Ikea sells a couple of magnetic knife racks that are normally mounted to a wall but maybe you could mount them to the bottom of your drawer instead: http://m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/art/60238645/ http://m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/art/20202083/

Other options might be pot lids, cookie sheets (if your oven is nearby), cutting boards, a splatter screen, cooling racks.

Place mats? I have a drawer devoted to place mats.

8-10 wooden spoons and 3 silicone ones, 3 meat forks, 2 grill plates, 2 spatter screens, that thing that you put against the pot to drain it, the asador grate that goes over the flames, 4 silicone pot holders, the whisk with the plastic balls that doesn't scratch the enamel, the handle thing for turning herb sprigs into a sauce mop with its tray, the steel wool for rubbing out scratches in my hood as if I'd let anyone touch it... There was a spatula, inverted, but it really was an ootch too tall so it's not there any more. But I think there's more in there. It's a very nice drawer. :)

Okay, that was what *I* have. What you should have in it is anything that you want to use at the stove that will fit in the drawer. :)

This post was edited by plllog on Fri, Mar 28, 14 at 0:59

Thanks for all these great ideas! Our drawer is REALLY shallow, barely 1.5 inches high, so things like lids, and utensils such as ladles, don't fit. Right now, I suspect we will be able to use it well enough for dish towels, instruction manuals for the new appliance, maybe a trivet or two, and perhaps our baking cooling rack, which turned out to be too high for the tray cabinet. Not the best use of a 30 inch wide drawer, but I guess we'll figure it out!

Thanks again.

I would do potholders, cutting boards, and perhaps trivets.

I have a whole crock full of wooden spoons and different sizes of silicone scrapers that would look better hidden away in a shallow drawer like that along with a couple of pot holders.

The inside of my cooktop drawer measures 1-3/4". We had to also make the front to back depth shorter. I still find it useful for various random items:

You should check the specs for your cooktop to see if they give a minimum clearance for flammable items if you store towels in that drawer.

Mine is also 1.5" (exactly) on the inside, though it's about 45" wide. There's a bite out of the back (it was built that way with edges around), for the services behind it.

Besides what I mentioned above, there are a couple of spatulas that I had forgotten (besides the one that didn't fit so easily), a bag of bamboo skewers, cooking chopsticks, the bars that hold a steamer basket inside a wok, a big spoon rest and a couple of pasta measures. Truth, though, the small grill plate sits on the large one, the pot holders are in the asador grate, and the wooden spoons are all over the big spatter screen (which I hardly ever use).

This picture is years old but it shows a lot of stuff. It's better organized now, and has more in it. I wouldn't actually do towels. It's too easy for one to get squished and then jam the drawer. The manual is a good idea if it's fairly stiff and flat (i.e., won't blow open and jam), and the trivets and rack are perfect. It's hard putting those away anyhow. :)