Kitchen organization has a dirty secret: most systems are designed for the day you set them up, not the hundredth day, when you're tired and in a hurry. If storing it takes more than a few seconds, you'll stop doing it — and the pot strainer will drift back to the counter, the windowsill, or wherever things go to be forgotten.
So the bar for every idea in this guide is simple: it has to survive a busy Tuesday. Nothing here requires precision, patience, or a label maker you'll use once. Just honest, low-friction ways to keep it put.
You don't need more storage space. You need the space you have to work harder — and nowhere is that truer than with small, oddly-shaped tools like it. They're the first things to get buried and the last things to get a designated spot.
This guide changes that with a full menu of storage ideas, each one practical, each one cheap or free, and each one tested against the reality of a kitchen that's actually used for cooking.
Tiny kitchens don't forgive vague storage. With this tool, there's no 'miscellaneous drawer' to absorb the overflow — every tool needs a deliberate spot, or the whole kitchen tips into chaos by Wednesday.
The ideas below are ruthlessly space-efficient: walls, doors, vertical inches, and the forgotten gaps that tiny kitchens hide in plain sight.
One more consideration: A pot strainer is compact enough that storage is never really about space — its flexible silicone grips the rim. Silicone is forgiving stuff — most silicone kitchen tools tolerate the dishwasher, but a quick hand wash with warm soapy water keeps it at its best for longer. It's about the decision. Make it once, and the pot strainer stays findable for years.
The ideas are numbered for reference, not ranked by importance. Your kitchen, your call: the 'best' system is the one you'll still be using in six months.
Time for the practical part. Each idea below stands alone — mix and match:
Organizing it: 7 Field-Tested Ideas
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Decant the drawer. Empty the drawer it lives in completely, wipe it out, and only put back what earns a place. it will almost certainly make the cut — the exercise just evicts the expired coupons and mystery batteries competing for the space.
Cheap, quick, and weirdly satisfying to set up. -
Store it with the colanders — or replace them. If this tool has retired your bulky colander, reclaim that shelf space outright. If both stay, nest it inside the colander; the flexible silicone conforms and the pair stores as one.
Once it's in place, putting the pot strainer away becomes automatic. -
Use the backsplash. A rail or magnetic strip on the backsplash puts it in the dead space between counter and cabinets. It's reachable mid-cooking, uses zero drawer space, and keeps the tiny counter clear.
Combine it with the nightly reset and it compounds. -
Think inside the doors. Every cabinet door in a tiny kitchen is a potential storage surface. A row of small hooks inside the most-used door gives this tool a home measured in inches, not feet.
The beauty is in the simplicity: no maintenance required. -
Let it air-dry in place. Silicone dries fast, and your pot strainer can go straight from the dish rack to its hook while still slightly damp. Don't seal this tool in a closed bin while wet — airflow is the whole advantage of hanging storage.
Even skeptics convert after about three days. -
Use the window and wall edges. Suction hooks on a kitchen window or the narrow wall beside it create bonus hanging space for lightweight tools like your pot strainer. It's free real estate most tiny kitchens ignore.
This respects both your space and your time. -
Try under-shelf baskets. Wire baskets that hook onto an existing shelf create a bonus layer of storage underneath it. it slides into the basket, visible from below, using space that was literally air a minute ago.
Once you try it, going back feels absurd.
Once your pot strainer Has a Home…
One last upgrade worth considering: a small 'donation box' that lives permanently in a closet. When you find a duplicate or a tool this tool replaced, it goes straight in the box. When the box is full, it leaves the house. No decisions, no guilt, no re-cluttering.
The donation box is how organized kitchens stay organized. Inflow is constant — gifts, gadgets, good intentions — and without an outflow valve, even the best system slowly fills up. it earned its place; everything else has to keep earning its.
A Routine That Actually Sticks
Teach the system to the household in one five-minute tour, not a lecture. Walk everyone past the home for this tool, show them the label, explain the nightly reset. People maintain systems they understand; they sabotage systems that feel like someone else's rules.
Kids especially respond to the tour-and-label approach — it turns 'put it back' from nagging into a matching game. And honestly, adults aren't that different. Clarity beats enforcement every time.
The Missteps That Undo Your System
- Buying storage that doesn't fit. Measure the drawer, the shelf, and it itself before buying anything. An organizer that's half an inch too wide is a donation waiting to happen.
- Organizing once and never maintaining. Systems drift — that's physics, not failure. A two-minute weekly check keeps the home for the pot strainer honest; skipping it for six months means starting over.
- One giant bin for everything. A single catch-all bin is just a portable junk drawer. it needs a defined section within the bin, or the bin needs to be smaller and more specific.
- Burying everyday tools behind occasional ones. If you reach past the fondue set to get this tool, the zones are backwards. Frequency of use should dictate position: daily tools front and center, always.
- Defaulting to the junk drawer. The junk drawer is where organization goes to retire. it deserves a deliberate spot — a divider slot, a hook, a bin — anywhere with an actual reason behind it.
- Skipping the 'home' decision. 'Somewhere in that drawer' isn't a home. Until it has a specific, named spot, every cleanup ends with the pot strainer wherever it landed — which is how drawers revert.
Don't stop at one tool: a y-shaped vegetable peeler set belongs in the same zone as it. Two organized tools beat one organized tool and one mystery drawer.
Your kitchen deserves the upgrade. Shop a pot strainer today and take 10% off your first order with code WELCOME10. Every order ships tracked (Canada 5–12 business days, US 7–15, International 10–25) and is backed by our 30-day return promise.
Pairs well with: a rapid electric egg cooker, a watermelon slicer windmill, and a rotary cheese grater — all in the same kitchen-upgrade spirit.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the smartest way to store a clip-on pot strainer?
Clipped to the pot this tool gets used with most — the pair nests together and there's nothing to find at draining time. Second choice: hanging by the clip on a hook inside a cabinet door.
Where should it live relative to the stove?
As close to the cooktop as practical — a nearby drawer, a hook on the cabinet beside the stove, or clipped to the pot on the pot rack. it gets used at the pot, so the commute should be short.
How long does delivery take?
Orders ship with tracking: 5–12 business days within Canada, 7–15 business days to the US, and 10–25 business days internationally. You'll be able to follow your order from dispatch to doorstep.
What if it's not right for me?
Every order is covered by our 30-day return promise. If your pot strainer isn't the right fit, send it back within 30 days for a refund — no interrogation, no hassle.
Can it stay clipped to the pot permanently?
Yes, that's the intended workflow. The silicone clip holds its grip between uses, and storing it on the pot means the strainer is always exactly where the draining happens.