10 Bright Ideas for Displaying Pots and Pans
Hang your cookware collection in full view for easy access and to enjoy its sculptural beauty
Some of the gorgeous cookware collections I see on Houzz are displayed in downright mouthwatering ways. The ways these pots and pans are composed, lit and hung on well-thought-out racks and rails are worthy of admiration. Go ahead and steal these ideas to give your cookware a starring role in the kitchen even when the stove is off.
2. Let the Backsplash Take a Back Seat
This movie critic’s pots all come from the same place but have been collected over many years. Every year after attending the Cannes Film Festival in France, he returns with a treasured handmade piece of Mauviel cookware. The enviable collection inspired much of the kitchen’s design, including the custom bronze pot racks, copper-colored Art Deco hood and accents on the lower cabinets. By using large-format white tiles with coordinating grout, nothing distracts from the cookware and vent hood.
Read more about this kitchen
This movie critic’s pots all come from the same place but have been collected over many years. Every year after attending the Cannes Film Festival in France, he returns with a treasured handmade piece of Mauviel cookware. The enviable collection inspired much of the kitchen’s design, including the custom bronze pot racks, copper-colored Art Deco hood and accents on the lower cabinets. By using large-format white tiles with coordinating grout, nothing distracts from the cookware and vent hood.
Read more about this kitchen
3. Make the Most of a Small Range Backsplash Area
This kitchen has just a small space dedicated to the hanging cookware collection. But thanks to a gorgeous copper weathervane topping off the copper pots and pans, the area is a powerful focal point. Note the way the lighting placement keeps the area highlighted.
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This kitchen has just a small space dedicated to the hanging cookware collection. But thanks to a gorgeous copper weathervane topping off the copper pots and pans, the area is a powerful focal point. Note the way the lighting placement keeps the area highlighted.
Find an architect on Houzz
4. Play Off a Kitchen Island’s Proportions
This is a hefty island, and the structure of the rack overhead is substantial to match. A pot rack over an island needs to be scaled accordingly. For example, if your island is a square, a smaller square rack overhead is pleasing to the eye. If the island is rectangular, scale down the dimensions and center a smaller rectangular or oval pot rack overhead.
A good rule of thumb is to imagine that the countertop edges extend up to the ceiling. All pieces hanging from the rack should fit within this imaginary box. As for height, you’ll want a clear view across at eye level and to keep the pieces within reach. Use the dimensions of the longest pieces plus the length of the hooks in your calculations.
This is a hefty island, and the structure of the rack overhead is substantial to match. A pot rack over an island needs to be scaled accordingly. For example, if your island is a square, a smaller square rack overhead is pleasing to the eye. If the island is rectangular, scale down the dimensions and center a smaller rectangular or oval pot rack overhead.
A good rule of thumb is to imagine that the countertop edges extend up to the ceiling. All pieces hanging from the rack should fit within this imaginary box. As for height, you’ll want a clear view across at eye level and to keep the pieces within reach. Use the dimensions of the longest pieces plus the length of the hooks in your calculations.
5. Use Open Shelving Around the Range.
The countryside kitchens that interior designer Tanya Capaldo fell in love with in France and Italy were strong influences on her design for her own kitchen. She eschewed the usual American approach to cabinetry, keeping things open via upper and lower open shelving around the range as well as by using glass cabinet doors.
Though many of her pots and pans are copper, the kitchen features a mix of metals, including stainless steel appliances and antique bronze cabinet hardware.
Read more about this house
The countryside kitchens that interior designer Tanya Capaldo fell in love with in France and Italy were strong influences on her design for her own kitchen. She eschewed the usual American approach to cabinetry, keeping things open via upper and lower open shelving around the range as well as by using glass cabinet doors.
Though many of her pots and pans are copper, the kitchen features a mix of metals, including stainless steel appliances and antique bronze cabinet hardware.
Read more about this house
6. Find Order
For these homeowners, incorporating their beloved cookware collection in a way that kept it easily accessible was a must. Two simple custom iron rails let the homeowners line up their beloved pieces according to size, shape and color. The collection is neat and within easy reach without overwhelming the kitchen design.
Read more about this house
For these homeowners, incorporating their beloved cookware collection in a way that kept it easily accessible was a must. Two simple custom iron rails let the homeowners line up their beloved pieces according to size, shape and color. The collection is neat and within easy reach without overwhelming the kitchen design.
Read more about this house
7. Save Space With Rails
You don’t have to have a large central spot or custom railings and racks to keep your cookware beautifully displayed. This wall is shiny with the mix of metal pots and pans hung efficiently from inexpensive pot rails and hooks from Ikea.
You don’t have to have a large central spot or custom railings and racks to keep your cookware beautifully displayed. This wall is shiny with the mix of metal pots and pans hung efficiently from inexpensive pot rails and hooks from Ikea.
8. Fashion a Special Rack
Homeowner Marie Barth never met a found object she couldn’t find a use for. In the Italian countryside-inspired kitchen she designed herself, she used a piece she discovered in the dirt at a salvage yard to hold her pots. It’s an old iron lamp minus the dirt and rust she cleaned off. The dark patina and unique silhouette draw the eye to her collection.
Read more about this kitchen
Homeowner Marie Barth never met a found object she couldn’t find a use for. In the Italian countryside-inspired kitchen she designed herself, she used a piece she discovered in the dirt at a salvage yard to hold her pots. It’s an old iron lamp minus the dirt and rust she cleaned off. The dark patina and unique silhouette draw the eye to her collection.
Read more about this kitchen
9. Enjoy the Reflection
In this kitchen, shelves in a lovely organic material, Italian black basalt, provide sturdy support, while LED strip lights tucked into the shelves illuminate the collection.
This kind of arrangement is the reverse of what many of us grew up with, since the pots and pans are up top, with the china and glassware stowed in lower cabinets. The efficient way lower cabinets are designed today makes this possible — they are outfitted to hold plates and glasses safely.
In this kitchen, shelves in a lovely organic material, Italian black basalt, provide sturdy support, while LED strip lights tucked into the shelves illuminate the collection.
This kind of arrangement is the reverse of what many of us grew up with, since the pots and pans are up top, with the china and glassware stowed in lower cabinets. The efficient way lower cabinets are designed today makes this possible — they are outfitted to hold plates and glasses safely.
10. Display More Than the Usual Pots and Pans
This collection went linear. A simple piece of coordinating molding and hooks allowed the homeowners to display shapely copper molds along with the pots and pans.
Shine On: How to Clean and Care for Copper
This collection went linear. A simple piece of coordinating molding and hooks allowed the homeowners to display shapely copper molds along with the pots and pans.
Shine On: How to Clean and Care for Copper
Your turn: Do you have cookware out in the open? Share photos of your collections in the Comments.
More on Houzz
How to Clean Your Cookware So It Lasts
Find a kitchen designer
Shop for kitchen products
More on Houzz
How to Clean Your Cookware So It Lasts
Find a kitchen designer
Shop for kitchen products
This kitchen design began with a beloved cookware collection. Interior designer Sandy Brock and her husband have brought pieces back from their world travels for decades, and displaying them prominently keeps their memories front and center. Brock designed the pot rack, which has integrated lighting in the center. The copper pieces bounce the light around beautifully.
Read more about this house
Shop for pot racks on Houzz