Hang Pots on Wall Week 5: After a Week, Here’s How I Feel About My New Pot Rail

It’s always a gamble when you undertake a new project, and that was no different with my kitchen pot rail project this month. I’d long thought a pot rail would work somewhere in my kitchen, and I was right; I found an area with plenty of empty space and adequate studs, and the two rails were installed without any drama.

Now that I’ve lived with this new system for a little over a week, you may be wondering how I like it. Is this really an improvement over the drawers I was using before?

In short, yes.

When I revealed the pot rail last week, a few readers thought the one rail was too high and would prove inconvenient and frustrating over the long haul — a valid point. (Although suggestions that I immediately start over and find another storage solution proved not so helpful.) I’ll say this: if you have a gut sense that needing to use a stool to grab your pans would really annoy you, then don’t do as I have done. But I’ve lived with this setup for a week now, and I don’t think it’s anywhere near as annoying as people warned it would be.

Here’s how it works for me: it takes an extra 20 seconds or so for me to pull out my step stool (which folds flat, and which I keep propped against the side of one of my kitchen cabinets), climb up, carefully slide the pot handle up and over the S-hook without knocking the S-hook off, climb down, and refold the stool.

So, true — this is not an instant grab-and-go setup like it was when I kept my pans in a drawer. But it’s not that much more cumbersome. Because S-hooks slide on the rail, I do have to be careful I don’t take one with me when I pull down a pan, so I take it slow. One reader suggested using Plasti Dip or Sugru on the S-hooks for more traction, so that’s always an option if it becomes bothersome.

As far as the GRUNDTAL rail itself, it feels incredibly secure right now, helped in part by the stud installation. I also haven’t noticed any pan marks on the wall yet (another reader concern) but I plan to scrub off the marks as soon as I find any. (I deliberately painted my kitchen in the Benjamin Moore Aura line, which is scrubbable.)

I’m feeling pretty happy with this setup so far, particularly since it enabled me to set up a new spice storage system in one of the emptied drawers. (Another long-overdue project!) We’ll see how things go in the next few months!