Home Q&A: How to store pots, pans and cookware perfectly in the kitchen
At under €40, the Joseph Joseph grey DrawerStore expanding cookware organiser is a simple fix for a struggling pot drawer.
We've all suffered the pan avalanche at some time. It’s loud, comedic — a real timewaster. Before we even start buying in some pricey solution, start with a ruthless declutter of those tacky, dinged-up, quietly despised pots and pans you rarely use.
Even if they are newly minted cuckoos — let them go.Weighing up the remainder (including replacements you’re planning), divide them up into everyday pots and pans and occasional servants (this latter group could go into remote storage somewhere else, like an open pan tree in a utility room).
Lay out both groups of cookware on the counter and assess the square centimetres you need in between one and four shelves or drawers, adding 10%-15% for handle space. In terms of positioning, we’re siting the pans and lids where they are most needed — at the cook-zone. This might be under the stove top if you have one sited independently, or behind your cooking position built into your island or peninsula. Examine which pans you use most and prioritise those.
Pot drawers (two if you have a lot of cookware) have been a common inclusion in kitchen flips for the last 40 years. One tug and your arsenal is right there, under your eye. Marked by a deeper drawer with internal side-rails, they should slide out fully to the back while remaining level.
Intended for one layer of cookware flat or edge on, returning each pan to its designated spot, and stacking matching pots systematically, is crucial to keep organisation tight. Pot drawers can be deployed with or without the lids, which can be set in their own “library” shelf or drawer above the pot drawer within easy reach. Removing lids allows you to use the belly of a larger pan for a smaller one. In terms of width, 60cm would be typical for a pot drawer, but a 90cm drawer gives more standing room for your battery, matched to 30cm to 50cm in height.
It’s important that the drawer can carry 8-12 weighty pans, including cast-iron, operating on excellent running rails and strong joints built to support a level glide with the tip of a finger. Soft-close kits (without the drawer face) rated for 40kg start around €35. Keep any dish drawer aside from your pot drawers. This allows 2 people to handle the cooking and the plating without collisions. To protect the base of the pot drawer from impact damage, consider a metal, rubber or pegged liner insert (or riser) which can be easily lifted out for cleaning. I like IKEA’s Uppdatera pegboard drawer organiser from just €10 a piece to put manners on pans and lids. IKEA also offer an upright 40cm drawer insert to shuffle lids to the back of a pot drawer, €10, ikea.com/ie. The whole range is fantastic. My other favourite is the Joseph Joseph Grey DrawerStore Expanding Cookware Organiser, designed with struggling, single-pan drawers in mind. €34.99, Eu.josephjoseph.com.
Articulated carousels (attached to the door or operated independently) and pull-out steel racks make excellent use of existing or new base cabinets, including those maddening corner cupboards. They are a serious improvement on a fixed in-cabinet shelf, as again, like the drawer, they bring the pots out to you.
Pans can be heavy, especially when you’re bent double, so rummaging, delaying, and forced decanting can be miserable. With multiple levels, we can segregate the pans in singles or stacks by type and/or size. Again, use a dedicated insert to consign pot lids to their own area. One of the best hacks I’ve used for small and light pan lids and old base cabinets is a simple set of two horizontal steel dish-cloth rods set on the inside face of a standard 60cm cabinet door. Just slip the lids onto it, handles out.
If you are forced to stack cookware and leave the lids on, flip the lids over — it makes pan stacking so much easier. Use protective inserts (generally star-shaped silicone or felt) to prevent bruising the inside of a pan with the base of another. Prices for pull-out metal racks start at €60 for a 40mm wide model. You could pay as much as €270 for a generous, pivoting kitchen kidney corner unit, suited to pans, but doubling the price of a base cabinet with storage hardware. Watch the weight rating. Suppliers include kitchenfittingsdirect.ie. Stacking coated pans? Use separators or a piece of kitchen paper to protect their surface from scratches.
It’s not for everyone, but TikTok and hundreds of pert social media influencers are raving about the possibilities of hanging the pans this winter. Now, we’re all intelligent, design-savvy cooks here. I don’t have to point out that the visuals with ceiling-mounted pan supports are highly present.
Do you want your pan collection swaying like gigantic earrings through your kitchen airspace? The commercial kitchen demands the speed of quick repetitive grabs (just pausing for breath as I see The Bear’s muscular arms snatching down an omelette pan).
Magazine imagery of a full battery features glorious copper pans. This rustic display makes sense if you’re routinely using your copper pans, or don’t mind the odd steel or aluminium commoner shouldering out of this glowing group.
Anything hanging and standing in the open air of your kitchen should be used regularly, or it will gather the oily, humid air and dust in a revolting cloak. Many racks offer an upper grill to place additional pans and to suspend hooks for utensils. These can get filthy if not used weekly. Only hang up pans that won’t split someone’s head open or shatter a counter or tile flooring if they fall. It’s just too easy to fumble while hurriedly reaching for a cast-iron skillet. There are multiple variations on fixed rails, rather nice in an industrial vibe, or a timber or metal rack set on pulleys and ropes. Ensure it’s all screwed firmly into a ceiling joist. Relying on plasterboard alone, you could receive your batterie-de-cuisine swiftly and completely in an explosive bang.
Adore your Le Creuset casserole in its magical colourway? There’s a great opportunity to have some fun, styling them up against everything from plants to artwork, and spice jars to favourite serving dishes. Again, really think about pans you use several times a month. Place them with their lids on if at all possible, to keep the interiors clean and ready to go. Wall shelves, whether used as singles over counters or integrated in dresser arrangements, should be deep and supremely sturdy. This will rule out cheaper cantilever shelving with a light load rating. If you’re hanging up or even placing cast-iron pans near tile, be careful not to swing them in rudely where they could smash off your backsplash. Pot lid organisers can go onto open shelving too, and a few pots can ride on the bottom shelf of any articulated trolley. Open cubby storage at the backside of a large island will only be seen from the cook’s position — simple, uncomplicated, direct.
Hooks and wall-mounted rails offer the advantage of sitting right over a counter at the cook zone. As many of us have surrendered our wall-mounted storage cabinets, there are more empty wall metres to play with.
Rails under shelves offer lots of clever staging spots, and loose S-hooks (butcher style) can be slid along a plain rail to suit the pan size. Don’t confuse pan rails with lighter utensil rails. You don’t have to display only copper and enamelled cast iron.
Well-kept, gleaming stainless steel looks beautiful too. Just as you used a rail on the inside of a cabinet door, you can place your pan lids on the back of any rail, braced on the wall over the pans. Set out small metallic baskets with smaller sliding hooks to take the occasional hand tool, like a large honest spoon, stirring spoon, grater or whisk. Avoid making the area a bristling forest, slicing through your sight lines or setting out a spice rack. Break up that visible storage hardware and share it over the space.
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