I was sick of chargers and cables cluttering our kitchen until I installed this clever hidden charging drawer
The small kitchen upgrade that keeps our messy chargers out of sight
If there's one thing that was quietly ruining the calm of our kitchen, it was cables. Before our recent kitchen renovation, phone, tablet and headphone chargers snaked across our worktop, in disarray, so we knew we had to do something about it when we were planning our kitchen makeover.
When we were thinking about layout, I got lots of inspiration from Instagram and Pinterest and came across a genius kitchen storage idea: a charging drawer, which felt like a small upgrade that could make a big difference. And honestly, it's one of the most practical decisions we made to cleverly hide wires and cables.
What is a charging drawer?
A charging drawer is exactly what it sounds like. A standard kitchen drawer fitted with an internal power supply or sockets, allowing you to charge phones, tablets, smartwatches and other devices out of sight.
We made ours slightly deeper so we could close the drawer with a number of devices inside plugged in and with discreet ventilation to allow it to close safely.
And the result is our kitchen looks calmer and neater even during the busiest parts of the day.
Where we placed our charging drawer
We positioned ours in a deep drawer near the main work zone on our kitchen island. It's really easy to access, but not in a high-traffic cooking area.
We were told that it's definitely not a good idea to put a charging drawer directly under a hob or oven, though, as heat and electrics don't really mix.
Our charging drawer design details
The charging drawer gets more use than I ever expected it would, and it is so handy to have, hiding lots of messy cables and wires for phones, iPads and kids' tablets, wireless headphones, smart watches and portable chargers.
Everything lives in one place, which also means no hunting for plugs or arguing over who stole whose charger, which is a frequent conversation in our house.
If you're considering installing one, a few small choices made a big difference when we came to designing ours.
We installed internal sockets rather than trailing extensions for a neater finish and added USB inputs too. We made sure the drawer was deep enough so devices could lie flat without stacking and included soft-close runners, which stops anything shifting when the drawer opens and closes.
From the outside, it looks like any other kitchen drawer, which is exactly the point!
One thing we would like to add is a simple cable organiser like this one, £5.99 from Amazon to stop cords from tangling, to make it look even tidier, as it is a little like organsied chaos most of the time.
Is a charging drawer safe?
When done correctly, it is definitely safe. Because we were doing a big renovation, we got ours installed by a qualified electrician, and I would recommend you do the same to make sure there is proper ventilation and sockets designed for enclosed spaces.
Done correctly, it's just as safe as charging devices on a worktop and arguably safer, as everything is kept away from water and heat.
Cable management boxes for tidy charging areas
If a kitchen renovation isn't on the cards, cable management boxes are an easy way to hide messy chargers and extension leads in one neat container on your worktop or shelf.
They instantly create a calmer, tidier charging area without any DIY, so it's perfect for renters or as quick clutter fixes.
Would I add one again? Absolutely, I would without hesitation. Our worktops stay clear, the kitchen feels and looks tidier nd everything is exactly where we need it.
If you're planning a new kitchen layout or tweaking an existing one, I'd put a charging drawer firmly on the small-cabinet-upgrades list, as it comes with a big payoff.
Once you have one, you'll wonder how you ever lived with the cable chaos before!
