Why You Should Be Lining Your Drawers With Cork

Whether you need a budget-friendly flooring option or a hack to keep cords organized and untangled, cork is one of those materials that's endlessly useful. So, it's time to think about putting this naturally fungal and bacteria-resistant, sound-dampening, and sustainable material in your drawers. In kitchens where you might store fragile dishes or pots with a tendency to slide around, cork not only protects your cabinets and drawers but the things you store inside them as well.

Cork is the poster girl for renewable resources, as trees are not cut down to harvest them. Instead, the bark of the Oak Cork tree is harvested once a decade, and, as an added bonus, harvested trees absorb several times more carbon dioxide than non-harvested trees. As an incredibly useful material in drawers, it can keep items from shifting around when opening and closing, is easy to clean, and does not absorb odors. Rather than investing in expensive organization systems that take up space in your drawers, cork liners help keep your items where they belong. Six 1 by 4-foot rolls of Con-Tact Brand Cork Roll Shelf Liner will cost you about $50 on Amazon, making it a relatively affordable solution.

Installing cork liners is just like installing any other DIY liner you can use in cabinets and drawers. You can buy custom-sized liners or simply cut your own liners to size from a roll. Depending on what type you buy, you may find the cork is thin and prone to tearing, so handle it with care. Most liners come with an adhesive or non-slip backing that should hold them in place while still allowing them to be removable. That's all you really need to know.

Just because cork is naturally mold- and mildew-resistant doesn't mean it won't need a little helping hand. Most of the time, all you need to do is wipe the liner down with a damp cloth or gently clean it with warm, soapy water. In areas like drawers, where you're likely to touch your liner with hands that aren't always clean and dry, consider dampening a cloth with hydrogen peroxide and buffing the cork liner after you clean it with soap and water to disinfect it. Importantly, be sure to thoroughly dry the liner before replacing it in the drawer because even cork can mildew if left wet in damp, enclosed environs. The coolest thing about cork is that it's wood, so if you get your liner really dirty, you can give it gentle sanding to get rid of tough stains.