This Easy Kitchen Towel Folding Trick Frees Up Space In Shallow Drawers

Kitchen towels present a few storage and organization challenges that can turn one of your best tools for keeping the chaos under control, your kitchen drawers, into a disorganized mess. They're floppy, vulnerable to spontaneous unfolding, and they take up a lot of space. And if you decide you need to pull one from the bottom, you're about to upset the whole pile. And they're not just one thing; kitchen towels might be segregated from each other if you plan to use them for cooking versus cleanup tasks, or if you still use cloth napkins. 

Hunker spoke exclusively with Jessica Litman, an ADHD decluttering expert known on Instagram as The Organized Mama (@theorganizedmamaco), about the absorbing issue of dealing with kitchen towel storage. Her solution is a simple one, and it might be something you're already doing with clothes or even with other towels. "I suggest rolling the towels," Litman said, "because when you stack them on top of each other, they can easily get stuck in the drawer. Instead, roll the towels into rows. This helps streamline your towels and allows for them to stay tidy in the drawer."

It works because rolled hand towels are denser and therefore more rigid, so they're easier to keep structured. Rolled towels have less exposed surface area, so they're less likely to slide their neighbors out of place when you pull one out. And, perhaps best of all, rolled towels take up less space.

How exactly you store rolled towels in your kitchen drawer(s) depends on the size and shape of your drawer and the size of the towels themselves. In general, you'll want to keep them compact. "It is actually really easy to roll towels," explained organization expert Jessica Litman in an exclusive conversation with Hunker. Choose how to fold and roll the towels to fit as effectively and efficiently as possible. "There are a few ways to do that," Litman said, explaining, "I have folded the towels in half then rolled or folded into thirds then rolled."

Your system will, of course, depend on your towels and your drawers. Start by having a good look at how your towels compare to the size and shape of the drawer you're using. "Decide on the method based on how much room you have," Litman said. "I have a narrow drawer, so I fold in thirds to get two rows of towels in the smaller drawer." Just remember that kitchen towels are among the things you should never store in the drawer under your oven, so keep them as handy as possible while avoiding such fire hazards. Of course, the amount of drawer space — and even how many drawers — will be driven by how many towels and how many types of towels you need to store.

You can save space by using one set of towels for everything, but that might not be how you want to do things. "If you have a variety of towels for different purposes, then you may need more space," organization expert Jessica Litman of The Organized Mama said when Hunker spoke exclusively with her. "But if you just use all your towels for one purpose, then a smaller space will do." 

In her home, Liltman uses different towels for cooking and cleanup, and it's useful to keep the different sorts of towels separated. "Group the towels together based on how you use them," she said. "We have towels that we use for cooking and bar towels to clean up messes instead of paper towels." When you're allocating space, don't forget that kitchen towels are a good alternative to paper towels that is good for the planet and your wallet.

But before you go down that road, you should pare down to the towels you need. Having far more towels on hand than you can use between laundry cycles might not make sense in terms of storage efficiency. Start by getting rid of extras, especially the rattier old towels. Remember, it's also important that you enjoy using even the most practical items, like our editor-approved kitchen towels. "Declutter first. Find the towels that aren't worth saving and look for organizations that take towels (like pet shelters)," Litman said. "This way you are sure to only keep the towels you will use instead of just holding onto things you won't." With these tips from Litman, your kitchen dish towel drawer will be in better shape than ever.