Everyone needs a kitchen junk drawer. It's not a bad thing. You actually need a designated space for catch-all items like keys, stamps, scissors, sticky notes, garage door opener, tape measurer, and glue, or miscellaneous odds-and-ends like receipts, loose change, mini screwdriver, coupons, and matches.
There is a caveat, though. A kitchen junk drawer cannot be a dumping ground for everything you haven't given a proper home or are too lazy to put away. Your junk drawer is not the place for harboring clutter. So, to prevent your junk drawer from becoming a black hole, follow these five simple steps:
Keep your drawer space small. A smaller space will help ensure you're not accumulating too much clutter.
Use drawer dividers. Containing your items in designated compartments will prevent things from free-floating and piling up in the drawer. (my favorite drawer dividers from The Container Store)
Make all items visible and accessible. When opening the drawer, you want to view all your items at a glance. The goal is not to have to dig around to find something.
Limit what does in. Your junk drawer should house the essential and frequently used items — not those tossed in the drawer for convenience.
Maintain it. To keep your junk drawer in check, you'll need to spend time tidying up the contents each month. This includes purging, sorting, and relocating regularly.
Kitchen Junk Drawer Takeaway
The kitchen is the hub of the house. So it makes sense to keep random items like a mini screwdriver, house keys, or a glue stick in the place where you spend the most time. The items in your kitchen junk drawer should serve a purpose and be easy to reach within a beautiful space. It's never a resting place for the cluttering you're not purging or for housing the items you're not correctly putting away.
I hope this post has inspired you to embrace your kitchen junk drawer and give it a real purpose. You should be proud and happy to open that drawer every day.