One of the most overlooked and underutilized organizing items in the kitchen is the pan organizer. You can call it a pan rack, pan sorter, cookware organizer, or daily-life-altering-organizer. But here’s what I’m talking about.

By Christina DesAuguste

Christina is the founder of The Organizing Company and has been organizing professionally since 2013. She is making her way through Downton Abbey for the first time and finally feeling like one of the cool kids.

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A pan organizer is a storage product that allows you to store items upright (kind of like books) without them falling all over each other. 

Why bother with a pan organizer?

If it’s more of a bother to lift 1-6 other items to get to the item you want than it is to buy and assemble a pan sorter that allows you to immediately grab the item you want without moving anything else, “bother” with it. 

Pan organizers keep items in place so that they don’t pile up. Not only is it less efficient to have to dig for the right pan or lid, these are categories that get messy quickly and cause things to get pushed to the back of the cabinet (often where they are forgotten about until someone like me comes to organize). The more things that get lost at the back of the cabinet, the more duplicates that get purchased, and the more crowded and stacked the cabinet becomes. 

Plus, it looks so much better than just laying things down.

Even though I call this a pan organizer, don’t be boxed into thinking that’s all you can use it for.

I’ve used these for:

Frying pans & lids (including cast iron pans)

Pots & lids

Sheet trays

Cutting boards

Casserole dishes

Baking pans (cake, muffin, pie, bread)

Serving boards & trays

Food storage items (aka Tupperware) 

Some placemats and chargers

And even the occasional floppy silicone lid or Silpat pan liner (sometimes rolled or like a taco)

“But what about all the space you’ll lose at the back of the cabinet?”

Depending on what you’re storing and the size of your cabinets, you may not actually have much dead space at the back of the cabinet. But if you find you do, here are some thoughts/suggestions:

-Assess if this really is the best place for the category you want to store. Could it go in a more shallow cabinet, if you have one? Will the dead space mean that you don’t have room in the kitchen to nicely store everything else? If everything else has a home, then the extra space at the back isn’t wasted, it’s just not needed. Empty space isn’t a bad thing. 

-If you’re storing pans with handles, make sure to put pans in handle first, so you use up some of the dead space (and keep the sorter up towards the front where you can easily see it to get things put back in)

-Use a roll out solution instead of a fixed solution. See my go-to organizers listed later in this blog for a link!

How to choose the best option for your needs

Assess the space you have to work with. If you don’t know where your pans, etc will go and have no idea how to figure it out, pause here and watch my free 9 minute video guiding you through my organizing method. You’ll learn how to organize anything and how to figure out where in the kitchen each category should go. 

You’ll also get a bonus cheatsheet of my method that you can print out for reference as you organize. 

• Once you have it planned where you need each category to live in your kitchen, assess if your pans (or whatever) make sense in a pan sorter horizontally or vertically. Measure all dimensions of the space. 

• Then determine if you need a “heavy duty” option to hold heavy or bulky items, or if a slimmed down version will suffice. 

• Count how many items you need to store (or slots if you want some items, like thin plastic cutting boards, to share a space). 

• Go shopping! Below I’ll share my go-to options.

Pro tips:

Try searching online (or asking in store) for item specific organizers. Meaning, if you are only storing lids, look for a lid organizer which will be better sized for lids as opposed to all purpose or large pan solutions. Same goes for cutting b0ards and baking sheets. But just searching the term, “pan organizer” will get things rolling.

Make sure to measure the height of your cabinet and the biggest item you need to store. A lot of lower kitchen cabinets have a little half-shelf in the back that is notorious for ruining grand plans of storing large items. So ensure that you have room for the pan sorter base height plus the height of the biggest item you’re storing. Often the base of the sorter is .5-1.5 inches high, making the items you’re storing that much taller and more likely to hit the half-shelf in the back or the lip of the cabinet door opening.

You can see how tall the base on this one is. That’s actually why one of the lids is slated a bit more than I would like- the base of the rack plus the height of the lid was too tall for the cabinet opening. Not the worst thing in the world, but if you’re a perfectionist be mindful of this.

Here Are My Top Picks & Go-Tos

Most Versatile

Despite the tall base, this metal adjustable pan rack is a great works-for-almost-anything solution. I’ve used it for cutting boards, pans, lids, and bakeware. It’s nice to have things match from one cabinet to the next when you use the same organizer.

Pros: Adjustable slot width, longer than most other metal options (or can separate into two pieces), not plastic, doesn’t need to be screwed down.

Cons: You lose height because of the tall base. It’s not the cutest thing out there.

Best For Storing Items Vertically

This metal pan sorter can be used either direction, which makes it a frequent go-to for me as a professional organizer, especially when I need pans stacked vertically in a cabinet or on a shelf.

Pros: Aforementioned versatility, adjustable slot width, not plastic.

Cons: It’s not very big, so you may need 2-3 of them if you have a lot of pans and lids.

Best For Large Pots

This rack is heavy duty and makes it so that your pots don’t get lost at the back of your cabinet, or piled up too high. I’d probably recommend using a roll out shelf instead or in addition to this if you can, but this is a great option if you have a large, shallow cabinet. There aren’t many options out there for holding pots like this (a lot on Amazon are just the same product sold by different brands).

Pros: Heavy duty. Looks better than the other options online. Not plastic.

Cons: You lose space at the back of the cabinet if you’re using this for pots instead of something long. Not the end of the world (you saw my note above), but just a thought. Also, you can’t use this as two separate racks. Both sides are supported by the same center post. Not great for small pots or pans because of the gap at the back of each shelf.

Best Wood Option

This wood and metal organizer is great if you want something that looks a bit nicer.

Pros: Unique, less utilitarian look. Adjustable slot width. Looks nicer than bamboo options.

Cons: The tall base means you could run into an issue with height once you put your pans/whatever on it. It’s not particularly heavy duty, so I’m not sure how it would hold up to heavy cast iron pans. It can’t be used horizontally. And it will start to show scratches over time if you’re using it for pans, although things like cutting boards should leave the white dividers looking fresh.

As a bonus, here is another wood option that is adjustable.

Best Roll-Out Option

I love something that lets you pull the whole kit and caboodle out so you can reach what’s at the back, if you need to store something back there.

Pros: Heavy duty. Adjustable slot widths. It has a bar in the middle that the pan handles can rest on to help keep it orderly (see image).

Cons: It needs to be screwed down. This particular option is really only meant for pans and/or lids, so probably has fewer uses beyond that.

Bonus: Rev-A-Shelf also has options, including one that can be attached to your cabinet door front for a truly built-in solution.

Best For Thin Cutting Boards & Baking Sheets

This is a great option if you don’t want to screw anything down in your cabinet (I like the flexibility of being able to reorganize in 3 months! Blame it on the day job…). If you do like the option of having something affixed to your cabinet, this is my favorite option for a roll-out version.

Pros: Tall dividers (almost twice as tall as on a normal pan sorter).

Cons: Not adjustable slot widths, but that’s why it’s best for cutting boards and baking sheets.

All-Time Favorite Cookware Organizer

Caraway! This brand deserves an award for their organization, not just the pans themselves. More companies should absolutely do this.

Caraway includes the right side holder for each pot they sell (at least when you buy the set). It ensures you’ll have the right size container for each item, plus they are very low profile so you won’t waste inches of height like I cautioned with the metal option I shared. And the thin material and neutral color make them so they just blend in with the surroundings and really let the pretty pots and pans shine. They are magnetic and just snap together, so you can have your pots and pans in whatever order (or quantity) you like.

They do include a lid holder that hangs, but I’ve also used this wooden lid sorter for their super slim lids.

If you are in the market for new pots and pans, my vote is Caraway. ;) Non-toxic and organized. I’m not asking for much more than that! 

If anyone knows of something like these Caraway sorters that is on the market to purchase a la carte, hook a girl up! Otherwise I’ll add it to my list of organizing products I’ll create in the future!

PS- They also sell bakeware with made-to-fit storage as well.

Whatever organizers you choose, remember that their purpose is to keep categories together but not piled up, and to keep items in place and easy to access. Make sure your selections offer that in addition to any other features you may want. 

Lastly, don’t forget to label where appropriate. If you’d like a specific cutting board in each slot, make sure you label so everyone else in the home knows where to put things back. Otherwise, broad labels like “sheet trays & cutting boards” might suffice. 

That’s it, friends! I hope this helps you get your kitchen cabinets organized and beautified! 

Happy Organizing,

Christina

PS- Don’t forget to watch my free organizing guide to learn how to organize any space!