Spoon racks, pot hangers and other kitchen utilities

Well a sure way to ensure that woodworking gets family support is to make things around the house and to be more specific around the kitchen. These are some of the projects that have found their place in our kitchen over the years.

Spoon Hanger

Spoon hanger made from wood and many nails

This was one of the earliest things I made. There is nothing to it. It is a piece of laminated fiber board that I felt was redundant on my computer table and so I had elevated it to other uses. I plonked as many nails as I could at a slight incline and then placed as many spoons as I could over them. It was able to house most of our spoon collection for some time. This was the first time I actually realized how useful the holes in the base of spoons actually are.

Spoon hanger (version 2.0)

Spoon hanger and spice rack

Well after getting a jigsaw and making investments in woodworking tools, I could not repeat the same thing to make our next spoon hanger. I took a 4 inch wide  and about 3 foot long plank of block wood and covered the faces (except the  side on the wall)  with teak wood beading. I applied primer, wood putty and then brown paint in that order. I fixed as many hooks this time at regular intervals to hold up spoons.  I used two L clamps to fix the plank on the wall. (They are not visible in the photo as the spoons are hiding them).  The top of the hanger can hold a light weight as the L clamps are the only support. This serves to hold all our masala racks and the spoons hang from this.

Spoon Hanger version 3

Spoon rack from a steel toothbrush stand

This stainless steel thingy was actually a toothbrush stand. However the holes, though attractive were either too big or too small to hold any of our toothbrushes. ( I have learnt that it is probably good to take a toothbrush while trying purchasing a toothbrush stand, and your kids when buying clothes for them. My children are almost always of a different size from what I imagine. It turns out my toothbrush also was).  It needed a small piece of wood to give it an offset from the wall. The piece is some packaging wood that was planed and actually looked quite beautiful. Two large two inch screws fix the hanger right into the wall which has a plastic  screw holder. Stainless steel holder for all the small stainless steel spoons. Sounds logical.

Pot hanger

Pot hanger from a towel rod and plastic S hooks

This is a towel hanger hung over a kitchen window that will always be closed. We found   a set of plastic S hooks in a mall in Ludhiana. Metal S hooks are also available in hardware shops for about Rs 30 a piece. However you will have to open them out to the right size in some shop where they can bend metal. The plastic hooks were way cheaper and easier to use and we thought we would use them for as long as they last. They seem fine now after a few months.  This holds many of our pots and pans. It has also serves to keep the vessels out of reach of my younger one and a half year old  daughter. She can reach them. However taking them out involves lifting it out of the S hook, a motor task she has thankfully not learnt as yet.