How to Store Pots and Pans in a Small Kitchen Smartly

Pots and pans are essential kitchen items. They are large and bulky and can take up a lot of space. Organizing them in a limited kitchen space can be such a headache and one would quickly go for the option of stacking them together and throwing in the cupboard. Easy as it sounds, that would be doing injustice to your pots and pans because most likely they will end up with scratches. Accessing them would not be easy too.

 In this article, I am going to guide you on ideas on how to utilize your small kitchen space to store pots and pans in an organized manner.

Factors Considered When Choosing a way to Organize Pots and Pans

Not just any place around the kitchen can be good for storing the kitchenware. Here is how you should choose the right spot.

A. A damage-free Storage Area

You will need to ensure that the place you choose will not bring harm to your pots and pans in any way. It should be secure and clean.

B.Easily Accessible Area

You should choose a place you will easily reach your pots and pans without straining.A place from where you can spot a specific pan without disturbing the order would be ideal.

C. Storing Them Mear Your Cooking Stove

Ensure that you will not need to go so far away from your cooking stove to access your pots and pans. The nearer the stove, the better.

Ways of Storing Your Pots and Pans

Depending on an individual’s preference, there are many ways to store your pots and pans. Each method gives your kitchen a different look and feel. Read to the end to find what style suits your kitchen best.

1. Hanging Them

Hanging your pots and pans is one great way to save space in your kitchen. You can hang them in many different places like on the ceiling, under shelves, under islands, on pantry pegboard, inside of cupboards, the lazy Susan style, and on the wall.

A. Hanging on Ceiling

Most kitchens have an empty space on the ceiling. This space can make an excellent storage for your pots and pans by just mounting a ceiling pot rack. A ceiling pot rack saves up a lot of space and if you pull the strings right, the pots can be decorative, bringing out the feeling of a chandelier.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Ceiling rack

In order to choose the best ceiling pot rack for your kitchen, you need to make certain considerations. These are;

i) Size

The size of your rack will depend on where you chose to place it. It should fit well in the selected place and should not hit on cabinets and walls.

ii) Shape

Ceiling racks come in many shapes. There are rectangular ones, oval ones, etc. The shape you chose should fit your kitchen style.

iii) Kitchen Layout

When choosing where to hang your rack, consider the lighting of the room. Some racks come with light fixtures but others don’t. If your rack has no light fixtures, hang them where light has not been blocked.

iv) Style

This mostly depends on what style you prefer in your kitchen.

When choosing where to fix the rack, don’t hang it just anywhere. Find ceiling joints that will be able to hold the weight of the pots and the rack itself. No one wants a rack that wasn’t properly fixed falling on him/her.

Also, avoid hanging the rack on a stovetop as it can cause burns from the heat being generated.

v) What the rack is mode from

Kitchen ceilings can be made from wood, stainless steel, iron, copper among many. Ensure the type of material it is made from can hold your pots and pans.

Hanging pots and pans on the ceiling pot rack has both its pros and cons. Read on to find out.

Pros:

Cons:

B. Hanging Under Shelves

If there is some space under your shelves, add adhesive hooks to hang your pots and pans. An advantage of this storage method is ease to reach your pots and pans. On the other hand, they may easily absorb dust.

C. Hanging on Islands

You can give up some sitting area by gluing hooks under the island for your pots and pans. This method saves up a lot of space. Below are some of the pros and cons of using the method.

Pros:

Cons:

D. Hanging on Pantry Pegboard

If there is plenty of space on your wall, mount a pantry pegboard on it or inside side of the pantry door. Pegboards can be made from wood or metal with a lot of holes where you can fix hooks and hang your kitchenware.

Pros:

Cons:

E. Hanging Inside a Cupboard

You will just need to install hooks further apart inside the cupboard to hang your pots and pans. You can also hang lids inside.

Pros:

Cons:

F. Hanging the Lazy Suson Style

This style is common in restaurants, where there are spinning trays for distribution of food. Why not bring that idea and create rotating shelves to store your pots and pans? You can fix them in different styles like kidney shape-that are good for corner cabinets-or the full circle shape which is very easy to spin. The lazy Susan style comes with some advantages and disadvantages when it comes to pots and pans storage. They include: -

Pros:

Cons:

G. Hanging on Wall

If you have empty wall space, you can utilize it by installing railings onto it. Go ahead and attach hooks to hold your pots and pans. This method does create more storage space and does not need a lot of work fixing railings on the wall. However, your pots and pans might get scratches on the wall. Also, utensils that are not frequently used also get dusty easily.

2. Cabinet Storage

Almost all kitchens have cabinets. Cabinets are much like closets and can be used to store almost every kitchenware. They provide a secure hidden space and are good for securing pots and pans that may easily break.

Here is how to organize pots and pans in the cabinet: -

Below are the upside and down side of cabinet storage.

Pros:

Cons

4. Drawers

 A deep drawer can be a proper storage place for your pots and pans. It is much easier to access your pots and pans in a deep drawer as seeing them is quite easy. If your drawer is fairly deep, you can add foam board dividers to store specific pots and pans separately

Pros:

Cons:

5. Lid rack

Pot lids are one of the hardest item to store and it becomes harder for you if you have no backup storage plan in your kitchen. Below are different storage solutions for pot lids: -

Conclusion

Whether you are in a small kitchen or not, make the available space look neater with the storage ideas above. You can also do a simple DIY idea of hanging bicycle wheel or an old window/door in your kitchen and adding hooks onto them to hold your pots and pans.