There’s a moment when a kitchen stops being a place you love and starts feeling like a junk drawer with an oven. The culprits hide in plain sight: tangled utensils, rogue Tupperware lids, foil and film stuck in a tangle, baking trays wedged at odd angles. The fix is oddly simple. It starts in the drawer you dread opening.
The kettle clicked as a grey London morning smudged light across the worktop. I watched a friend rummage for a peeler, then a whisk, then the elusive scissors that were “always in here, somewhere”. The drawer groaned like it was personally offended by the request.
We’ve all had that moment when the pasta is boiling and your hand disappears into a metal-and-plastic abyss. He swore he’d organise it “this weekend”. He said it last weekend too. The little hack he used next took five minutes, two IKEA pieces, and changed the way his kitchen felt. The fix costs less than a pizza.
Why drawers explode — and the one shift that calms them
A drawer is a tempting little void. Shut the mess, carry on. Repeat. That muscle memory builds silent chaos, then one day a spatula jams the runner and your tidy plans stall.
In my friend’s flat, it was the baking tray drawer that triggered the eye twitch. He’d pile trays on trays, lids on lids, sheets sliding like metal fish. Every meal began with a clatter. His partner would mutter something about “starting fresh” on Sunday. The mess always won.
The thing is, most of us store sideways what wants to live upright. Pans, lids, chopping boards, cling film, even snack packets behave better filed like books than stacked like pancakes. Once you flip the orientation, you get lanes, not piles. The drawer stops swallowing time and starts handing it back.
The IKEA hack: file your kitchen, don’t stack it
Here’s the move. Take IKEA’s VARIERA pot lid organiser — the white accordion one — and stretch it to the width of your drawer. Drop it in so the loops create vertical slots. Now stand things up: chopping boards, trays, pan lids, even baking paper and foil in their boxes. Lay an UPPDATERA drawer mat underneath so nothing skids. Suddenly, you’ve got tidy lanes.
For utensils, add UPPDATERA boxes to make zones. Long tools in one, wooden spoons in another, micro-plane and tongs in a third. Label the front edge with a simple tag or a bit of masking tape. One drawer, one purpose. That rule alone reduces noise. Soy sauce packets and birthday candles find homes elsewhere.
Don’t overpack the lanes. Give lids some breathing room. Let the big roasting tin sit in its own slot so you can grab it mid-roast without a clang. Soyons honnêtes : personne ne fait vraiment ça tous les jours. So set it up so it forgives you. Open, grab, shut. That’s all the system asks.
Most people make two early mistakes. They measure the organiser, not the drawer, then wonder why the fit is sloppy. Measure the inside width, front to back, and the height from base to top edge. Then stretch the VARIERA to sit snug between the sides. The second mistake: mixing categories that don’t play nicely. Trays and lids, yes. Trays and potato mashers, no.
Think seasons too. Holiday biscuit cutters don’t need prime real estate. Move anything used monthly into a higher shelf or a lidded 365+ container on top of the fridge. Your drawer is for daily or weekly things. It felt like magic.
The VARIERA pot lid organiser is the secret weapon. You can even run two side by side in a wide drawer for double lanes. For a deep drawer, pop a second organiser towards the back so tall cutting boards don’t tip. If you’re filing plastic lids, place the smallest at the front so they don’t vanish.
When you file foil, cling film, and baking paper, put them spine-up with the cutter lips facing you. That way you pull and tear without lifting anything. If a box is too floppy, slip it inside a UPPDATERA box to stiffen it. Quick wins feel silly until you stop losing two minutes a day to nonsense.
Measure, then divide, then label. Keep the language simple: “Lids”, “Boards”, “Trays”. Words you use in real life stick better than fancy tags. If you cook with kids, make a low drawer for their plates and bowls. Fewer negotiations, more breakfasts eaten.
“When you file, your drawer becomes a map,” a professional organiser told me. “Your hand starts to know where to land. It’s calmer than it sounds.”
- Stretch VARIERA to fit snugly. Wobble is the enemy.
- Give each lane a single category. No freeloaders.
- Use a drawer mat to mute the scrape and slide.
- Label the front edge. Future-you forgets.
- Review at the change of seasons. Five minutes, not a weekend.
What changes when your drawers behave
It’s a small domestic shift that grows bigger ripples. You open the drawer and it opens a little space in your head. Less clatter. Fewer sighs. A routine that runs without needing you to be your best self at 7 a.m.
You might cook more because the kit is ready to play. You might even waste less because the baking paper isn’t hiding under a wok lid. A neat lane of trays makes Tuesday fish fingers as simple as Saturday focaccia. The drawer becomes a quiet partner.
Friends notice in a sideways way. They reach for a board, it comes out without drama, and they smile. Order spreads — first to the foil, then to the Tupperware, then to the cupboard with the good olive oil. The tidy looks good, sure. What it really gives is momentum. Where else could a little lane make life lighter?
| Point clé | Détail | Intérêt pour le lecteur |
|---|---|---|
| File, don’t stack | Use VARIERA to create upright lanes for trays, lids, boards | Faster access, less noise, fewer jams |
| Zones, not piles | UPPDATERA boxes to group tools by task | Quicker cooking and easier clean-up |
| Light labels | Short words on the drawer front edge | Everyone can keep it tidy without thinking |
FAQ :
- Will the VARIERA organiser fit my drawer?It’s adjustable. Measure the inside width and stretch it to sit snugly. For very wide drawers, use two.
- Can I use this for plastic containers and their lids?Yes. File lids by size in lanes, and stack matching bases nearby or in a separate UPPDATERA box.
- What if my drawer is shallow?File flat items like chopping boards, baking sheets, and foil. Move tall items to a deeper drawer or a cupboard.
- Do I need labels?Not strictly, but a small label helps other people keep the map. Think “Lids”, “Boards”, “Trays”.
- How do I keep it tidy long term?Use the “one drawer, one purpose” rule and a two-minute reset while the kettle boils once a week.
