5 Kitchen Gadgets Worth the Drawer Space in a Small Kitchen

Small-kitchen drawers fill up fast, and most of what's in them gets used once a year. If you're trying to keep a tight kitchen functional without it turning into a gadget graveyard, here are five tools that genuinely pull their weight.

1. A multi-function slicer, not three single-use ones

Instead of a separate avocado tool, egg slicer, and cheese slicer, something like our Avocado Slicer Trio handles splitting, pitting, and slicing in one piece — one slot in the drawer instead of three.

2. A colander that folds flat

Standard colanders are notorious drawer/cabinet hogs because of their shape. A foldable silicone colander collapses to a fraction of the size when it's not in use, which matters a lot more than people expect until they actually measure their cabinet space.

3. Magnetic measuring spoons

Regular measuring spoons are a top offender for "junk drawer chaos" — they never stay clipped together. Magnetic spoons snap into a stack and stay there, which sounds minor until you're not digging through a drawer for the ½ tsp anymore.

4. Stretch lids instead of a plastic wrap drawer

Silicone stretch lids replace an entire box of plastic wrap and a stack of mismatched plastic lids with one set that nests together. Reusable, and they take up less room than the box of wrap did.

5. A scale that also tares

A digital kitchen scale replaces a whole set of dry measuring cups for a lot of baking and portioning tasks — one flat item that slides under a shelf, instead of a nested cup set that never quite nests right.

The pattern

Notice what these have in common: each one replaces two or three single-use items, or collapses down when it's not in use. That's the real test for whether a gadget deserves drawer space in a small kitchen — not "is it useful," but "is it useful enough to justify the room it takes when it's idle."