How A Pool Noodle Can Help Organize Your Kitchen Drawers

Ahh the pool noodle. Weapon, megaphone, and play-safe flotation device extraordinaire for children. But as it turns out, pool noodles are not only for children, and not only for use in swimming pools: They're also the kind of noodles you'd want to have in your kitchen. 

It might seem unexpected, but with a little creativity, there are a whole host of useful things you can do with a pool noodle in the kitchen. One simple example that demonstrates how versatile they can be is when it comes to organizing your kitchen drawers. Many people will have a cutlery organizer in their cutlery drawer, and many people who don't have an organizer that fits *perfectly* into the drawer will appreciate the small, but painfully regular, annoyance of having the organizer rattle around every time you open the drawer, promptly disorganizing everything else in there. Enter, the humble pool noodle. 

Simply measure the length of the space left in the back of the drawer behind your cutlery organizer, then cut off the same length of the noodle. Seeing as you're already in the kitchen, use a kitchen knife to slice through the noodle (but give it a quick clean after). Then, wedge this between the utensil organizer and the back of the drawer. Next time you open the drawer? Blissful silence.

Let's be honest — a loose utensil organizer isn't the only challenge most people have with organizing their kitchen drawers. Thankfully, the ever-pliable pool noodle can also step in as a drawer divider, helping you to swiftly identify the item you need in what would otherwise be a drawer of free-roaming bits and bobs. 

If space is an issue in your kitchen drawers, there's an ingenious and inexpensive type of cutlery organizer that you'll want to get your hands on. Instead of laying out your cutlery side by side in different compartments, some organizers are designed with a slight upward angle, allowing your knives, forks, and spoons to slightly overlap in the drawer while remaining easy to access. As a result, you use substantially less space in your kitchen drawer to store all your cutlery. 

Another frequent source of kitchen-related stress comes from organizing your spices. One good solution is to create thin dividers out of foam board (unfortunately a pool noodle is probably a little too bulky to be a good candidate for this task) and divide your spices into horizontal rows, with their names face-up. Now they'll easily stay organized and you'll have so much spice space that you'll feel inspired to get some new exotic spices and learn how to use them. 

But wait, we're not done with pool noodles just yet! Make a safe place to store your knives by cutting a portion of pool noodle that will fit into a drawer, then slicing it partway through, creating slots. Each thin slot is ideal for storing a knife blade-side down, or any other kitchen utensil for that matter. With knives, you have the added benefit that the pool noodle will protect your knives from blunting while in your drawer. It may not be the most aesthetic option, but you can use a similar method and an adhesive strip to fix a length of pool noodle to your kitchen wall and store utensils hanging from the slits in it for quick access when you're cooking.

In a similar vein, at some point, almost everyone has faced the dilemma of how to transport multiple wine bottles safely without risking them clinking into each other and breaking. Simply cut sections of pool noodles the same height as a bottle, then slice these lengthways on one side so they can open up and wrap around your wine bottles. No more smashed bottle anxiety! Plus, because pool noodles are good insulators, you can also use this method to keep chilled wine bottles cool for longer. Double win!

With creativity, the sky's the limit for using a pool noodle in your kitchen. It doesn't have to stop here: Keep the Marie Condo vibes going with some amazing tips for an organized pantry.