Organized Life: Pot Lid Holder

In my last post, I mentioned that my productive Saturday had included two organizational accomplishments, one of which was my cabinet cork board. The other was this piece of bad-assery: a special place to keep all of my pot lids! The lids to our pots are glass and I'm always worried they're gonna break when I toss them haphazardly in the back of the cabinet under the stove...probably a valid concern...

Anyway, I've been contemplating the best way to store the pot lids for a while (what an exciting mind I have, right?). There are pot lid holders that you can buy, but those don't really work for me because you still have to drag it out every time you want to get one, unless you have a rolling shelf attachment (which would really be quite awesome). But, you start buying all that stuff and the price really creeps up. So, I decided to just make one on the cheap and learn a few things in the process. 

I got the idea originally from this Real Simple article. However, I knew that I couldn't make mine just like that one because I freakin hate tension roads. I have tried before to make cabinet dividers and what not from tension rods and they never stay where they're supposed to. Then my projects start falling apart and I get sad and give up and spend hours on the couch watching reruns of Monk and Say Yes to the Dress. So, basically, the tension rod is not my friend and I won't employ it in any capacity other than shower curtain-holding. 

I chose to use good old cheap and sturdy dowels and roller catches that I think are actually intended for cabinet doors. I used the roller catches instead of just screwing the dowels in place so that the dowels are removable and I can clean the bottom of the drawer (and change out the lining paper). 

I measured the width of the drawer and then cut my dowels down to size (they needed to be 22.5 inches) using both a handsaw (ugh) and a jigsaw (probably not the right tool, but it got the job done). I sanded the ends with my awesome new sander, then spray painted the dowels a pretty grayish color. 

I then installed the roller catches in the side of the drawer and placed the dowels in them, as shown below. I used two dowels (and four roller catches) so that lids of different sizes would have a place to lean.

And that's it! Now I have great (and removable!) lid storage right in the same drawer as all my pots. And when I make my dream pot rack, I'll probably add more dowels and use the drawer for cookie sheet and cutting board storage, as well as lid storage. Fingers crossed that'll be in the near future!


Let me know what you think and if you have any questions about the installation process!