The Pot Rack

Yesterday I had to bake--some precious members of my family were without their favorite treats, which meant I simply had to whip up a batch of doggie biscuits.   :-)

While the biscuits were cooling in the oven (it takes hours to get them good and crunchy), I tackled a project that had more to do with hardware than with flours.

I may have mentioned that I've been in the process of switching out my regular pots and pans with copper pots and pans--my daughter has begun to cook, and what better thing to do than to give her my perfectly good pots and pans?  Plus, I'd noticed that some manufacturers of copper pots have been dumping their surplus in TJ Maxx and Marshalls and Homegoods, so in a couple of weeks I managed to get a decent set of decent copper cookware--not the terribly expensive stuff, mind you, but perfectly serviceable.  :-)   And copper cooks like a dream.

Anyway--once I collected and began to POLISH those copper pots (definitely high maintenance items), I thought it might be nice to display them.  This led me on a quest to find a perfect (and perfectly reasonable) pot rack--nothing fancy, just something that would match my kitchen and hang several pots.  Found a good one (I hoped) on Amazon.com, and it was only thirty bucks.  Can't beat that.

So I ordered it, and it finally arrived yesterday.   All by myself (cue the strains of that old Eric Carmen song), I took a thin nail and started hammering holes in my ceiling, trying to find a stud.  And I had a stud finder, but the thing kept lying to me.  BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP, lights flashing, telling me there was a stud, so I'd hammer in the nail, then try to push it all the way in with the head of my hammer.  The nail went through every single time.

So after about fifteen tiny holes and no studs, I resorted to the old fashioned method--simply beating on the ceiling and listening for the spots that DIDN'T sound hollow.  Finally found two about sixteen inches apart, the width I needed, so I went for the heavy equipment--my drill.

Stood on the counter top with the drill in hand and sawdust raining down all over my counter, my cake keeper, and my cookbooks.  But then I screwed in two hooks that I'd spray painted black to match the existing light fixtures, and I was in business.

So I hung up some heavy pots and some not-so-heavy bowls and some light-as-air baskets, and I have to say I'm happy with the look.  No, the angle doesn't match the countertop, but I think I like it slightly askew.  Matches everything else in my life.  :-)  

So there you have it--my latest baking project.  My pot rack.

~~Angie