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Pots and Baskets

Create Storage. Not enough room for pots, pans, sieves, and baskets? Look up. French chefs use pot racks. I needed easier access to my cookware than the space under my cook top, which is crowded with venting pipes! Our first solution was to install metal baskets on rollers under the cook top. However, there is only room for cookie sheets, cake racks, muffin tins, roasting pans, perforated BBQ veggie baskets, and an electric frying pan down there! Our next solution was to install a pot rack. However, we could not afford a fancy iron or copper beauty. Here’s how we created one on the cheap.

Pot Rack. You may be blessed or cursed with a huge fluorescent light box above your stove in the kitchen. It’s not my favorite technological wonder. (It helped when we replaced our glary fluorescents with “day light” bulbs.) This box was in the way of hanging a pot rack above the stove. So, my clever husband found a work-around. He mounted eye-hook bolts in the ceiling and then wrapped wire cable through the hooks. He fed the looped cable through slots he sawed into the plastic panels to hang a metal bar. We got the bar and hooks for hanging the pots from Bed, Bath, and Beyond and eye-hooks and cable from the Do-It-Center. As you can see from the photo, it holds a lot of weight! The bar is subtle, somewhat stylish, cost-effective, and definitely useful!

Hanging Baskets. It’s a girl-thing, I think—collecting baskets! Maybe a carry-over from hunter and gatherer days? I find it difficult to pass up a basket at a garage sale. However, I am pretty picky. It can’t cost over $3—usually is $1. It has to be large and intricately wrought, the more unusual, the better. I do use my baskets. I like to see them, have them around me to choose from for the occasion. Hanging them from my light panel not only makes them easy to reach, but also lovely to look at. And, they mask that outdated light panel! We can’t afford to replace the light box with recessed, directional lighting. So, “hiding” it is the next best answer! Nails for hanging the baskets are easily pounded in the seams between the frame and molding.

Pot Lids. One of the best investments we’ve made is in a pot lid holder. You can see it in the photo. It’s hanging on the wall to the left of the refrigerator. It was not too expensive. We found it at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, too. We used our 25% off coupon that comes in the mail every so often. A bit of advice—mount a board on the wall first, then affix the rack to the board. Over time, the lids have rubbed the paint off the wall, exposing the plaster beneath. Not chic.

Handy Tools. I love having my kitchen tools within reach. Ladles, a box cheese grater, spider (webbed Asian strainer), a pressure cooker, long-handled spoons, and a double boiler all hang from my pot rack. Some people like a bare kitchen. I’m inspired by one with everything I need to get right to work being creative. You can have a cook’s kitchen, too. Make use of the space above your stove or sink. Pot rack bars can be mounted on walls, too. Check out all the great solutions at IKEA for not much money. My only caution would be to avoid hanging heavy cast iron cookware overhead!

Free-Standing Kitchen Cabinet

Add Kitchen Storage. Are you in need of a kitchen makeover, especially to add storage? Before there were built-in kitchen cabinets, there were free-standing units. Some of the most glamorous designer kitchens today actually vary built-in cabinet designs to make them look like separates with different colors and counters. “What goes around comes around” is the old saying to mean what was old is new. Here are some ways to “remodel” your kitchen without spending a lot of money.

Acquire Old “Cabinets.” Find useful pieces of furniture at garage and estate sales, flea markets, Craig’s List on-line, and thrift stores. My kitchen is frankly outdated. The honey-colored oak cabinets need a facelift, which I cannot afford. I also needed more storage for my growing used cookbook and pitcher collections. What to do? I have a French theme going on in my kitchen, using black accents. I bought a simple old bureau and painted it black. I replaced the telephone “desk” built-in (a simple, useless shelf) with the bureau. It holds all kinds of odd shaped articles, from placements to buckets! To match this bureau, I painted my oak range island black, too. The effect looks very Parisian!

Repurpose a China Cabinet. My very generous parents gave me the gift of the china cabinet in the photo. It sits against a low wall that separates my kitchen from the family room. I love it for storage and being able to hang a painting on its backside. I can tell that this unit was originally a beautiful cherry wood. But, I bought it because it had been painted black. It really makes the room look elegant. Yet, it is very practical, because I can now easily get to all my cookbooks. I can see my china, which would otherwise be hidden behind the oak built-in cabinet doors. Bookshelves placed on top of a kitchen table can have a similar effect, all painted the same color to look like a cupboard.

Remove Cabinet Doors. This idea may seem extreme, but depending on how tidy you are, it may prove to be lovely! My sister and I painted the interior of our parents’ very dark wooden cabinets a creamy white. We carefully, artfully arranged all the contents back into the cabinets. We liked the new look so well, I tried to persuade my folks to take off the cabinet doors. They declined. So did my husband, when I suggested doing the same at our house. However, you may have noticed that some of the most beautiful kitchen cabinets today are lighted from within through glass doors. Open shelves beautifully arranged look smart, interesting, and inviting, inspiring culinary creativity.

Decorate Shelves. An old country type custom is to edge shelves with real or paper lace trim. Cabinet interiors or exposed shelving painted in brick red or a gray blue or apple green create a gorgeous backdrop to display everyday dishes and glassware. Display the pieces you like to see and close off the ones you don’t want to see. Arrange your cookbooks by color or kind, just like display artists do in gourmet shops like Sur la Table. Mix them in with your china. Put lighting inside or under your cabinets for drama. Think outside the built-in. Include stand-alone units with character in the period you like.