After many attempts at organizing resistors, I finally made up a cabinet dedicated to them. This is my suggestion for your resistor cabinet. It covers most of the standard EIA values for 5% resistors. The are organized as three values to a drawer. The occasional odd value is kept in the drawer most nearest the value. This has served me well over the years. It does help to know the resistor color code (I highly recommended you learn it!). There are a few drawers just for the most commonly used values. Some of the first 6 have 5 values each. You may want to adjust this mix a bit to better reflect your usual interests.
| Drawer Number | Value 1 | Value 2 | Value 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.5 ohms | 6.8 ohms | none |
| 2 | 10/11/12 Ohm | 13 ohms | 15 ohms |
| 3 | 16 ohms | 18 ohms | 20 ohms |
| 4 | 22/24/27 ohms | 30 ohms | 33 ohms |
| 5 | 36/39/43 ohms | 47 ohms | 51 ohms |
| 6 | 56/62/68 ohms | 75 ohms | 82 ohms |
| 7 | 100 ohms | 150 ohms | 200 ohms |
| 8 | 220 ohms | 240 ohms | 270 ohms |
| 9 | 330 ohms | 360 ohms | 390 ohms |
| 10 | 470 ohms | 560 ohms | Less than 1k ohms |
| 11 | 1000 ohms | none | none |
| 12 | 1.2k ohms | 1.5k ohms | 1.8k ohms |
| 13 | 2.0k ohms | 2.2k ohms | 2.4k ohms |
| 14 | 2.7k ohms | none | none |
| 15 | 3.0k ohms | 3.3k ohms | 3.6k ohms |
| 16 | 3.9k ohms | 4.3k ohms | 4.7k ohms |
| 17 | 5.1k ohms | 5.6k ohms | 6.2k ohms |
| 18 | 6.8k ohms | 7.5k ohms | 8.2k ohms |
| 19 | 10k ohms | none | none |
| 20 | 12k ohms | 13k ohms | 15k ohms |
| 21 | 16k ohms | 18k ohms | 20k ohms |
| 22 | 22k ohms | none | none |
| 23 | 24k ohms | none | none |
| 24 | 27k ohms | none | none |
| 25 | 30k ohms | 33k ohms | 39k ohms |
| 26 | 43k ohms | none | none |
| 27 | 47k ohms | none | none |
| 28 | 51k ohms | 56k ohms | none |
| 29 | 62k ohms | 68k ohms | 75k ohms |
| 30 | 82k ohms | 91k ohms | none |
| 31 | 100k ohms | none | none |
| 32 | 110k ohms | 120k ohms | 130k ohms |
| 33 | 150k ohms | none | none |
| 34 | 160k ohms | 180k ohms | 200k ohms |
| 35 | 220k ohms | 240k ohms | 270k ohms |
| 36 | 300k ohms | 330k ohms | 360k ohms |
| 37 | 390k ohms | 430k ohms | 470k ohms |
| 38 | 510k ohms | 560k ohms | 620k ohms |
| 39 | 680k ohms | 750k ohms | 820k ohms |
| 40 | Resistor Packs | none | none |
| 41 | 1 megohms | none | none |
| 42 | 1.2 megohms | 1.3 megohms | 1.5 megohms |
| 43 | 1.6 megohms | 1.8 megohms | 2.0 megohms |
| 44 | 2.2 megohms | 2.4 megohms | 2.7 megohms |
| 45 | 3 Megohm & Over | none | none |
In my cabinet there are additional drawers for 2 watt, precision, and power resistors. Again, you may want to have more drawers in this cabinet (or a separate one) for other types you may use reguarly.