By Natural Home Staff
Everyone knows that putting a lid on the pan while bringing water to a boil can significantly reduce the energy required and speed up the boiling process.
Keep your lids close at hand while making better use of cramped cabinet space. Here’s a design for a lid rack that uses inexpensive metal plates attached to a cabinet door with four screws. Small, short bungee cords stretch between them to create taut, secure, easy-access holders. The elastic grip of the cords virtually eliminates rattle, and works with various knobs or handles atop the lids.
We recommend pieces of drilled steel called “welding plate” which can be found at your local hardware store. It is sold in assorted styles and lengths, so measure your cabinet doors carefully to determine what length to buy. If you feel industrious, use a hack saw and lots of elbow grease to cut the pieces to fit.
Use wood screws to attach the bars to the cabinet doors. It’s important to use screws with heads slightly larger than the holes in the metal bars. You will need 5 to 7 washers for each screw to offset the bars from the door face. Buy screws long enough to go through the bar, the washers, and at least 1/4-inch of the wood.
The metal bars should sit about 1/4-inch off of the cabinet doors so that the bungee cord hooks have clearance to go through the holes.
When attaching the bar closest to the door hinges, be sure to leave enough clearance for the hinges to operate freely.
There are many colors of bungee cords available at hardware stores and mountaineering shops. Another option is to buy the elastic cord and metal hook ends and make them yourself. Small ones work best. You may have to shorten and re-knot one end to get a taut fit.
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