.jeri.

One of the biggest problems I have had with my small kitchen is the width of my drawers. They are so narrow that I can't fit even the thinnest utensil tray in them. I'm not very into just throwing all of my knives and forks into a drawer without any type of organization, so one of the first things I set to work on when we moved in was to find a silverware solution.

The only product I was able to find to help me was the custom drawer organizer pack from the Container Store. The package comes with long strips of dividers, which can be shortened to the desired length.

The system is relatively easy, once you've measured your own drawer dimensions. You stick a couple of self-adhesive mounts inside the drawer, then slide your custom-sized divider between the mounts. To create the correctly sized divider, you score the divider and snap it off (no need for super-strength scissors).

If I were to go back and do this again, I would have changed a couple of things. I would have measured more accurately, and I would have erred on the side of making the divider slightly too long rather than too short. That way, the divider could just be trimmed a little bit in order to fit snugly between the mounts. The problem I have had by not doing this is that my dividers fit in the mounts, but not as tightly as they could. As a result, the heavy flatware in the drawer has knocked the dividers and mounts off the sides of the drawer. I had to re-organize the drawer and pour in some strong glue at the joints to secure the pieces. So, with the glue and the plastic, it looks a little bit messy.

I think one day I will tear everything out and re-do this, so I can feel at ease about the dividers and know that they won't break down. I'd also like to leave them behind for the next person who lives in our condo, because it's such a frustrating thing to not be able to organize a small kitchen.

By the way, if any of you out there have good suggestions for organizing a pantry, I'm all ears. I have a good amount of height between each of my shelves, but the depth of the shelves is quite narrow, and so I need to find a way to build up rather than out.