Make a Cake Pan Organizer

It was a gradual thing. I used to have just one cookie sheet. Then there were assorted muffin tins, pizza pans, roasting pans, cooling racks and various square pans. Over time, the roomy cupboard that was supposed to hold them all turned into some sort of black hole that held onto whatever I wanted when I tried to extract it. My kitchen helpers began to just shove stuff into there, hoping it would all sort itself out. It never did.

In a futile effort to solve the problem, I purchased a cookie sheet organizer. It looked like this ----->

I had high hopes that this solved the issue and loaded it up with several pans. All I can tell you about this gadget is that it may work for dorm rooms, single girls or show homes, but it wasn't very practical for my space. It wasn't long before the adjustable wire shelves got shoved around and came loose. My helpers were back to tossing things wherever they fit, but now they had to work around the wire tentacles of the pan "organizer." I had to fight with the wires that came loose to untangle my pans when I wanted them. This just wasn't working. Wire racks were not an option.

I did a search for how to build a cookie sheet organizer and didn't find a lot. What did catch my eye were some magazine holders for a bookshelf. If I could match the dimensions to my shelf space and build it out of sturdy wood, one of these must might work. Off to the storage area I went and found some 1 x 2's and 1/4 sheet of 1/2" ply-board.

I measured the opening to my cabinet: its height and width. Then I measured the depth. With the help of some basic math, I cut out the bottom, back, sides and dividers -- enough for five spaces. One important item to remember in this step is to allow for the width of the board so that you don't end up with something that is just 1/2" too high or wide or deep.

Back in the storage area I located some brown paint. I painted all of the pieces prior to construction. The hardest part was holding things in place while screwing it together. Pilot holes had to be drilled to prevent splitting. I toyed with the idea of making this part of a sliding shelf, but the hardware would have taken away from storage space (and made my day a little longer), so that was out.

In the end, it isn't the prettiest thing in the world, but it is sturdy, makes good use of the space and prevents the kitchen staff from being able to toss things into a tangled pile.

*happy sigh*