I’ve always needed more cabinet space than most kitchens have. Even when I wasn’t cooking much, I didn’t like hunting through cupboards for pots and pans that were all jumbled together deep inside.
And after our move, it seemed somehow that my old studio had more cabinet space than our bigger condo! But the kitchen was pretty much the only room that we had determined did NOT need any work. Even the muted gray paint was perfect. So what to do?
Enter Julia Child, and the online universe. Julia, it seems, had the same problem. In her case, it was clearly a more serious one. She and her husband solved it in a most efficient way. They covered an entire wall with a pegboard and hung up all her pots and pans! Instant increase in storage space, along with easy access and visibility.
Apparently, you can view Julia’s pegboard potrack at the Smithsonian Museum.
Inspired by it, and this post on Design Sponge, we decided to make our own. The blogosphere didn’t have any step by step instructions for newbies like us, so we blundered along, thanks to the very useful comments on the thread. Painting the pegboard also helped to add a bright pop of color to the cool gray-green tones of the kitchen.
Here it is a little brighter, and a little more in perspective:
Due to the shape of the kitchen, and the placement of doorways, it’s hard to get a photo of the whole room, but I will do that later (when it’s cleaner)!
If you want to make your own pegboard potrack a la Julia, you can follow our step by step instructions in the DIY section.
Next up for the kitchen: figuring out what to do with that big blank wall to the left of the potrack. There used to be a swinging door there, connecting the kitchen to what is now our bedroom, but once upon a time was probably a formal dining room.
We closed off the swinging door as part of the renovations, and now have a big blank wall. Eventually we will also move the shelf in front of that wall, as soon as I figure out where to put all those pantry type items. Current ideas under consideration: paint it with magnetic paint or white board paint, or cover it with homasote and turn it into a bulletin board. Feel free to let us know what you think!
