Ask Lemmy

If you don’t have this drawer you simply don’t have drawers.

We have 2 drawers like that. What's the problem with it if you don't have a better place to put that shit?

I wish I could open mine.

I'm too anal about cleanliness and organization, my house typically doesn't have a drawer like this. My favorite mantra in the home, which my chronically disorganized wife is tired of hearing me repeat, is "a place for everything and everything in its place."

However. I inherited my childhood home when my dad passed away this year (my wife and I had already been living here for a few years, in a separate apartment in the house) and my dad had a junk drawer like this. As a matter of fact, my dad was extremely messy and almost every drawer in his house looks like this. It's probably the reason I'm so anal about organization in my life; having to grow up in a constantly messy home.

Growing up in this house, though, my family always had 2 drawers side-by-side in the kitchen which were always filled with random junk. They're still here. I haven't gotten to them yet. So yes, my current house has a couple junk drawers. But if I have my way, they will be organized and cleared out. If there's going to be any messy containers filled with miscellaneous junk in the house, it'll be boxes stored in the garage or basement - not a random drawer.

that drawer is a small scale representation of my home.

Yeah, everyone has such a drawer. But what is that green thing at the top? Something for baking?

Every household, family or sole occupant, has this drawer. Sometimes there are more than one of these.

Technically, mine isn't a drawer, it's a shoebox tucked under the coffee table, but yes.

This isn't a true junk drawer in my mind because it looks to be all cooking implements. I have a junk drawer, but it contains like rubber bands, rando pencils, gum, etc.

Every family without a gigantic kitchen has that drawer.

I have the contents of that drawer in about 4 drawers and 2 cabinets. I have so many cabinets, I don't even have things in some of them and I have instant pots, a tortilla maker and sourdough proofing tools

However, I do have an oversized drawer that has a l lot of stuff in there like the funnels and tenderizer, but it has no sharps in it, and no scale.

We have this drawer, maybe 2. My parents recently thinned and organized theirs. You can get cut-to-fit drawer Inserts if it bothers you.

We don't have one.

If something isn't important enough to have a specific place, it isn't important enough to own.

We have several of those drawers.

Think about it like Socrates, man. Of course there’s gonna be a category for things that don’t fit in any other categories.

Yes/no. We dont have a designated junk drawer, but theres one specific drawer we happen to throw random things into. I clean it out maybe twice a year during one of my adhd fueled hyper cleaning sessions.

I have one and my parents have one

You've lost this one, and if this was a hill you were prepared to die on I would get ready to lose a lot more.

In Yorkshire they call this a rammel drawer

Every home has that drawer. What is the problem that needs a solution?

Every family I know has this drawer, sorry mate

I think there are some sharp as well as blunt instruments that can be used to help resolving that disagreement.

Consider a spring loaded drawer divider. Keeping everything from sloshing around can make a surprising amount of space.

My drawer in the image used to be a nightmare. Everything used to move around and it would jam when opening sometimes. Adding dividers got it organized enough to leave a third of it free, which is now the rightmost section that's filled with tea.

It's been over a year and I still feel a small sense of joy when I open it sometimes. There's still messes of junk in the back left and right, but they stay put.

Sorry man but I have to side with your wife here. We have even one such junk drawer per room.

• In the kitchen with scissors, jar opener, potato peeler, nut cracker, sticks, tooth picks...
• In the living room with matches, candles, coasters, birthday decoration, fertilizer for house plants, ...
• In the bedroom we even have one per person with protective gear for sports, single socks that have their partner missing, scarves, baseball cap, luggage straps, ...

Could go on with bathroom, laundry room etc. Junk drawers for the win!

This is very common. If you really must "solve" it, the solution world be a shadow box layout. You empty it, lay stuff down where you want it, then take a picture or trace the shapes onto paper. Then model and 3d print an insert to give everything a dedicated cutout or cut it from foam or mill it from wood. This is what folks do in workshops. I've never seen it for a kitchen large utensil drawer, but that's what to do if you must.

Every kitchen has this, but I'd work on your layout. You could put about 50% more gadgets in there.

Also, store the scale vertically somewhere for maximum efficiency

I can understand just about everything in this drawer because I have a drawer that looks like that ...

What I don't understand is that lettuce knuckle duster thing .... were you planning on going to war with the vegetables?

I have several. It takes a few months before the order becomes chaos. I do know where to find my stuff though.

How did you get in my house!?

(yes, we have this exact drawer, though I moved the scale to another drawer)

We have essentially the same drawer but with no scale and more ladies, measuring spoons, etc.

I'd probably put that scale somewhere else since it's a precision device, and it can't be too healthy for it to live like that.

I have this drawer, and also the junk drawer. This is the correct solution to 'uncommonly used tools of an awkward shape'

I'm sorry you had to find out this way.

I’d say that every house has a junk drawer, but I wouldn’t call this a junk drawer. It mostly looks like random kitchen tools. I guess you’re both right, in a way.

Maybe what you need is a wall-mounted rack to hold some of your other stuff without taking up valuable counter space. For example, I’ve heard people swear by magnetic knife holders. You can probably find magnetic tool holders at a hardware store for less than you’d find knife holders at a store that specializes in kitchen stuff.

Or maybe just get some hooks. Perhaps some little shelves. Whatever. The point is, make the stuff you use most often more accessible, and use the freed-up space in other drawers to clean out this drawer. Then turn it into a proper junk drawer, with shit like loose rubber bands, half~dried superglue, an awkwardly shaped pen from a real estate salesperson, and a tape measure that’s branded with the logo of an NFL team for some reason.

Yes everyone has this drawer

This drawer is government issued when a house is built. Every family had this drawer. It is load bearing. Removing the contents of this drawer will cause irreparable damage to the house.

We had one when I grew up. Now that I'm living elsewhere with my own family we don't; we have two.