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Custom Pot Rack

We have a lot of pots and pans. And we just got married, so we just got even more. Our cabinet where those pots and pans were stored was beginning to look a bit icky...

We were running out of room and it was difficult to get things in and out. So I decided we needed a solution. Unfortunately, our kitchen is kinda tiny, so the options are limited. Doing some searching online, I found this idea. I thought it would be a great solution to hang the pots and pans in the cabinet.

So I went to Amazon and ordered the suggested hardware and enlisted my dad for help over the Thanksgiving weekend. Cost: $44.66 (free shipping with Prime)

That weekend arrived and we started planning and calculating and measuring. Then we noticed the rack I bought only had 6 hooks. You saw my cabinet. That's not even close to enough. So back online I went to see about ordering more hooks. That's when we discovered the nasty trick. Extra hooks cost $10 each! If I wanted 4 more hooks, I'd end up paying nearly as much as the rack itself!

Um.... time to find another solution...

So we looked at cabinet storage solutions such as this one. Good idea, but a little more than we wanted to pay at the moment. It was something we decided to keep in mind for the future, but we kept looking for more options.

There is one place in my kitchen where we decided we might be able to hang pots, at the far end by the fridge.

Theoretically the pot rack I bought would work for this purpose as well, but we'd have the same issue with extra hooks costing way too much. Time to improvise.

The first decision was how we wanted to hang it. We checked for studs and decided it would probably work to hang it from the ceiling. So we measured and then headed to the hardware store to see if we could figure something out.

Materials

Here's what we ended up with (after stopping at all three big chain hardware stores ... multiple times).
1" by 3' aluminum tube : $6.54
2 - 3 7/8" round screw hooks : $0.92
2 - 1/4x4 J bolts : $1.68
12 - 1 1/2 Steel Rings : $9.91
8 - 2 1/8" S hooks : $10.05 (still need to get a couple more, they ran out)
1/4" hex nuts (20ct, but only needed 2) : $1.04
7/8" rubber chair foot floor protectors (4 ct, only 2 needed) : $2.17
Total: $32.41

What we did

First we need to drill holes in the aluminum tube. This was the most difficult part. It's really hard to make sure the holes are in the center of the tube and lined up straight, but we winged it and it worked.

The screw hooks were screwed into studs in the ceiling. They need to be in studs if you want them to support the weight. We were a little unsure if there were actually studs there since we didn't see much wood coming out of the holes we drilled, but since it's held for a month, I'm going to guess we're good.

The J bolt is secured in the tube with a hex nut and then hung from the screw hook. We also bought a little bit of chain in case we wanted it lower, but we ended up not using it since the hooks gave us just the right amount of distance from the ceiling.

To hang the pots, we put the steel rings on the tube (before screwing in the J bolt) and then hung S hooks from them. This ensured the pots would hang sideways and can nestle inside of each other a bit, giving us more room. If you wanted them to hang facing the wall, you could just get some bigger S hooks and put them right on the tube itself.

To dress up the rough ends of the tube a bit, we used the chair/floor protectors on the ends.

And this is the final product, all for under $35.

What do you think? Ready to tackle your own?

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