A Pan Organizer

This (recreated) utter mess is what my pans cabinet looked like before this project. The cabinet is in a great location, but I own too many pans for the small space. Unfortunately, all my other cabinets were too far away or even smaller, and the kitchen design isn't conducive to hanging the pans from the ceiling or a wall.

The solution I liked best was the Maple Racks from the Container Store. Those racks what they use to organize their in-store products. I already utilize the similar 4-Sort Dividers to organize my baking pans.

Sadly, those maple sorters aren't the correct dimensions for my cabinets, pan heights, and quantity of pans.

Happily, the construction is pretty obvious: wood + holes + dowels.

This is the solution which DH and I designed. It isn't as elegant as the store-bought version, but it does the job better. I measured the cabinet. DH went to Home Depot, selected the wood, and had them cut it to size. (We lack the equipment to cut it ourselves.) I then measured the height from counter-to-handle-arch of each pan. Using those measurements, I marked where I wanted each dowel to be located; you can still see those penciled notes on the wood itself. DH drilled holes through the first board, cut the dowels to height, stuck 'em in, et voila.

Our original intent was to use nails and glue to affix the two boards and all the dowels into a solid form. Then I might have painted it.

The reality is that this project was started when I was 9 months pregnant and couldn't stand the pan disarray anymore. The supplies were purchased then, but they sat in the garage until Little Hands was 2 months old. At that time, I was frustrated enough with the project to move it forward, but I was too exhausted to add in the finishing steps. I'll admit I now don't have much intent on prettying up the rack because it's functional and it's hidden in a cabinet anyway.

Ta-daaaa. This is how my cabinet looks now. It's wonderful to not have to get on the floor and dig to find a particular pan. It's also wonderful to not have to figure out how to shove a pan into the cabinet without it scratching another or falling out.

Want to implement this idea in your own kitchen? Don't forget to pin it!