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Junk Drawer / Tool Box

olbriar

 
Moderator
I stumbled across a thread in another forum about how everyone has a junk drawer. The items within seem to be somewhat similar to the people posting. The thread drifted into the tool box and contents.
Thought I would start a similar thread here.
To begin with, I'm old enough that I have multiple junk drawers and tool boxes. I have two junk drawers in my office. One has cords and cables for all of the electronics past and present. It is a large drawer and stuffed with cables and connectors that I'll likely never need again. There is always that fear of needing that BNC cable or EIDE cable and I tossed it syndrome that keeps the drawer well stocked. I have another drawer that has itty bitty screwdrivers to large ones and everything between. Lots of diagonal cutters and needle nosed tools. Brass brushes to solder and even a few wire strippers and bike tools. It's the go-to drawer in the office for little projects. The junk drawer in the kitchen contains no junk. It houses the rarely used but handy kitchen items that one needs once in a great while. Things such as a lemon juicer, lid removal tool, skewers, meat hammer, taco press, meat shredder, funnels, and many other rarely used but desirable kitchen tools. Then there are the outside tools. The two tool boxes that ride with me in my truck and the five or six in my shed are for the major mechanical chores. To escape the criticism of having so many tool boxes, I have an excuse of sorts. I have my tools which take a couple of boxes. That's not counting the socket sets and wrench sets. I have a couple of tool boxes in my truck with duplicate tools for truck or mower emergencies. I couldn't bring myself to toss my father's tool boxes. My father-in-law passed down a couple of boxes of good tools. Plus, he had a couple of boxes of specialized tools such as pullers and presses and the like I just couldn't toss. I was a trim carpenter / cabinet maker for nearly sixty years.... I'll not describe that collection of tools. :)

What sort of junk drawer goodies and tool boxes have you compiled through the years?
 
I tend to think that one household's "junk" is another family's treasure, and I'm not really being sarcastic about that. We have some stuff that could be characterized as "junk" in more than one kitchen drawer, such as a supply of take-out napkins or various coupons, a couple of tools, rubber bands, thumbtacks, little wooden tiles for a perpetual calendar (which my wife keeps up-to-date, I typically can't be bothered even to turn the page on a paper calendar!), etc. our main silverware drawer is quite large and has much of the varied accoutrements that are used so rarely (garlic press, potato masher, etc.) it's a fairly shallow drawer, though, so we also have an open canister on the counter with larger cooking utensils in it.
In fact, until this thread I hadn't realized that we don't really have a "conventional" junk drawer, but rather some junk in most of our drawers; even the one that would come closest to having that moniker has our hot pads in it.
Before we got married (2018) I had an apartment and definitely had a more conventional junk drawer, which I tend to colloquially think of as "stuff you don't really need in the kitchen and isn't associated with the kitchen itself other than being stored there until you need it." :D
 
A few years back, I removed our broken down dishwasher and built a cabinet in it's place. The single drawer above houses all of the carving knives, spatulas, a small and large masher, spaghetti tongs, and the hot pads. Below is where all of the tupperware sort of containers with lids, a couple of pitchers, measuring cups, and mixing bowls are stored. I have no idea where all those items were stored prior to the cabinet addition. It is a far better use of the space for just a family of two.
 
I have no idea where all those items were stored prior to the cabinet addition. It is a far better use of the space for just a family of two.
We haven't used our dishwasher for several years now and the idea of a cabinet for Tupperware sounds good. I'd take it out in a minute if only I could find storage for the stuff that we store in there now.
I guess I could get all the yeti copy tumblers out and just make another cabinet for them.

Our microwave quit working when I was in the hospital with the covid, in 2020. It's still sitting there over the stove. I'm sure that at some point we'll have to remove it. We (the Boss Lady) bought a small toaster oven, from Walmart for probably around $20.00, that we use to warm up enough for the 2 of us. I just don't know what to fill in the space with if we take the microwave out.
 
We haven't used our dishwasher for several years now and the idea of a cabinet for Tupperware sounds good. I'd take it out in a minute if only I could find storage for the stuff that we store in there now.
I guess I could get all the yeti copy tumblers out and just make another cabinet for them.

Our microwave quit working when I was in the hospital with the covid, in 2020. It's still sitting there over the stove. I'm sure that at some point we'll have to remove it. We (the Boss Lady) bought a small toaster oven, from Walmart for probably around $20.00, that we use to warm up enough for the 2 of us. I just don't know what to fill in the space with if we take the microwave out.
If it is a MW that is mounted above the stove, it can be much closer to the stove than a combustible cabinet. The stove docs or a google search will have that information. It's not like you have to pass code in whatever you do but the combustible clearance is for your safety.
 
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