Best way to store pots and pans

13 years ago

We don't have a big kitchen, so not a lot of room to play with. Right now we have pots and pans in a big 47 inch cabinet but there's lots in there we don't use or use only once or twice a year, so I'm thinking of moving those to upper cabinets that are not as easily accessible (we are building to the ceiling). So we don't need all that space for pots.

Anyhow, right now we store our cans, dried goods, etc in a lazy susan in a base corner unit. Am drooling over the supercabinet for this, which would take the space of the pots and pans cabinet (though wouldn't be 47 inch - would use some of the space for a pullout spice/bottle rack), so these would move to the corner unit. I've switched it now to try it out and find the lazy susan a bit annoying with the pots and pans but there seems to be different types available so one might be better? Or we could get a corner unit that pulls out - would that be better? I haven't seen these in person so not sure how exactly they work.

I really like the idea of big deep drawers for pots but my husband doesn't, and if we did that we couldn't have the supercabinet. He likes the look of the cabinets with the pullout drawers for pots, but again, then no supercabinet and food goes back in the corner unit!

Aaaarrrgh. Can't really figure out what is best! Any thoughts appreciated!

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Comments (18)

plllog
13 years ago
That's a knotty problem. I agree about putting the least used pots up near the ceiling. I did that too. I love pot drawers. So do most people here. Roll out tray shelves (ROTS) are okay for pots, but are something of a waste. You have to completely open the doors before you can pull out the ROTS, which is a lot of extra motion, and getting out of the way of the doors. The advantage is if you have a stack of skillets you can kind of see it sideways. It's not a really big advantage. The trick to pot drawers, whether they're actual drawers or ROTS, is to make them as wide as possible. The wider they are, the more usable space there is because you don't have the space lost to the dividing sides and hardware, and you can use all the spare inches added together for handles, accessories, and small pots.

BUT then you don't get the supercabinet. I don't know what that is, but I get it that you want it. I used to have pantry goods on pie cut supersusans in my old kitchen. I hated it!! I actually think pots are better on them (in my old kitchen the daily pots were stored on the counter). You don't like it, however.

You can take the pots you least like to get in and out of your corner to the cabinet showrooms and try them out with different corner units.

Also, why don't you post your kitchen plan so that we can see what's going on and see if we can help figure something out. (Instructions on how to post pictures are in the READ ME thread if you need them.)
cooksnsews
13 years ago
Can you hang a pot rack anywhere? I love mine, although visitors have been known to knock their heads on the fry pans when they sneak into my work space. Serves them right...
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sayde
13 years ago
I love my pot rack too. Just so handy. It really works better for the smaller pans but I keep my most used big ones on it too. I thought about giving it up in the remodel to have a prettier kitchen with a nice light fixture over the island, but the pot rack is too good to relinquish.
desertsteph
13 years ago
what is a supercabinet?
Buehl
13 years ago
I strongly recommend against ROTS in general. I have both and wish I only had drawers and pullout-style base cabinets (pullout-style are the ones that are attached to doors so act like drawers...a trash pullout is an example as is a spice pullout or even a pullout pantry.) I really dislike my ROTS.

For a discussion on Drawers vs ROTS, see the thread linked below.

I, too, wonder what a "supercabinet" is.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread: Drawers or doors with pull outs?
beckington
Original Author
13 years ago
Ah sorry, didn't realize a supercabinet wasn't an 'official' thing, lol! Here's a link:

http://s7d5.scene7.com/s7ondemand/zoom/flasht_zoom.jsp?company=brandlicensing&sku=Tho.SuprCabToeMHb.S6&config=Scene7SharedAssets/Zoom3&zoomwidth=780&zoomheight=545

I do worry that it's a bit overdesigned and I'll get annoyed trying to fit things into it, but overall I think it's a good use of space - I hope, anyhow! I was going to start another thread asking about people's experience with these.

Interesting re debate about ROTS and drawers. I like the idea of drawers for pots (husband doesn't, but I figure I get two votes since I'm pregnant so I can outvote him, heh), but then all my cans, dried goods etc need to stay in the lazy susan... ugh! Would a 36 inch drawer be wide enough, do you think?

I don't have a design I can post yet - still everything is very rough. Hopefully soon!

Not keen on pot racks from the ceiling - we do have a kind of empty wall in the kitchen where the table goes but I think it'd be awkward to have to reach over the table to get the pots. We are losing storage by having the table there but I love a table in my kitchen and having it feel very open without shelves there.

Thanks for all your thoughts!

Here is a link that might be useful: Supercabinet
maisoui1
13 years ago
The super cabinet looks to die for. Nevertheless drawers are the best thing in my kitchen. Yes do get them wide. Some pots have lomg handles. I hate hate hate my ROTS. Grand waste of money. Should have done drawers instead.
plllog
13 years ago
I got corner drawers because I hated my old lazy susans so much. Maybe that's something to consider. If you get all drawers in your base cabinets you have the flexibility to fill them with whatever you want. 36" wide drawers should be just be fine for pots, depending on how many you have. My pot drawers are 48", but that required extra heavy duty hardware. The borrowed computer I'm on can't load your supercabinet link. If it's a fitted can pantry, it might not be the best use of storage space because you can't always be sure the size and shape of the things you want to store. Also, if it's a lower cabinet with nothing that pulls out, then you're going to be crouching down there juggling a baby. Doesn't sound fun. A lot of people in this forum use drawers for their cans and spices. I have my canisters in two of my corner drawers.

Hmmm....I'm not trying to pressure you to get drawers. We have rather a bias toward them here. But do use your extra vote if it's what you want. They really are nice to have. And congratulations on the extra vote, by the way!

This is one of my corner drawers with dishes in it.
taggie
13 years ago
Wow, I've never seen corner drawers like that before. Those are amazing!
marcolo
13 years ago
Personally I love the super susan in my apartment for pots. They hold an amazing amount of stuff, and pots and pans use the height of a super susan much better than a bunch of cans would. I've even got a lobster pot down there, with no problems getting to it.
John Liu
13 years ago
Any time pots and pans are stored in drawers, they get stacked and nested, which means you have to excavate the one you want. Unless you only have a few pieces. That's why I prefer to hang my pots and pans. I think it is the most time-efficient storage, as well as the most space-efficient because the overhead space isn't typically being used for anything else.
beckington
Original Author
13 years ago
Wow to those corner drawers - neat!

To those of you who have a lazy susan for pots and like it - is it just a normal lazy susan? Any tricks to it?

Is something like this a good idea or bad:

http://s7d5.scene7.com/s7ondemand/zoom/flasht_zoom.jsp?company=brandlicensing&sku=Tho.BCFWopn.A&config=Scene7SharedAssets/Zoom3&zoomwidth=780&zoomheight=545

I'm liking the pots in drawers idea, but just looked at how big a 36 inch is and realized it's HUGE! I think such a huge drawer unit would just look strange in my kitchen. Would a 30 inch one be too small to be efficient? I think it could fit my every day stuff.

Was just thinking we do have a chimney/wall thing that I'm not sure how best to use - maybe we could hang pots off that. Will have to think about it. I like that it'd free up cabinet space for other things! I just don't like the idea of pots hanging near my head but this wouldn't be like that. Hmmmm...

Here is a link that might be useful: Fancy smancy corner base unit
bmorepanic
13 years ago
The Fancy smancy is a head-banger, you might want to look for something callled a magic corner instead.

I kinda have mixed feelings about the supercabinet - its sold under many different brand names (anything Masterbrands). So the critisims are:

You'd need to have pretty wide aisles to be able to walk around the various pull-outs and see what's there. Opening and closing 7 different doors/drawers/pullout and you still can't see whats on the narrow shelves.

You have mostly a top view and would have to poke your head down to be able to see the stuff on the bottom and maybe the next to bottom rows of stuff.

Not so good at tall or wide things. If you buy oil in larger bottles or vinegars, where would they go? The only tall space is the size of a salad dressing bottle and its on a narrow, but deep shelf with no side views.

I think its less storage than 3 drawers or 3 pullouts. Except maybe for the uber cute toe-kick drawer.
rjr220
13 years ago
I have 2 drawers for pots/pans. I measured my pots and pans and made sure that they were big enough so that I would have minimal stacking/nesting: as you can see in this picture of my small pots and skillets, with the use of an Ikea vertical divider, I can put lids vertical, as well as my most often used small skillet. The only nested items are one other skillet and the steamer/double boiler. I have at least 25 pieces in these 2 drawers. It is very handy.

I also have a super susan, which has no center pole and the shelves are mounted on shelves. It is marvelous -- I store my plastics on it, but there is room for my toaster oven when I want to declutter for company (or gardenweb pictures!) I think it would be quite adequate for pots/pans storage -- but with the drawers I just have to open the drawer I want to get the pot I want -- with the SS you'd have to possibly turn the shelf (and you know, that extra 5 seconds could just screw up my schedule).

Here's a picture of it in the process of being installed in the cabinet -- it's the lower shelf, the upper one hasn't been installed yet, but it gives you an idea of the functional space.

Here is a link that might be useful: super susan source
eandhl
13 years ago
beckington, did you see my response in your other post about pull out narrow pantry? They work very well in small kitchens.
rcvt
13 years ago
My super susan is exactly the same design as rjr20's. I have two and love them. In this current remodel, we've made more and better space for the folding doors to open wider, and that should be a nice improvement. I store big pots, strainers, baking flours, mixers, plastic storage containers, a watering can, a rice cooker -- and other awkwardly-shaped stuff I can't visualize at this moment.

Like johnliu, I prefer to hang pots, but our kitchen is so small that even wall and ceiling space is limited. I do have my frying pans up on a pot rack, though.

rc
misplacedtxgal
13 years ago
The super cabinet looks good, but as mentioned I think it would be more difficult find things; bending, looking etc. Were it at my house it wouldn't stay that organized either! Here's my two ideas:

1) Take a look at a super pantry. Same sort of thing, but taller. Most I've seen are placed by the fridge. It would allow you to place frequently used items at eye level.

2) Rev A Shelf makes a door mount kit for many of their roll out drawers. Your husband gets his door "look" and you get a drawer. They do require one more step to pull out the top drawer, however, once you pull out the door.

Sorry I didn't have time to attach links. It's a busy day.

FYI, pllog, you must have the coolest kitchen ever. Do you give kitchen tours?????
kaismom
13 years ago
Corners are always difficult.

Blum makes those cool corner drawers like plllog. however, a little wedge of 2 triangles are wasted to the left and right of the drawers, which i could not afford to lose...

Magic corner (I think is the name) does not. There are other pullout corner devices that do wastes less time and the contents are pulled out. These do not have folding corner doors that lazy susans have. The problem with lazy susan is that the opening is small to get things in and out of the spot. Lasy susans require that the corners have hinged doors. I did not like these very well in my old kitchen. Currently, I installed pullout type of corner peanuts. This way, I have a place to store oversized things which do not fit into drawers. I have all lower drawers.

pullout peanuts:

http://69.50.210.69/~ezeedemo/surrealdesigns/wp-content/uploads/image/inolemans.jpg

I really wanted the magic corner but my cabinet maker would NOT warrantee the product. It is not their usual thing that they offer because they were not sure that hardware would last if you really load them up! (my cabinets come with lifetime warantee) When I visit Ikea, I always check out their corner hardware, i have seen them "falling" apart at times which tells me that they may not hold up to abuse....

magic corner:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51kSKKkpitL._SL500_AA300_.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nicefurnishings.com/b/Blinds/Chrome_Blind_Corner_Organizer_Pullout_Unit_for_Kitchen_Base_Blind_Cabinet_B001ROS8Y8.htm&usg=__w4sIT08NPqf5eJ0bt9cGD8I1HYw=&h=300&w=300&sz=24&hl=en&start=28&sig2=HUO18TAhy7fWYey6i3SOYQ&tbnid=F5rxj__9DVsVsM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&ei=GldcTM3DCZCisQPvwPHbDQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcorner%2Bpullout%26start%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1G1GGLQ_ENUS337%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1

lazysusan
http://www.ajdesigncompany.com/images/kd/lazys2.jpg

Best way to store pots and pans

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