A field guide to every container in The Lid Drawer
How to tell every tub and lid apart, from the six shapes and six sizes to brands, colours, tape labels, novelty tubs and Grandma's specials.
Published
Most mistakes in The Lid Drawer come from two pieces that look alike at a glance. This guide covers everything that can land on your floor: what each piece looks like and what it can be confused with. It pairs well with our matching strategy guide.
The core rule: an ordinary lid fits its tub only when shape, size, brand and colour all match.
The six everyday shapes
Every ordinary container is one of six shapes:
- Round: a perfect circle.
- Oval: a stretched circle, noticeably wider than it is tall.
- Square: sharp corners.
- Rounded square: the same footprint as a square, with soft corners.
- Rectangle: a long box with square-ish corners.
- Clip box: a rectangle with four clips, one on each side. Its lid has no tab; the clips are the giveaway.
The game deliberately pairs up the shapes that are easy to confuse: square with rounded square, round with oval, and rectangle with clip box. When a level wants to trip you up, it adds a second container that is identical to one already on the floor except for that swapped shape. Look at the corners and the proportions, not just the colour.
The six sizes
Ordinary containers come in 1C, 1.5C, 2C, 2.5C, 3C and 4C, where C means cups. There is no 3.5C, so the jump from 3C to 4C is the biggest one. Early on, each size is printed on the lid and the tub floor.
The rim also carries notches: one for each cup, with a short half notch for the half sizes. A 2.5C piece has two full notches and one short one. From level 16 the printed numbers start to fade, from level 31 only the notches remain, and from level 51 you size pieces purely by eye.
Sizing by eye is easier than it sounds, because each size step is clearly wider than the last, and a 4C piece is nearly twice as wide as a 1C. Hold the lid over the tub: if a sliver of rim shows all the way round, the lid is too small; if the lid hangs past the rim, it is too big.
Brands
The brand is printed small on the lid, above the size, and on the tub floor. In Your Kitchen the brands are SNAPCO, FRESHA, TUBBO, LOKKA and KEEPR, and harder drawers use more of them at once. Each place after that has its own brand names, and many are not brands at all:
- Grandma's House: HARVEST, TUPPA and SNAPCO.
- The Office Kitchen: names in Sharpie, such as JEN'S, DAVE, MARK and PRIYA, plus SNAPCO.
- The College Dorm: takeout names like WOKNGO, NOODLY and DELI.
- The Restaurant Kitchen: DELI, LINE 2 and PREP.
- The Church Potluck: BARB, LINDA, PASTOR J and THE KIMS.
- The Food Truck, Campsite, Cruise Ship Galley and Space Station: LA CHULA, TRUCK 9, TRAILPAK, COOLR, GALLEY, DECK 7, SEAWAY, ORBIT and MODULE 3, often mixed with SNAPCO.
Two lids with the same shape, size and colour but different brands will not swap. The game's verdict: they do not speak the same language.
Colours
The everyday colours are clear, sky, mint, blush, lilac, lemon, peach, coral and teal. Places add their own: Grandma's House has harvest gold, avocado and rust; the office, dorm, restaurant and space station add smoke grey; the dorm and food truck add black. Each place also uses a smaller set of colours, which is why the Restaurant Kitchen (only clear, smoke and sky) can feel so samey.
Faded lids are the exception that looks like a mismatch. Lids that came out of the dishwasher pastel are paler and blotchier than their tubs, but they still fit them. Match a faded lid by its shape, size and brand, then pick the tub whose colour is the strong version of that pale one.
Masking-tape labels
On a pantry shelf, fridge shelf, freezer or garage cabinet, the brand is replaced by a strip of masking tape: RICE, OATS and FLOUR in the pantry; CHILI, SOUP and the occasional DO NOT EAT in the fridge; BROTH, PESTO and MYSTERY in the freezer; SCREWS, BOLTS and WASHERS in the garage. The tub is full of whatever the label says. Treat the label exactly like a brand: it must match, along with the size.
Novelty tubs
Some supermarket containers live on as leftover boxes. Each has its own shape and its own printed lid, so it can only ever go with its own kind:
- SCOOPZ ice cream tub, 1.5L, cream with a pink band. Inside: frozen chili.
- HUMM hummus tub, 10oz, olive green.
- CURDLE cottage cheese tub, 16oz, blue.
- BENTO box, black with a red divider.
- DILLY pickle bucket, 2L, green with a yellow band.
Their sizes never fade, and if two of the same novelty tub appear, either lid fits either tub. That makes them near-certain quick seals, which is handy when the doorbell rings.
Grandma's specials
Three more pieces turn up most in Grandma's House, and Grandma's boss levels always bring all three:
- The YOGO yogurt tub, 500g, white, with a pink label and a strawberry on the lid. It is pretending to be real Tupperware, and only its own lid fits it.
- The Butterly butter tub, 250g, yellow, and for once it actually holds butter.
- The cookie tin, a blue Danish-ish butter cookie tin that is, as always, full of sewing buttons. If its lid is on the floor, seal it like any pair. If the tin turns up alone, it goes in the Mystery Bin, never the Trash.
Pieces with no partner
Finally, the strays. A warped lid has a wavy, potato-chip edge; it goes in the Trash, and its tub gets clingfilm. Junk (batteries, takeout menus, rubber bands, soy sauce and birthday candles) goes in the Trash too, while the gold-coloured key goes in the Mystery Bin. Our Mystery Bin guide explains what saved lids and keys unlock.
Now you know what you are looking at, open a drawer and put it to the test.