Pots & Pans Storage

[Mike Goetzke]

My wife demanded a new set of cookware - many pots/pans. Today we have a 2-door cabinet below or induction cooktop to store the pots/pans but I want to put something inside the cabinet to make it easier to get at what you want and to protect the pans. I see so many organizers and pull outs it's confusing which to get. So if anyone else has gone through this with success I'd appreciate the input. - Thanks

 

[mino]

Replace the doors with drawers. Discard them. Do not make inside-cabined drawers, those are a PITA to access.

For the top drawers you want to have stuff in a single layer for quick access, no pans/pots stacking assumed.

Avoid push-to-open. You want something that can be reliably operated with just one hand.

Top drawer

should be for pans - use height such the pans just fit, not more. About 3-5 inches usable height, depending on pans you use.​

Second drawer

smaller pots, single layer again, height about 7-8 inches usable. Set the height such the pots to be placed there can be placed in *including* their covers in their "normal" position, not upside down. Again, quick access is the name of the game.​

Bottom drawer

should be as deep as it goes, allowing stacking of layers of pots not used often inside each other​

All that said. Once you draft the concept. Discuss it deeply with TSO and have her think about it a few days before going for a decision. Do not rush it.

GL

 

[Packard]

Visit Rev-A-Shelf for ideas.

Rev-A-Shelf

Rev-A-Shelf manufactures thousands of innovative storage organizing accessories designed for residential stock or custom kitchen, bath or closet cabinetry.

rev-a-shelf.com

 

[tjbnwi]

I’m a baker and hobby chef. I keep 4 pots/pans on the cooktop for convenience, a 1qt, 2qt, 12” frying pan, and a melter. This is done for convenience.

That said, we build custom systems into every kitchen we create. What material pots/pan do you use and what are the most used sizes?

What size is your cooktop? A picture will help.

Tom

 

[Michael Kellough]

I’m a baker and hobby chef. I keep 4 pots/pans on the cooktop for convenience, a 1qt, 2qt, 12” frying pan, and a melter. This is done for convenience.

That said, we build custom systems into every kitchen we create. What material pots/pan do you use and what are the most used sizes?

What size is your cooktop? A picture will help.

Tom

I too am of the opinion that the most often used pots and pans should stay on the cooktop.
Maybe if I too was "a baker and hobby chef" my wife would agree with me.

 

[Mini Me]

We had a cupboard with fixed shelves accessed through two doors so I put the shelves on slides and called it done.

 

[mino]

I find that the issue with "leaving most used stuff on the cooktop" is what you do with it when you actually need to cook using different stuff? Where do you put it? So you still need to have the shelf/drawer space for it, even if mostly left "waiting".

Sure, if you have a very big 40"+ cooktop with 6+ cooking zones it is likely some will be available as "storage" space at all times. Over here mostly 24" class cooktops are the thing though. Meaning that while the kettle could stay semi-permanently on it and be put only sideways. That is about it. Sure, a pot and a pan IS there mostly, but those still need "their place" for situations when real cooking starts .. and that place should be quickly accessible.

---
On another note, our plan for a new kitchen is to have three dual hobs instead of a single quad gas one as is the case today. A gas hob, an induction hob as the main ones and a cast-iron hob at the location there is just a put-aside space now. We figure the space is anyway "used" for placing pans and pots, so why not just "store/place" them on a cast iron hob that can be useful at times in its capacity and takes zero additional space, nor needs a consideration when placing stuff on, unlike the main gas and induction hobs do.

We had a cupboard with fixed shelves accessed through two doors so I put the shelves on slides and called it done.

I take it you do not cook that much complex stuff in the kitchen. A drawer behind doors cannot be practically accessed while one of your hands is occupied. Unlike simple doors (no need to open both of them) or a simple drawer could.*)

I find to have a blocked hand all the time /making dough by hand, cutting meat, holding something in it, whatever the cause/ so a one-handed operation for pulling the most-used stuff out is a must in my view.


*) That said, a face-less drawer in the form of a shelf on slides is probably not that bad an idea as the stuff on the front of it is still accessible without both doors opened. Rethinking it .. it is an excellent idea. Especially for an existing kitchen upgrade.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

I’m a baker and hobby chef. I keep 4 pots/pans on the cooktop for convenience, a 1qt, 2qt, 12” frying pan, and a melter. This is done for convenience.

That said, we build custom systems into every kitchen we create. What material pots/pan do you use and what are the most used sizes?

What size is your cooktop? A picture will help.

Tom

We are getting a stainless steel set. It has three fry pans 8/10/12 w/lids, three pots 2q/3q/8q w/lids, and so less used cookware - 12" wok, 7q saute, and 12" griddle. Probably most used are 8"/10" fry pans and 2q/3q pots. We have a 36" induction cooktop.

Looking at the pic, I'm sad to say I will be selling my De Buyer mineral B carbon steel pans. They don't get used much because with many cooks I couldn't get them all to follow the rules on using them and cleaning them.

Here is a pic. I built this kitchen about 12 years ago - that cabinet bottom needs a refresh. Since it's a cooktop the drawers are functional and store all our cooking gear.

 

[tjbnwi]

Sucks you have to get rid of your carbons. My wife does not touch my All Clad D5’s or cast iron. She has 2 pans she uses.

Drawers would be you best option so you don’t have to open doors. Are you will to rework the top drawers? Go with a single width shallow. From there make new lower drawers.

Don’t want to go that route go with rollouts. You’ll need to use X-series adjustable system or pad out the sides to get the slides to work. Wait until the set comes to do your layout. Umdermonut slides are your friend.

Tom

 

[P_K]

I've got one of these for the pots and pans I use the most. https://enclume.com/collections/wall-racks-bookshelf

 

[MacBoy]

About 3-5 inches usable height

Noticed you are fluent in Imperial and in Metric.

Is it because of the job? Or you’re being nice to the USA cousins?

 

[mino]

Noticed you are fluent in Imperial and in Metric.

Is it because of the job? Or you’re being nice to the USA cousins?

I did a lot of different-audience-communication last 10+ years, be it individual or group, and got attuned to automatically consider the audience.

On this forum, it is 'easier' to use inches, metric would not be understood by non-metric folk and dual-uniting is an overkill when precision is not needed.

Also, I find it easier to convert inches > metric in the mind than vice versa (multiply versus divide), so seeing inches does not bother me much, I assume is similar for other 'metric' folk.

Would never consider actually using the related fractional system in anger, it is just .. lets avoid the profanities .. if someone asked me to use a proper base12 system, I would be intrigued .. but no one ever will ..

 

[onocoffee]

Looking at the pic, I'm sad to say I will be selling my De Buyer mineral B carbon steel pans. They don't get used much because with many cooks I couldn't get them all to follow the rules on using them and cleaning them.

This hurts me on a personal level.

I would encourage you to rethink letting those go. Those DeBuyers are some of my all-time favorite pans - both in my old professional kitchen and now at home. They're pretty much indestructable and I've resurrected quite a few of them when I found a stack of them in the recesses of one of our old kitchens (the old bakery, actually), lonely, abused and rusty.

There's a lot of dogma surrounding both carbon steel and cast iron pans, but I gave up on those over a decade ago. They can take the "abuse" of dishwashers, dish soap and the litany of things that people insist "you should never do" to these pans. Let your family of cooks have at them - they'll even withstand short stints of sauteing tomato sauces without adverse effects.

In the kitchens, we just stacked them on wire racks - and we're didn't treat them gingerly. Straight from dish to the stack and maybe just wiped down a little - sometimes even stacked a bit wet. Once the layers have built, you really have be very intentional to attack the coating - like putting them into an 800F oven for an hour.

At home, I have a setup similar to yours, but in the cabinet there are two pull-out drawers under the counter where we just stack all the cookware: carbon, cast, stainless - deBuyer, Lodge, Griswold, Sitram, All Clad, Cuisinart - whatever, it all gets stacked. The only ones I might treat with small kid gloves would be the non-stick coated pan, but I only buy cheap non-stick pans (usually aluminum but sometimes stainless) from the restaurant supply and then toss them once the coating starts to get abraded.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

Sucks you have to get rid of your carbons. My wife does not touch my All Clad D5’s or cast iron. She has 2 pans she uses.

Drawers would be you best option so you don’t have to open doors. Are you will to rework the top drawers? Go with a single width shallow. From there make new lower drawers.

Don’t want to go that route go with rollouts. You’ll need to use X-series adjustable system or pad out the sides to get the slides to work. Wait until the set comes to do your layout. Umdermonut slides are your friend.

Tom

Most of the kitchen I put in drawers. To follow the pattern I would need a large(bottom)-medium-small(top). Might not work for pans well. I have seen some pull-out racks have door attachment kits but that might even be a challenge for me to open.

 

[tjbnwi]

I do have a question about the pans;

If they cannot figure out carbons how are they going to work with stainless? Can you get them to understand the Leidenfrost Affect, not grasping this will cause more grief than one can imagine. I know of no way to create a long term season layer on stainless pans (temporary is kinda possible). Properly seasoned carbons are far more forgiving than stainless.

Also what ever set you’re getting make sure they are induction compatible incase you end up changing the cooktop some day (I know your current one is a sealed element) .

Tom

 

[peter halle]

I am so jealous. My cooktop layout has a downdraft fan and that mechanism and the accompanying fan (which is very powerful) make the cabinet under the cooktop virtually unusable. I have room for a rolling pin, my sous vide immersion heater, oven mitts and a couple of shower caps for bread making. Arghhh.

Peter

 

[Cheese]

I'll just give some buyer beware advice, if you purchase a cabinet or slides that include these standoffs............run away from them and don't use the standoffs.

I purchased a cabinet that was specifically designed to handle pots & pans and here's how the slides were installed using the slide standoffs. They worked well for the first 14 months and then I noticed serious issues. On photo 0035, notice the sawdust on the floor of the cabinet...residue generated from screw movement within each standoff.

I'd guesstimate that there is about 60# of pans in each drawer which is certainly not excessive.

 

[Sparktrician]

I keep 4 pots/pans on the cooktop for convenience,

That wouldn't work on the induction range I have. If anything is left on the cooktop for over a minute and in a space where no burners are activated, the range senses the presence and sets off an alert to clear the range top.

 

[Sparktrician]

The kitchen in the house I bought last year has a cabinet with what I suspect is shelving from Rev-A-Shelf. In order to adjust the height of the upper shelf, I have to completely unscrew the unit from the back of the cabinet, adjust the upper shelf height, then reattach the upper rails to the back wall of the cabinet.

 

[Michael Kellough]

The kitchen in the house I bought last year has a cabinet with what I suspect is shelving from Rev-A-Shelf. In order to adjust the height of the upper shelf, I have to completely unscrew the unit from the back of the cabinet, adjust the upper shelf height, then reattach the upper rails to the back wall of the cabinet.

Tom said “You’ll need to use X-series adjustable system”