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(FOX 2) - This week, our Jill of All Trades, Jill Washburn, shows us some easy tips for organizing container and pot lids in the kitchen. The answer is as close as your cabinet door.
That blank space on the back of your cabinet doors and/or pantry door is valuable real estate, when it comes to storage.
An adjustable curtain rod is the first way to store lids for pots and pans. Jill used the inexpensive oval shaped rods that are typically painted white. The can be found at the big box retailers and home building suppliers. If you can't find one small enough to fit your cabinet doors, you can trim the rod to fit. The best way to trim it is with a hacksaw. It'll take a few minutes, but it's better than using a power saw, because it is less likely to damage or crush the rod, and cutting metal with your power saw will dull your saw blade.
****A COUPLE OF TIPS HERE.****
1) You probably can not use the screws that come with the curtain rod. They will most likely be longer than the thickness of your cabinet door and would poke through to the front. You can buy packages of shorter screws at hardware stores for a dollar or two. Most likely, 3/8" or ½" will be the size you need.
2) Note the location of shelves or roll-outs in your cabinet. You want to mount the rod so as to not conflict with them.
3) Be aware of the thinnest parts of your cabinet door. You do not want to screw into those because the screws will poke through and show from the front.
Another way to mount lids on your doors is with command hooks. It takes 2 hooks to mount a lid.
Jill says that she prefers the clear plastic ones with the skinny metal hooks because you can adjust the shape of the hook to accommodate your lids, as needed.
Figure out where on the door the lid/lids should sit. Trace the bottom edge of the lid onto the cabinet with a pencil. Place your command hooks at about the "4" and "8" positions on the semi-circle, so that the edge of the lid will sit in the hooks. Once you place the hooks on the door let them set for a couple of hours before you actually hang the lid on them. They need time to fully adhere to the door.
Finally, container lids… they seem to take over every kitchen.
For those, Jill bought a narrow metal bin and mounted that to the inside of the cabinet door. It kept the lids all together and within easy reach. After Jill re-did her kitchen, roll-out shelves prevented that bin from being mounted on the new doors. No worries, says Jill. Now, the container sits on one of the rollout shelves, still keeping all the lids organized.
****NOTE****
Again… before you screw into your doors, make sure you check the length of the screws and the placement, to ensure that they will not go all the way through to the front of your cabinet doors.
To watch Jill demonstrate how to mount these items to your cabinet doors, click the video player above.
PROJECT RATING: Medium