer, Organized Kitchen

This drawer liner is my favorite– I use it all over our house! They don’t sell my exact drawer organizers anymore, but these ones are very similar and you could use a colorful drawer liner with them!

Organized Utensil Drawer, Organized Kitchen

Several years ago, I switched from a knife block on the counter to an in-drawer knife organizer, and I don’t think I’ll ever go back. I like having the freed up space on the counter, and the knives stay neatly tucked away.

Organized Cutlery, Organized Knife Drawer, Organized Kitchen

I use the filing method of folding for our dish towels and washcloths too! This shot is from our townhouse where we had an IKEA kitchen, so the divider in this drawer is one of their kitchen accessories.

Organized Towels and Potholders in a Kitchen Drawer, Organized Textiles

Related: Our Current Organized Kitchen

Our Townhouse Organized Kitchen

How to Organize Bathroom Drawers

Bathroom drawers can be an organizing challenge because the drawers are typically deep and narrow, causing everything to fall over and get messy easily. I’ve found a few different drawer dividers that are the perfect size for bathroom drawers and help to remedy the falling over problem!

Two of these three-part organizers side-by-side are the perfect combination for corralling smaller items like hair accessories.

Organized Bathroom Drawer Holding Hair Ties and Hair Gel, Mousse, Spray, and Deodorant

I also use a ton of these 6″ x 6″ acrylic bins in the drawers in both of our bathrooms. They are the perfect way to divide up the drawer and keep it tidy.

Narrow Organized Drawer in the Bathroom Holding Various Bottles and Tubes for Beauty Products

The 6″ x 6″ bins are great for holding everything from nail supplies to lotions and creams to washcloths and rags.

Lotions Organized in a Primary Bathroom Drawer

Organized Rags and Washcloths in a Bathroom Drawer

I am not using them in our bathroom drawers currently, but IKEA’s GODMORGON boxes also worked well for us in the past.

Related: Our Organized Primary Bathroom

Our Organized Guest Bathroom

Our Organized Townhouse Bathrooms

How to Organize a Junk Drawer

The junk drawer can easily become a huge mess, but the easiest way to keep that from happening is to create some division within the drawer so that everything has a spot!

Organized Junk Drawer with Writing Utensils and Batteries

My exact drawer dividers are no longer available, but I love this set that you can easily configure in any number of different ways!

Organized Junk Drawer with Office Supplies

Our “junk drawers” are in our kitchen and contain office supplies, batteries, and tools that we use often so we can grab them quickly and easily.

Organized Junk Drawers with Office Supplies

Related: How to Organize a Junk Drawer

How to Organize Office Drawers and Craft Room Drawers

Office and craft room drawers are always filled with fun stuff! Again, when I’m working with smaller items like office supplies, I like to divide up the drawers with an organizer to keep everything neatly in its spot.

Aqua Organized Office Supplies in a Desk Drawer

I used an organizer similar to this one to separate office supplies in my desk drawer.

Quick tip: When I’m using acrylic organizers, I like to label the bottom of the organizer so that whenever we take something out, it’s easy for everyone in the house to know where to put it back!

I used my Cricut machine + adhesive vinyl for the labels shown below. I have a tutorial for how I make these labels in this post.

Organized Writing Utensils in a Labeled Office Drawer

Organized Scissors and Staplers in an Office Drawer

The organizers in my “sharps” drawer are from the IKEA GODMORGON set. Still using my favorite drawer liner too!

The IKEA SKUBB boxes work perfectly to organize my drawer of party supplies too. You can see all three sizes that come in the set in this drawer. They’re so versatile and can hold allll the things!

Organized Party Supplies in a Craft Room Drawer

I used two more acrylic drawer organizers to keep my mod podge and painting supplies tidy. This is the larger organizer and this is the more narrow organizer.

Organized Paint and Paint Brushes in a Craft Room Drawer

Related: My Home Office Tour

Organized PAX Storage System Tour

My Organized Office/Craft Room in the Townhouse

My Organized Office/Craft Room Closet in the Townhouse

How to Organize Dining Room Drawers

Finally, the dining room! This room tends to be textile-heavy, so a simple repurposed dresser-turned-sideboard with several drawers was the perfect solution!

Again, we used the file folding method to organize our tablecloths, runners, and placemats.

Organized Table Runners in a Dining Room Sideboard Buffet

Napkins are ordered by color and are easy to grab whenever we go set the table.

Organized Napkins in a Dining Room Sideboard Buffet

Related: Our Organized Dining Room

Dining Room Refresh

My Favorite Drawer Organizers and Accessories

Whew! So that completes our “drawer tour”! If you’re looking for any of the organizers I used, simply click on any of the images below for more details!

Drawer Organization: Frequently Asked Questions

Here’s a quick and easy system for organizing drawers:

Take everything out of the drawer.
Put like items together (all pens together, all post its together, all paper clips together, etc.).
Declutter, throwing away items that are no longer usable, donating/selling items that you no longer lover or use often, and relocating items that should really be stored somewhere else.
Choose appropriate containers for the remaining items, keeping them organized by category. Label the containers if desired.
Maintain your newly organized drawer by putting things back where they go every time.

The best way to store clothes is the way that you’ll stick to consistently.

If you prefer the rolling or file folding (KonMari) method so you can see all of the items in the drawer easily, use that method.

If you prefer the traditional stacking method of folding because it’s quick and simple, use that method.

The key is staying consistent so that you always have clean, tidy clothes in your drawer when you need them.

When deciding what you want to keep in your drawer, put like items together. When organizing a dresser drawer, for example, put all t-shirts together, all long sleeved tees together, all tank tops together, etc.

If it’s helpful, use a bin or drawer divider to help corral the items and keep them tidy.

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How to Organize Every Drawer in Your House

More Storage Ideas

Happy Organizing!