Is a pot rack too weird of a thing to love? I really do love them. First of all, storing pots and pans in a cabinet is really annoying, and they all bang around when you try to get out the second-to-biggest one out. (Hey, sometimes really stupid things really get on my nerves.) I’ve always dreamed of the day when I could “fetch a pitcher (pot)” just like Wesley does for Buttercup in the best movie of all time.
I had the perfect spot to hang one- right on this gnarly brick chimney that I had painstakingly uncovered from underneath a bunch of plaster.
My dreams were about to come true when I spotted this beauty from Ikea for $15:
However, the thing is 31.5″ wide, and my brick chimney is only 30″ wide. I spent a lot of time holding the rack up to it anyway, trying to see if a genius plan would pop into my brain. I even considered taking a hacksaw to the metal rods, and I would have done it, but the threaded nuts are stuck into the ends of the rods, so I would have cut those off. Stan said that we could still hacksaw it and just epoxy in new nuts, but with my to-do list already a gazillion miles long I just didn’t see it actually happening.
Then I got a brilliant plan. A somewhat pricey plan, but one that would work.
See, Ikea also sells these single rails at a much more acceptable length of 20″.
And they have the exact same threaded nuts in the ends. So all I had to do was buy 6 of them! This is where the pricey part comes in. At $7 a pop I spent a total of $42 on these, plus $15 for the original, bringing the total to $57. That’s actually still a pretty good price for one of these babies compared to what I’ve seen elsewhere, but alas more than the $15 I thought I was originally going to get away with. Oh well. (I will still be able to use the six 31.5″ rods with the six pairs of single brackets elsewhere.)
I assembled the shelf, then Stan the man used his fancy masonry screws to bolt that sucker to the wall. Then we hung the pots.
Woo hoo! Someday I will have gorgeous heavy copper bottom stainless steel pots, but for now these remnants from roommates past will have to do. And yes, the range hood is still serving as a coffee table in the guest bedroom, and may still for a while now… there are too many other things to do that require good weather, and I think that will take an entire afternoon.
Stay tuned to see what we did with that ugly hole!
August 17, 2010 at 10:33 am
I’m really curious to see what you did to the hole!!
PS I love a good pot rack.
August 17, 2010 at 10:53 am
OMG I love the Princess Bride! I love a good love story and that is such a great scene. Cary Elwes … swoon …
With your new pot rack you’ll have to re-create that scene in your kitchen 😉
August 17, 2010 at 10:55 am
Oh hell yes! Stan won’t know what hit him. Hahahahaha
August 17, 2010 at 12:56 pm
That pot on the top shelf would be perfect. 🙂
August 18, 2010 at 7:49 am
I LVOE POT RACKS!! I was so sad that when we moved we couldnt take our old one! To me it just perfects the kitchen!
***Princess Bride is seriously one of the best movies EVER!***
August 18, 2010 at 10:29 am
Ingenious, Madam! What a great evil plan you had. You need to submit this to Ikeahacker.com while you’re at it.
And I second the Princess Bride obsession. Sam still every once in a while just murmurs, “As you wish” to me.
August 23, 2010 at 7:59 am
[…] ugly hole Posted by hiphousegirl under Kitchen, Organization Leave a Comment After I excitedly told you about my new pot rack, I promised to “fill you in” (ahahaha) as to what we did to “fill in” […]
August 24, 2010 at 10:48 am
So, Stan comes in after having changed the oil in his car and rubbing the used motor oil on his face, then you ask him to fetch you a pot that is CLEARLY within your reach, then he gets really close to you with his grubby face and it kinda freaks you out at first but when he caters to your whim and gets you the pot it makes you indescribably happy and the two of you go embrace each other in your back yard at sunset – cute!
July 21, 2011 at 7:59 pm
Just have to second the couple people above. I also love the idea of pot racks and love the movie Princess Bride . This post made me smile! I was just looking for decorating ideas and googled upon your blog 😀 ~Liz