Can you turn them upside down each on its own pan and still stack the pans? Thats what I do with things.

Or is the drawer deep enough to store them vertically? If so, you could get a small rack, or use a magnetic knife strip along an edge.

Is there cabinet above the drawer, or is it the upper drawer? If there's wood there, can you attach rails (or magnets, or bungees) to the underside to hold the lids? is there enough clearance for the knobs? My mother's big big platter is bungeed to the underside of the shelf in the cabinet above the oven :)

Ooh--bungees....a makeshift sort of thing that would be right up DH's alley! I will keep that idea in mind, thanks plllog! Not too sure about that though because the cab has two pull-outs and directly above is a regular drawer....maybe a bungee attached to the upper pull-out?

The lids are pretty flat, so the upside down storage wouldn't work as well as it does for Farberware or Revereware lids for example. Not enough space for vertical storage, at least I don't think so (will double-check).

Sorry, my mind is a bit fuzzy. You said pull-outs before and I was thinking drawers. The problem with putting them on the bottom of a pullout is making sure to keep the clearance room so that they don't snag on what's in the lower pull-out when the upper gets pulled. It's really the same as the clearance for the lower to be pulled out, so if it works it should work :)

If you want elegant rather than makeshift, but still in your DH's toolbelt ( ;) ) look for the kind of L-rails they use for holding cutting boards under cabinets. The advantage of bungee, OTOH is that it keeps the lid as close as possible to the bottom of the pull-out.

Ooh--where would I find those L-rails?

I'm sure I could find space elsewhere in the kitchen if I just put my mind to it, but would really prefer to keep those things all together. Plus, I'm really trying to keep things neat and organized (in one room in this house!), and not have stuff here and there or all piled up and a PITA to get at!

Oh, lordy, I don't know! I've seen 'em :) Try a hardware store? A cabinet gadget place? I did a quick search online but it's not easy finding hardware online. I've seen two kinds: Sheet metal and heavy wire (like commercial wire shelving). I'm sure you'll find/figure out something. I agree that the lids belong with the pots!

For my smaller, every day stainless steel cookware drawer, I use a 28" wide x about 12" high x 23" deep drawers for my pots/pans.

I don't have a current photo, but try to envision the following description of this drawer moving left to right, starting in the top/back left corner of the drawer. I line my drawers with the cushy/spongy liner bought from Wal Mart so nothing will slide around inside the drawers. This is important for storing lids.

Towards the very back left corner of the drawer, I have my largest fry pan of about 16" on the bottom with 2 or 3 smaller fry pans nested inside it. I store the largest fry pan lid, about 16" or so and turn it upside down inside the top, smallest nested fry pan. The other nested pan lids are placed at an angle in the front of the drawer, leaning towards the front slab. I put the smallest lid inside the drawer first, then graduate the next size up leaning against the smaller lid, until I have even the 12" lid leaning next. I also put any pot lids in this stack, too. ALL of the lids have hard, raised handles on the top of the lid. ALSO, I have even angled the largest lid against these other lids, too, there is that much room. Since I have the deep drawer, there is plent of room to turn the largest lid upside down and still close the drawer, so this is the preferred method. Sometimes a teen will store the largest lid like all of the other lids. Either way still works.

On the right back side of the drawer, I have a deep 8 qt. post, stored in the same drawer with a colander inside it. I have colander from another pot nested in this pot. In the front of that pot, towards the right front of the same drawer, I have my 4 qt pot with the 2 qt. pot nested inside it.

All in all, in this modest sized drawer, all of this gets stored and the pot lids do not move around at all. I don't have to have any special racks or anything.

If you cannot envision this, I will try to post a photo. I am working on finishing my drawer glaze, so I don't have fronts on these drawers yet.

Hope this helps.

The pans/skillets are in a pull-out drawer (will have to measure the width later) with approx. 3" high sides, so I can't stack things too high, because they will slide right over the sides while opening/closing the pull-out. I'd prefer not having the stack get too high anyway--as it is, we need to lift out the rest of the pan stack to get to the bottom most pan(s) in the stack.

Note to self: if there is ever another new kitchen in my future, plan vertical storage/slots for the pans! LOL!

Pot and Pan Organizer

Cookware Organizers

Roll Holder (might work)

Net with Frame

Aha! This is what I was looking for. Lots of organizers, might be worth it to check out the whole section.

great list cate - thanks for posting it

I was just in our Wal Mart yesterday and saw the stand up racks to hold pans or lids. There were two types and sizes in the section of the store that sells the baking pans and measuring cups.

Thanks for all those links cate! I'll show them to DH when he gets home.

I like the idea of something mounted directly under the upper pull-out the best, just not sure if I'll have enough clearance (if we have enough wiggle room to raise the upper pull-out a bit, that would help, I'm sure).

The door mounted holder would be great, too, but again, clearance between the inside of the door and pull-out fronts would be the issue.

I don't think I have enough space (in the pull-out itself, or between the two) for a stand up unit (wouldn't that be nice though!).

I have to call my KD about an unrelated matter. I'll try running this by him, and see if he or the cab manufacturer have any other good solutions (maybe they already make something for this purpose that fit their cabs).

I just posted this to another thread, but since I have All-Clad and had the same dilemma I'll post it again. I have a VERY cheap pot lid rack from Ikea that holds several lids and is very effective with the flat All-Clad lids (curved or domed lids of other brands probably wouldn't work as well). The lower racks hold large lids (holds the lid for my large saute pan & dutch oven), upper racks hold smaller lids. Not sure if the link shows the same one I have--I think mine holds fewer lids--but it's very similar.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ikea pot lid rack

The only problem with that type of rack is, I have no place to mount it. There isn't enough clearance inside the cab(s) to mount it on the inside of the door(s). We're still working on this one.........