Small Space Solution: How To Make a Vertical Pot Rack

Mary, a reader, just sent an email showing us her pot rack solution for a small kitchen. She doesn't have a lot of room in the kitchen for a full-sized pot rack, since their kitchen has only eight feet of vertical space. Read on to see more of why, and how, she hung this inexpensive and practical pot rack.

Mary says:

Here is our idea on how to "hang vertical" when you are space challenged. This is a metal chain, S-hooks, and a carabiner purchased from a home improvement store. Total cost including hooks to hang pots was $42.76. The hardest part was making sure we found a stud to hang this from.

I thought at first I wouldn't like it because our kids would bang into it for sound effects but the only people who seem to like it is our cats (and they can't really get it rockin'..at least yet).

I love pot racks, and I love to see what I have and find what I need, but in a 8-foot ceiling kitchen a standard pot rack has proven to be very painful (especially for our guests over 6').

We like this — thank you so much Mary! It's a good solution for both very tall and very short people; I personally have never had a pot rack because I could never hang it low enough for my short self! But this is a practical way for even the most vertically-challenged cook to have all her pots and pans on display, and to keep them away from taller visitors' heads!

(Images: Mary via email)

i like this :)

posted by deebo on September 2nd 2009 at 1:03pm
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I have no need to make such pot rack, but I also really like this idea. Nice work Mary!

posted by Kalinda on September 2nd 2009 at 1:18pm
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this looks messy to me. i'd utilize the vertical wall space beside the window for some kind of wall-mounted racks instead.

posted by rachpie on September 2nd 2009 at 1:23pm
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Or I think with something to anchor the chain at the bottom, and a nice "antique looking" spray on the chain...it would look a bit better. But yes, I'm with rachpie.

posted by Marie-Eve on September 2nd 2009 at 1:34pm
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I'd rather get a shelf. Or a mounted rack for the wall. Something about the way it looks is too cluttered for me.

posted by adiaphane on September 2nd 2009 at 1:35pm
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I guess it's a cheap way to hang pots but my cats would just rub all over them. Bleh.

posted by gab18481 on September 2nd 2009 at 1:35pm
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I don't think I'd use this to hang pots and I'd think about anchoring the bottom to the floor somehow...but I think it's a clever idea. I'd use it to hang little plant pots (maybe herbs).

posted by slowdown on September 2nd 2009 at 2:22pm
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It's an interesting idea... good when you have smaller (3 liter and less) pots that aren't too heavy....

I bought a pot stand (it is 6 ft tall, made of steel, and holds 7 very heavy cast iron pots) It takes up the same amount of real estate as the chain, but can obviously hold much larger and heavier items. Since we have ceiling tiles in our kitchen, a standard pot rack or this chain idea would not work. Can't recall where I bought it, but it was handmade on the west coast by a company known for forging steel, and was about $300.

posted by modern on long island on September 2nd 2009 at 3:33pm
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I use this to hang bags in a clothes closet. Great space saver.

posted by Gursk on September 2nd 2009 at 4:08pm
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Interesting. I'm a little surprised that a metal chain, S-hooks, and a carabiner cost $42.76. Was the chain the big expense? I can't imagine the hook, S-clips, or carabiner cost that much. $10 in total? Maybe I just don't go to Home Depot often enough.

posted by Plaid Ninja on September 3rd 2009 at 6:52am
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Sorry, but although this is clever use of vertical space, I HATE it! It disturbs my obsessive compulsion for order...

I appreciate that not everyone has the same taste but unfortunately the "messy-ness" of this solution outweighs the storage benefit in my view...

posted by KitchenForce on September 4th 2009 at 6:26am
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You guys aren't suggesting Mary put a hook into that beautiful wood floor, are you?

posted by kushkush on September 17th 2009 at 10:05pm
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posted by jeff888 on November 22nd 2009 at 8:07am
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