These 5 IKEA Organizers Made Me Love My Kitchen Renovation Even More

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In 2020, during the early months of the pandemic, we upgraded our entire kitchen using a kit from IKEA; I documented the whole experience over at Kitchn last year. During the process we fell in love with many of their kitchen organization tools large and small. Here are a few of our favorites!

Counter space is always at a premium, and we didn’t want to eat up any of it with a knife block. IKEA offers different versions of its Uppdatera knife rack that slips into a standard drawer. We tucked in it with our silverware drawer to safely store sharp knives. Different versions come with small plastic pegs or troughs that cradle both the blade and the handle. They’re flexible enough to hold everything from small paring knives to larger chef’s knives.

It’s always a challenge to make the most of those corner cabinets. Too often the design either gives up the use of those deep corners or requires you to reach far into them. IKEA offers the Utrusta corner cabinets with dual shelves that both rotate and swing out so you can reach every inch of them. The shelves have been perfect for holding pots, pans, and lids, plus small appliances: our toaster, blender, rice cooker, food processor, and waffle maker all fit in one corner.

We don’t have the luxury of a walk-in pantry in our kitchen, but we were able to incorporate one of IKEA’s Sektion high cabinets; it’s customizable between shelves and drawers. We chose three drawers on the bottom and a series of shelves with adjustable heights up top. The compact shelves maximize our space and keep pantry items tightly stored. You can fit a lot in it, and the deep drawers slide out so you can see everything at a glance. It’s helped us keep tabs on what we have already, so we don’t over-buy in our weekly grocery runs.

As we prioritized a clean look to the kitchen, we were pleased with the option to hide the garbage and recycling bins in plain sight. The Sektion system includes a base cabinet for refuse bins. It handily fits two tall bins (with stickers to designate trash versus recycling) and slides out for easy emptying. The cabinet front blends in with the rest of the kitchen, too!

We love IKEA’s Sektion cabinet design, because in addition to the primary drawers, each cabinet has room for a “hidden” Maximera drawer just underneath the counter. These have proven ideal for drawers holding silverware; a custom spice rack my wife built; kitchen utensils; aluminum foil, parchment paper, and plastic wrap; and other kitchen sundries, including the fabled Midwestern “junk drawer.”

IKEA also offers a large variety of drawer inserts for organizing your kitchen: silverware trays, the knife rack I mentioned, or even a selection of square and rectangular trays, all with rubber pads on the bottom so they don’t slide around the drawers.