Fill ‘er Up

Overhead cabinets are perfect for filling with personal items — and just about everyone has a “junk drawer.” I’m guilty of saving too many small items that may come in handy down the road and usually throw them into the drawer without organizing. When it comes time to retrieve something, a bunch of other items must be pulled out of the way to find what I’m looking for.

Usually, this makes a mess. The solution is to place a storage drawer in the cabinet, which can be pulled out to rummage through the “junk” on a table or a place with better visibility. When the drawer is returned into the frame, you lose the disheveled look — and I may even be accused of being organized.

One of my favorite places for buying storage drawers and boxes is the Container Store. Physical locations are scattered throughout the country, but the website (containerstore.com) is a perfect place to shop. I also located a single Sterilite drawer online that measures 17 inches long, 14 3/8 inches wide and 10 ¼ inches high, which would fill my cabinet even better (although it would take some bending for the drawer frame to barely clear the opening). This is the closest drawer I found by searching the Internet, but the prices are all over the place. Walmart sells it online for $48.90, which is considerably higher than other online hardware sellers where it can be found for less than $20; some retailers only sell multiples for stacking.

The plastic storage drawer is held solidly by the exterior cabinet frame and slides easily for accessing my stuff; there is no need to fasten it to the cabinet floor. Just refrain from overloading the drawer, which could hang up its ability to pull out freely.

There are many places where storage drawers can be used to organize possessions — including exterior compartments and wardrobes — and since the plastic is almost clear, it’s possible to identify what’s in the drawer at glance. What a concept!