Nice rack

Not that kind of rack, seriously what kind of blog do you think this is? Never mind, don't answer that........


My latest obsession has turned to plate racks. Not those wacky little re purposed clothes hangers that perch precariously on the wall, waiting for your dollar store, I mean heirloom china to come crashing down with the first swift kick of door slamming. No, more alternate forms of plate storage, something different than your average monster stack of discs piled high in the dark cabinets. I mean, hey, if you got a nice rack you ought to show it off right? Besides, the way I see it, two less steps of dreaded dish detail. No more opening and closing the cupboard door, genius!

Now, I spent far too many hours randomly clicking through every possible search term I could imagine for inspiration. Let me just say, disappointing results would be an understatement. Most led to custom cabinets, or the kind where the plates are flat exposing the full face of the plate. Now, if that's your style, good for you. I however have possibly the smallest kitchen in America. Seriously. I don't have 700 feet of wall space just waiting to be filled with single file plates. Besides, who wants to look at my boring white Corelle plates with black rings? Yeah, thought so. So instead, I need compact storage.

I have two choices to accomplish this. One would be to construct, rather bribe the resident Prince, to construct some said device that could fit into the narrow crevice directly over my sink, which is currently the only open wall space not already occupied. This area currently has a small cabinet up high over the space, connected to the other cabinets flanking the sink. Best option, maybe? Next would be a overhaul of my existing cupboard that I currently use for dishes. Now the bottom shelf is all the plates, mid shelf is bowls etc. Top shelf is my "good dishes" (don't tell they were 20 bucks for an 8 piece place setting at the drug store). So, to pull this off, I'm thinking we can retrofit the existing cabinet for the bottom section to enable vertical plate placement. I have to keep the center section for bowls.

Let me explain. Prince and I made a deal when we were married. I cook, he does the dishes. Period. Now, two small problems with this arrangement. Prince is rather "vertically challenged". On a good day he can reach on tip toe a quick toss of items to the top shelf of our cupboards. Now, the bad news. After his heart stopping return to the rodeo circuit several years ago, he has some mobility issues that hinder his ability to hold up his end of our arrangement. Namely, putting the dishes away. Three problems. First is he had to have a cervical fusion of multiple levels of his cervical spine, which now means looking up is seriously not possible without leaning his body back. Second is the loss of ability to raise his right arm (yes he is right handed) higher than chest level. Third is the loss of strength to his right arm, meaning a full cup of coffee is pushing the limit of what he can raise to chest height. Now he can arm wrestle the Hulk at waist level, but pull his arm up and scrawny me will beat him with one finger.

So, a good wife makes certain concessions for the man she loves. I got rid of my ENTIRE collection of Pfalzgraf pottery dishes (sniff, snob, wail) and bought black and white Corelle dishes. They are light weight, and less prone to breakage. Great. Next, if it goes higher than the second shelf, good old me finds a stack of dishes on my counter awaiting delivery to the higher reaches of our cupboards. Now, our cupboards are standard height, and I do have a lot of stacking in all of them. No way the guy can do it. Well, he could if I choose to learn mosaic as they would be in a million pieces after crashing to the floor. So, can I redo the entire interior of the plate cabinet for this whim? Uh, no. Standard second shelf height is the farthest north this fantasy storage can go. And before someone asks, no I can/will not put my dishes in the lower cabinets near the floor. I'd never see them again, plus, I'm too lazy to bend over and so is he.


Sorry for the lousy photo, but this is the only sample I could see showing one directly over the sink. I like the slots are straight, so the dishes go in directly, not at an angle as they do with many.

I also like the style of this, but envision as another cabinet wedged between the two currently flanking my sink on the wall. I would want it to have something on the bottom to hold the paper towels and cloth towel holders that currently inhabit this space.

This one really jumped at me, but no way as I have no counter now, let alone hog up space with something flush with the counter. Maybe turned upside down and hung up would be exactly what I'm seeing in my mind though.

Not a plate rack, but LOVE this little built in nooks for the spices under the cabinet near the stove. I mean hey, if he has to get out the tools, what's one more little honey-do-project right? Plus, I think this would be super for mugs etc under the cabinet that holds our drink ware.

Now this one is not even near where I want mine, but similar idea as I already have a high cabinet, and if we construct just the plate rack portion under it, maybe with two levels-one for dinner plates, one for salad plates.

Now, if I was a good wife, I'd tell him this is exactly what I wanted. See, no little dowels to place, less cutting, measuring, blah, blah blah.

It does kind of grow on me though. Hmmm, do I trust him, I mean myself, not to knock them all down with one fail swoop of an arm? No safety stop with the dowels? Geez, if my kitchen was this organized with coordinating baskets etc, someone would know they came to the wrong house. Makes me jealous though. Really jealous.

I like the simplicity and open nature of this one. I like the two levels for plate sizes. One thing disturbs me though. See all that mismatched stuff all over the walls and counters? How is it that designers can pull this off, yet my kitchen simply looks like the mismatched disorganized chaos that it is? Oh well, too bad.


So, thanks for sharing my fantasy plate rack adventure. May happen, may not, only time will tell. What about you? Anyone have a nice rack you care to show off? hehehe