by Len Maxwell
Member since:
December 17, 2005

My Tool Drawer

August 18, 2009 03:01 PM EDT
views: 63 | comments: 39

I’m just being nosy, but do you have a tool drawer in your kitchen?

For as long as I can remember every house in which I’ve lived had a tool drawer in the kitchen. For some reason it was always the left-hand drawer farthest from the sink and food-preparation area.

I have a fully-stocked workshop with pretty much every handtool ever made, but I still keep a selection of tools in the kitchen because -- well, I’ve always done that. Besides, if something breaks in the house I don’t want to have to go searching through several toolboxes to find the tool I need. Here is my current tool drawer.

Briefly, you can see that I have a tack hammer, small claw hammer, scissors, box cutter, pliers (both regular and needle-nose), vice grips, channel-locks, wire cutters, screwdrivers (Phillips and straight), spare batteries, a case with various screws and brads, and my general purpose box.

That general purpose box, in the front, has matches, tie-wraps, and leftover packets of hot sauce and crushed red pepper from fast-food orders.

Oh, the nylon filament is just temporary. I’m still decorating and use that to hang things from the wall or ceiling. Once I’m done, that’ll go back to the workshop.

So, the question is, am I the only weird person, or do you also have a tool drawer in your kitchen?
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Comments: 39

Rebecca [Future Teacher] Aug 18, 2009, 3:11pm EDT
My dad has a tool drawer in our kitchen. I only have the necessary tools stored away somewhere
Len Maxwell Aug 18, 2009, 7:49pm EDT
So, if you need a tool where are you going to find it? Can you define somewhere?
Adelaide M. Aug 18, 2009, 3:18pm EDT
I have a tool drawer as well. Since I just moved and am still unpacking, mine only has screwdrivers, box cutter, scissors, hammer, and a box of assorted nails and screws.
Len Maxwell Aug 18, 2009, 7:48pm EDT
Well, yeah, but when you're moving, you have to have tools. That's why I have this thing. I'm still moving in and I need tool almost every day.
Charles Temm JR Aug 18, 2009, 4:50pm EDT
Actually we have two but a better name would be junk drawers considering all that lurks in them plus some tools!
Len Maxwell Aug 18, 2009, 5:02pm EDT
Thank you. We always called it the junk drawer also.
Lee Y. Aug 19, 2009, 8:48am EDT
Mmm... I think your tool drawer/ junk drawer could be used as a template for us all. Like an emergency medical kit for people, yours is a template for what every home should have in their home tool kit. It's a great selection of stuff. Covers just about anything that could happen (that you could fix yourself).

We do have two drawers with tools in them. But it's a happenstance thing; needed the tools in the house and they just got put into the drawers with right amount space in them, and not nearly as inclusive as yours.
Len Maxwell Aug 19, 2009, 9:47am EDT
I don't remember ever planning what to put in there. I think it was more a case of bringing a tool in from the workshop and, when I was done with it, sticking it into the drawer because I was too lazy to walk back outside. Over the years these just happened to be the things I needed the most.
Lee Y. Aug 19, 2009, 11:40pm EDT
Lol ... but how ever it got that way, like you said, the drawer now holds most/all of the things you generally need the most inside the house. :)
d d. Aug 19, 2009, 9:47am EDT
tool, what's a tool? I tend to use a phone, when I need something fixed. sometimes, just sometimes my hsbd can fix it...sometimes, he uses a phone too.
Len Maxwell Aug 19, 2009, 9:52am EDT
Well, I guess I could use a phone, but it seems that it would break the first time I smacked a nail with it.
d d. Aug 19, 2009, 9:57am EDT
LOL!
Amy L. Aug 19, 2009, 9:47am EDT
That almost looks like the junk knives drawer I show when I sell Cutco knives! (But it looks more useful than the picture I show.)
Amy L. Aug 19, 2009, 9:48am EDT
Oh, and my belief is having tools in the garage and basement, so no non-cooking tools in the kitchen.
Len Maxwell Aug 19, 2009, 9:56am EDT
I can defend myself somewhat. You need scissors to cut open some plastic packages. Sometimes I need the channel-locks to open a jar. And when I buy a package of bagels they're sometimes held closed with a big metal staple. I need the pliers to get that off. See -- cooking tools!
Amy L. Aug 19, 2009, 10:05am EDT
You should get a special pair of scissors just for the food. And you have really interesting bagels! I've never heard of people having to use pliers to get to their bagels!
Mary Fagan Aug 19, 2009, 10:13am EDT
We have TWO tool drawers in our kitchen. Neither looks as organized as yours!
Len Maxwell Aug 19, 2009, 10:16am EDT
Organized? The only organization is that everything is lying in the same direction.
Mary Fagan Aug 19, 2009, 10:54am EDT
So that gives you a pretty good idea what OURS looks like!
Donna Besso Aug 19, 2009, 6:30pm EDT
I've got aq junk drawer and two old plastic juice jugs I keep screwdrivers, etc in.
Len Maxwell Aug 19, 2009, 8:23pm EDT
I think that's a female thing. I had two girlfriends that kept their tools in cut down plastic milk jugs. I guess it made sense for them because they could move the jugs around whenever they were in the way.
Lady of Lake Merritt =P Aug 20, 2009, 12:28am EDT
i do have a pull out tool drawer, it's filled with straws, old batteries, wires, keys, my hubby's tools, a bunch of stuff like paper, pictures, it's a mess and no where as organized as yours
Len Maxwell Aug 20, 2009, 12:42pm EDT
Well, that's why we usually call it a junk drawer. I just moved in and haven't had time to fill it with all the junk that will probably accumulate in the next few years.
Elizabeth O. Aug 20, 2009, 12:32am EDT
When I was single, I didn't have a tool drawer. My screwdriver was a butter knife (I was screwed if it was a Phillips head screw) and my hammer was a stiletto heel.
Len Maxwell Aug 20, 2009, 12:43pm EDT
I can't remember when it was, but I do remember not having a tool drawer and using a butter knife as a screwdriver. Never wore stiletto heels, but I do remember using a stapler as a hammer.
Marsha S. Aug 20, 2009, 12:45pm EDT
yes, we have a tool drawer in the kitchen
and also a tool box that sits by the door leading to the garage
Len Maxwell Aug 20, 2009, 1:06pm EDT
When I moved in here I didn't have any kind of outside storage and had to build a workshop. In the meantime I had all my tools in a back room. I've since moved most of them out to the workshop, but still have two toolboxes right inside the back door. Once I get the workshop organized they'll go out there.
Sandy (back in Ohio...blah!) Aug 22, 2009, 9:31pm EDT
No there is no tool drawer in my house...everything like that is in the garage..however we do have a junk drawer.
Len Maxwell Aug 23, 2009, 12:30pm EDT
My nosiness continues, care to give us an inventory of what's in there?
Sandy (back in Ohio...blah!) Aug 23, 2009, 6:50pm EDT
anything I either can't find a place for or something I want to find...like envolopes, dog leashes, dog collars and scissors. But it tends to be a catch all drawer as well.
Vivian P. Aug 22, 2009, 9:37pm EDT
Yes I have a tool drawer it's got all the stuff I've taken from hubby's toolbox. Only problem is he know s where it is and takes stuff back
Len Maxwell Aug 23, 2009, 12:31pm EDT
Interesting that you said that you have a tool drawer. Does that mean you do all the repairs around the house?
Mary G. Aug 23, 2009, 2:56am EDT
We have a tool drawer; however, its not as organized as your drawer in the kitchen.
Len Maxwell Aug 23, 2009, 12:32pm EDT
Well, I got my answer. From the comments I'm thinking I'm not the only person to have this, so I'm not weird. Well, not weird in that respect anyhow.
Sheila Deeth Aug 27, 2009, 8:11pm EDT
That took me back. No, we don't have a tool drawer, but we always, always had one when I was growing up.
Len Maxwell Aug 30, 2009, 6:54pm EDT
Sounds as if it's time to restart a family tradition.
Nurse Nancy S. Aug 30, 2009, 3:43pm EDT
No tool drawer. My husband has a massive Craftsman Tool Chest in the garage. Very neat and organized. I do, however, have a "JUNK" drawer in my kitchen. Got a little bit of everything in it.
Len Maxwell Aug 30, 2009, 6:56pm EDT
I'm glad about your junk drawer, but I'm tremendously jealous of your husband. My workshop has numerous drawers in a couple different benches, old ammo cans with tools, tools hung all over the walls, but nothing like the Craftsman. I've wanted one for years but couldn't afford it.
Al Harrington Sep 2, 2009, 11:13am EDT
I remember pawing through your junk drawer in your old house and sticking my finger with all the thumbtacks you had laying loose.

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