This Clever Kitchen Addition Keeps Pot Lids Perfectly Organized

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Want to optimize the storage potential of your kitchen's cabinets and drawers? Start by reducing the amount of space your pot lids take up. The obtusely shaped objects use up quite a bit more room than you might realize, thanks to unwieldy handles and the fact that they're completely inflexible and rarely stack neatly. So, if you need a simple, budget-friendly way to keep them out of the way yet still easy to access, try adding drawer dividers to your kitchen's cabinetry so you can slot the lids between. This solution allows your pot lids to rest on their edges, so that they take up vertical space, rather than horizontal space.

You can find freestanding, adjustable divider sets at various home goods retailers, both online and in person. A product like VTopmart 6-Inch Tall Drawer Dividers might suit you especially well for keeping your larger pot lids in order along one edge of your drawer, thanks to their height. You could then purchase and place a couple of slightly shorter drawer dividers parallel to these taller ones for your smaller lids, so that your collection of pot covers could run in order from largest to smallest. From there, it'll be easy to maximize storage space in your kitchen simply by stacking the corresponding pots and pans. You'll have more space to do this because your lids will all be off to the side.

From a practical standpoint, freestanding store-bought drawer dividers are straightforward; simply adjust them to the size of your drawer, and you should be all set. However, these fixtures can sometimes leave a bit to be desired when it comes to aesthetics, especially if you're going to bunch them up closely together for the purposes of storing lids. Here, a colorful or patterned roll of removable contact paper can aid you; just make sure you're familiar with how to lay contact paper first. You can use the paper to cover up the top edges of the dividers, or their sides, depending on how even these surfaces are. You could also place a sheet of contact paper below the entire section of dividers to visually separate the lid section of your drawer from other zones. If your dividers are made of wood, you could alternatively paint or stain them to better match the color of your drawer box.

If you'd rather not buy dividers for pot lids, consider DIYing them from finished wood. Measure the interior of your drawer box first. Instead of simply cutting planks that fit the drawer, consider leaving room for two boards that run perpendicular to your dividers, along the front and back edges of the drawer. Fasten these extra boards to the sides of the divider boards so that the dividers can stand independently. That way, you won't have to attach the dividers to the cabinetry itself. If you like this DIY, try using similar dividers to organize deep cabinets with pull-out shelves.