Fabulous Flatware Organizers
Sort those forks, spoons and even knives (if you don't have a
separate knife holder) into a flatware organizer. This is your daily flatware. The best flatware organizers fit inside
your kitchen drawers and expand to fit the size of your drawer. Not all
flatware drawer liners are expandable. So look for a flatware caddy that is
expandable. And while you can buy plastic flatware organizers (which do wipe clean easily) in any major discount
retailer or kitchen store, you also can buy wood flatware organizers.
For instance, Organize.com sells the
Expandable Bamboo Flatware Caddy. It is a step up in appearance from
your plastic flatware caddy. But like anything that's a step up in appearance
and quality, it needs a little care. This one needs occasional rubbing with
mineral oil to maintain its appearance.
As you can see in
the picture above, most flatware caddies have several compartments made to hold
your daily eating utensils, a few cooking utensils and some smaller odds and
ends gadgets like corn holders. This is a fairly standard layout for utensil
caddies, whether they're wood or plastic. The main thing to look for is size.
Measure your kitchen drawer and buy the biggest flatware caddy, or expandable
caddy, to fit it. You'll easily fill up all of the caddy compartments and still
be looking for more room. In fact, you may want to put a flatware caddy in more
than one drawer if that's an option for you.
Utensil crocks and
knife blocks or knife holders can carry the overflow that doesn't fit into your
flatware caddy (because a flatware caddy usually won't hold every utensil you
own whether due to utensil size or flatware caddy available space).
If you find that
your flatware caddy slides around in the drawer, put a piece of grip liner
underneath it. You'll find it in about a dozen colors or patterns at your local
discount retailer. Look for
Grip Liner Shelf Liner in walk-in retailers in the section
where you find contact paper or shelf liner. Dollar stores also sell a limited
amount of it (less color/style choices at dollar stores because they're selling
overstock, remainders, etc.).
By the way, if you have trouble opening bottles and caps or
it hurts your hands to do so, just use a little piece of grip liner to grasp and
turn the lid; it works better than any jar opener gadget! Grip liner is great
stuff for lots of usage besides shelf/drawer liners.
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