help! i need to hang some pots and pans
Remember when I wrote about a well-edited kitchen? I shared my plight of way too many pots, pans, gadgets, and dishes that I’m just not ready to give up. Well, it looks like I’ve finally exhausted all my current organizing options. While I intend to do a massive cleaning out over the next few weeks, I’d really like to put up a shelf and a bar for hanging pots in my kitchen. The walls in my pre-war apartment have the ability to elude the most accurate of stud-finders, so the only space sturdy enough for a shelf would be the window frame. I’m hoping to replicate this shelf, adding a sturdy bar underneath for pots. Does anyone have any idea how to do this? Should I get a tension bar? Should I put up hooks and a curtain rod? What hooks should I use to hang the pots? Help! — Erica P.
November 18th, 2009 at 6:43 am
Have you checked at Ikea. They have a ton of kitchen organizers and I’m pretty sure the last time I was there I spied a shelf/pot holder that would work perfect for this. Now that I think about it I might have to go back and get one for myself.
November 18th, 2009 at 7:24 am
I actually have no helpful hints at all, when it comes to organizing pots and pans in a tiny space, however my husband I could use the help too! We have cabinet space, which is great, but it is just not enough…..any and all suggestions would be so helpful. Thanks for posting this, I think it is a problem that a lot of people who don’t yet own a house, experience!
November 18th, 2009 at 7:25 am
In my kitchen we have similar windows that face a brick wall and very flimsy walls, so I was afraid to hang a pot rack on the walls or from the ceiling. Instead, I put a stainless steel closet rod in my window frame (cut to length by my hardware store), and hang my pots from regular closet hooks from the Container Store. You just need to make sure the hooks will fit inside the hanging holes on your pots (this was something I didn’t realize at first).
I think most other solutions (tension rod, curtain rod) are too flimsy to support the weight of the pots.
November 18th, 2009 at 7:44 am
I got frustrated after being unable to find an affordable pot rack. I ended up using a sturdy, solid, curtain rod from Ikea. I have 5 cast-iron pots and pans hanging with S-hooks, and it’s holding up beautifully!
November 18th, 2009 at 8:08 am
The stainless steel closet rod sounds great or one of the wooden closet rods with the traditional holder. You can always cover these rods with the plastic covers sold in many colors to cover shower curtain rods. They are very cheap, easy to cut to size and would add a great splash of color!
November 18th, 2009 at 9:14 am
I would be apprehensive to add a pot rack to a shelf with only two supports unless you’re really, really sure that the anchors are sound. A lot of pots are hefty.
For my hardware store pot rack: 3 foot long galvanized pipe (~3/4″ dia”), pipe end caps, U bolt thingies to connect to a length of chain which is hung from hooks screwed into a section of 2 x 4 that is anchored to studs in the ceiling. To hang the pots I got a bunch of rings slid on the pipe with S hooks hung through the rings.
It ain’t pretty, but it works!
November 18th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Um, I wouldn’t hang pots up against a window…if you accidentally miss your hook, or swing the pot, it could break the window.
I bought 2 very inexpensive wall racks at IKEA (the Kroken rail) but the hooks that IKEA sells to go with it are too flimsy for pots. So, I bought some 3″ galvanized S hooks at the hardware store, and to keep them from falling off the rail, I used black plastic zip ties to attach them to the rail at intervals. If you cut off all the excess tie, you barely notice that they’re attached, and they’re much more secure.
The rails are hanging on the walls over my oven and they’re very sturdy. I used expanding wall anchors (NOT the dinky plastic sleeves, use the metal kind that open up behind the wall–ask at the hardware store) to hang them in my plaster walls–but drill a tiny hole first where you want them, because if you’re drilling into a stud, you won’t need the anchor and can just use a screw.
The whole thing cost around $20 and I had been looking at ceiling racks that were more than $200. Go to IKEA.
November 19th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
This might not be very helpful but in that book on storage by Wolfman Gold they featured an apartment that had dish storage in the windows a kitchen. All I remember is the dishes were huge and they used some kind of stainless steel rack screwed into the window frame.
November 19th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
The kitchen in my apartment is the smallest thing I have ever seen and there was no cabinet space. I went to Ikea got some of the Gruntal series of shelving and poles and made myself a usable kitchen.
December 2nd, 2009 at 7:53 am
[...] reading through all of your amazing comments and suggestions on my post about wanting to hang a pot rack, I decided I should probably consult the guy actually in charge of building it for me. It turns out [...]