This Stylish Organizer Keeps Your Counter Spotless While You Cook — and It’s on Sale Right Now

As someone who spends a lot of time talking about kitchen tools, I have a bone to pick with the word multifunctional. I try to use it sparingly, because, in my opinion, true multifunctional products are hard to come by. Sure, there are gadgets that can chop and puree, and you can mash potatoes using a pastry cutter (if you must), but unless you’re reaching for a tool every single day for a variety of functions and tasks, I have a hard time making space for it in my small kitchen.

Skeptical as I am, though, I’m not quite ready to strike this overused word from my permanent vocabulary. In fact, I’ve found a kitchen tool that is so quintessentially multifunctional, it deserves a spot on every kitchen counter. Yamazaki’s perfectly named Ladle Holder-Lid Stand has a simple, streamlined design that protects kitchen counters from sticky messes, holds steamy lids, and (you guessed it) solves a bunch of other cooking-related problems. The versatile stand is so popular, it has more than 3,300 5-star ratings and a huge fan base on Amazon, where scores of people mention using it multiple times per day. As one reviewer shares, “Every now and then you run across something that makes your life easier. This is one of those things.” If that’s not enough to entice you, right now the Ladle Holder-Lid Stand is on sale for less than $20. 

The design team at Yamazaki makes some of our favorite organizing solutions for the kitchen and home, and the Ladle Holder-Lid Stand is no exception. Though the stand is relatively compact at just under 4 inches square and 6 inches tall, it’s quite sturdy and capable of supporting heavy lids. One reviewer reports successfully using the stand to hold the lids to her 5-quart Le Creuset braiser and 8-quart Dutch oven, saying, “These are the largest, heaviest, lids I have and it works like a charm!” Another customer celebrated the fact that it is sturdy enough to hold a Ninja Foodi pressure cooker lid.

I’ve got nothing against traditional spoon rests, but they never seem to capture all of the drips and splatter that inevitably occur when you put your cooking utensil down during cooking. The Ladle Holder-Lid Stand’s vertical design encourages sauce, oil, and other liquids to flow down into a dish at the base, which can be removed for cleaning. Whether you use a wooden spoon, a spatula, or tongs, sticky spills will be contained, and countertops will remain spotless. As one reviewer puts it, “Whenever I use this, I think about how awkward and messy life was without it.” 

If messy countertops or ranges aren’t your biggest concern, the stand can also be used to hold a cookbook or an iPad (when you’re not using it for spoons or lids, of course). The stand manages to do it all while still being aesthetically pleasing. One reviewer described it as “modern and low key,” while another went so far as to call it “the best invention ever.”

So let it be known, if I ever use the word multifunctional again, I’ll mean it. But I doubt I’ll find something that fits the description as well as this clever stand.

Buy: Yamazaki Ladle Holder-Lid Stand, $18.99 (normally $25.87)