Deep drawers are great for bulky things like mixing bowls, bread pans, and a handful of spatulas, but they're also where things tend to go missing. Once a deep drawer is full, you can't see most of what's in it. Organizing one isn't really about buying inserts. It's about deciding what goes where before anything goes back in, and what you're willing to lift to get to the rest.

This guide covers how to sort a deep drawer, which layouts work, what to check before an appliance goes in, and how to keep it from filling up again. For every other drawer in the kitchen, start with How to Organize Kitchen Drawers. Now, onto sorting.

Tip: Never rest a tray on top of an appliance or a stack of bowls. If you want a second layer, it needs its own support.

What's the ideal way to organize a deep drawer that holds both small utensils and bulky appliances?

Sort by type before you measure anything or buy a tray. Small utensils and bulky items need different things: small tools need to be easy to see and grab, and bulky items need a stable spot with enough room above them to come out without catching. Mix them together and the small tools slide under the big ones and stay there.

Empty the drawer completely and make two piles on the counter: hand tools you use while cooking, and bulky items you use now and then. Be honest about the second pile. A bulky item you use twice a year doesn't need a good spot, but one you use every morning shouldn't be at the bottom of anything.

Use the drawer's height on purpose

Once you've sorted, you can plan how to use the height. What usually works is bulky items low and flat, with small tools above them in a tray you can lift out in one piece. A flat-bottomed tray holding one kind of tool, like measuring spoons, peelers, or small whisks, can be lifted out with both hands and set on the counter. That gives you the whole bottom layer at once instead of making you dig around the edges.

The part people skip is what holds that upper tray up. A second layer needs its own support, like a rail, ledge, riser, or shelf that rests on the drawer box itself. A loaded tray set on top of a hand mixer or a stack of bowls isn't a second layer. The things underneath aren't made to carry weight, and the tray tips as soon as anything below it moves. If you can't support the upper layer on its own, treat the drawer as a single layer.

In a deep drawer, it's worth choosing containers with a rigid, flat bottom that hold their shape when you lift them, so nothing tips as it comes out. It's also worth giving each section a job so you can lift it out whole instead of rearranging things in place.

What to confirm before an appliance goes in

Advice about extra deep kitchen drawer organization often assumes small appliances belong in a drawer. They don't always fit, and the reasons are physical. Before you give a deep drawer to an appliance, check four things:

1. The appliance's actual size. Measure it yourself at its widest and tallest points, including handles, feet, any attachment you leave on, and the cord the way you'll store it. Published specs often cover only the body.
2. Clearance with the drawer closed, and while it opens and closes. Measure the usable height inside the closed drawer, then check the opening the appliance has to pass under as the drawer slides. A countertop overhang, a drawer front lip, or the cabinet frame can leave less room than the inside height suggests.
3. How much weight the drawer and slides can hold. Check the cabinet maker's or slide manufacturer's documentation, not how the drawer feels when it's empty. A drawer that slides smoothly with utensils in it can sag, stick, or wear out early under a heavy appliance, an organizer, and everything else in it.
4. The appliance's care instructions. The manual tells you whether it can be stored on its side, with attachments on, or with the cord wrapped a certain way.

If you can't confirm all four, because you don't know the weight rating, the clearance is tight, or the manual is missing, keep the appliance on a shelf or in a cabinet for now. Use the drawer for things you know will fit. You can always revisit it once you have the numbers.

What are some good storage options for deep kitchen drawers?

There are three basic layouts for a deep drawer. Which one works depends on how tall your items are compared with the drawer.

• Dividing across splits the drawer floor into sections: several trays or organizers side by side, each holding one kind of item, all on one level. It works for things of similar height that you use all the time, like cooking spoons, spatulas, whisks, and tongs. Everything stays visible, and nothing sits on top of anything else. The trade-off is the empty space above, so you're choosing easy access over maximum storage. That's often the right call in a drawer only a few inches taller than the tools in it.
• Stacking or tiering adds a supported layer above the first. It works for things you use less often, or for a group you can lift out together, like a tray of baking tools that lifts away to show measuring cups underneath. You'll fit more, but it costs you twice: every layer you add is one more thing to move to see what's below, and every layer needs a support that can hold it. Add up the weight of both layers and check it against the drawer and slide documentation before you load it.
• Expandable organizers solve a different problem. They adjust in width, so one organizer fits a range of drawer widths, which helps when no two drawers in your kitchen are the same. But adjusting the width doesn't use any of the drawer's height. An expandable organizer in a deep drawer still leaves the space above it empty, and it isn't a second layer.

Check the drawer before you choose anything

Whatever layout you pick, measure the inside of the drawer box, not the cabinet's listed size:

• Width at the narrowest point
• Depth from front to back
• Usable height with the drawer closed
• Your tallest item, standing the way it'll actually sit

If there's only a couple of inches of space above the bottom layer, the drawer can only hold one layer.

For more detail:

• How to Measure for Drawer Organizers walks through each measurement.
• How to Find Drawer Organizers That Fit covers matching them to an organizer.
• How to Store Kitchen Utensils in a Deep Drawer covers long-handled tools.
• How to Organize Pots and Pans in Deep Drawers covers weight, lids, and stacking order.

Are there any tips for organizing deep kitchen drawers that tend to get cluttered with larger items?

Decide what needs to be easiest to reach before you decide the layout. In a drawer that keeps filling up with large things, keep what you use every week on top or at the front, and save the bottom layer for large things you use occasionally. Problems start when something you use every day ends up at the bottom. Every time you get it out, you disturb the layer above it, and within a few weeks that layer is a mess.

Three habits keep a deep drawer under control:

1. Group by use, not by type. Keep the tools you use at the stove together and up front, whatever they're made of. Sorting by material or category looks tidy on day one and falls apart within a month.
2. Only stack in layers you actually lift out together. One tray, held up by a support that can carry it, that you can lift with both hands is a layer. A loose pile you have to move one item at a time isn't. It's just where things get lost.
3. Empty the drawer every few months. Deep drawers fill up slowly, and you won't notice what's piled up at the bottom until you take everything out.

Keeping bulky items in their own section, away from the small tools, makes sense, but only if the drawer can hold the total weight. Add it up: the appliance (the weight is usually in the manual or on the base), the organizer or tray, any support for an upper layer, and everything else in the drawer. Compare that with the weight rating in the cabinet or slide documentation, and check the clearance while the drawer moves as well as when it's closed. Too much weight doesn't break a drawer all at once. The slides get stiff and the drawer starts to sag over time.

If your deep drawer has more height than you can use well, you can raise its bottom instead of stacking. How to Make a Deep Drawer Shallow covers false bottoms, risers, and inserts you can remove later.