The $10 Item This Tidying Pro Puts in Every Kitchen Drawer (And It Isn’t an Organizer!)
Picture it: It’s the wee hours of the morning and, unable to sleep, you’re in the mood for a late-night snack. Your whole house is asleep, so silence is imperative. With the tub of homemade ice cream under your arm, you pull out the silverware drawer for a spoon. Suddenly, a crashing cacophony pierces through the silence — waking up your youngest child. You think to yourself: If only there were a way to stop this from happening. Well, now there is.
If you’ve been in a similar situation, you’re in luck. There are several ways to organize your kitchen, but renter Caroline Solomon (who happens to be a pro organizer) put the ultimate hack to use in her NYC apartment’s kitchen. If your drawer organizer isn’t flush to the edge of the drawer (it almost never is), you need to try this at home.
Solomon was organizing a client’s kitchen and needed to find a way to stop the drawer organizer from sliding all over whenever the drawer was pulled open. “Those bamboo organizers look nice, but they always slosh around the second you open the drawer,” Solomon said. “I Googled ‘drawer liners to keep organizers in place’ and, quite simply, cork liners were an option that came up on Google Images. Voilà!”
There were other drawer liners available, but Solomon appreciated how “sleek and organic” the cork ones looked. There were extra bonuses for the material, too. “Cork is mildew- and mold-resistant, so if I happen to place a pot or pan that’s still slightly damp, that’s no problem for the cork liner,” Solomon said.
Con-Tact Brand Cork Roll
So, being so impressed with the turnout of her client’s drawers, Solomon decided to bring the hack into her own kitchen. Here’s how she did it.
How to Install Cork Drawer Liners
Solomon purchased a roll of cork liner from WidgetCo that she notes is “truly a massive roll.” She recommends saving any excess in a storage closet for future use, but you can also opt for a smaller roll, like this one on Amazon. Once she had the liner, here’s how she installed it.
Measure the inner drawer dimensions using a soft measuring tape.
Use a rotary cutter (she used this option from Fiskars) to cut the liner based on the measurements. (You could also use an X-Acto Knife.)
Adhere the liner to the bottom of the drawer and add in your organizers. Enjoy the stability!
“Not going to lie — custom making your own drawer liners can be time-consuming. It can take up to 30 minutes to measure your drawer dimensions, then cut the cork to fit using the rotary cutter,” Solomon admits. “But in the end, it’s well worth it as these liners last a long time.”
Solomon appreciates how the liners make her kitchen drawers look more “elegant and neat.” And this smart hack isn’t the only chic aspect of her apartment — explore more of her gorgeous home in the full house tour on Apartment Therapy.
Buy: Con-Tact Brand Cork Roll, $10.35 (normally $13.59)
This post originally appeared on The Kitchn. See it there: The $10 Item This Tidying Pro Puts in Every Drawer in Her Kitchen (That Isn’t an Organizer)
