Perhaps you could screw/bolt some type rack so it hangs from the bottom of your wood cabinets (close to the back edge of the cabinet) and hang utensils from that?

For over the range top, maybe a upside down U-shaped steel grid shelf that stands against your backsplash and is glued against the tile for stability but is removable as needed (i.e., museum putty - like the kind used for earthquake tie downs of rare ceramics, etc.).

I hung a towel bar with upper screws in the cabinet back (where sensible people have plugmold) and the lower attachment with spacers and glue on a glazed tile. I think I used Elmer's. It came off when I moved and was clear. The screw in the wood held it; the glue and spacer kept it wedged in position. Next time, grout joints.

Some utensil bars can attach to the bottom of cabinets, like T.U. suggests. Check those first!

We have plugmold, so attaching to the bottom of the cabinet won't work.

Our plugmold is mounted an angled wood piece, and it was in my original plan to leave the bottom of the angled wood exposed so I could attach there. However, I was out of town when the plugmold went in, and it got mounted so the extra wood is above the plugmold.

What about something like command hooks? My light rail is ~2" so that could theoretically hide the hooks. But will they stick to tile? Or would they stick too well?

Command Hooks will definitely stick to smooth tile but probably not to wood. (I have no first-hand knowledge of it sticking, or not, to wood though.)

Do you have to use every single outlet on your Plug Mold strip length? Maybe you have sufficient extra under counter length for an undercounter bar needed for only 5 or so hanging utensils? If so, just attach the hanging bar in front of the Plug Mold, screwed to the underside BOTTOM of the cabinet (not to the back FRAME of the cabinet box that's already covered with Plug Mold).

Although we could get by without a few of those outlets, if we attached the bar in front of the plugmold, the utensils wouldn't lay against the wall, but a solid 2" away from it. Our two cats would have a field day with the free hanging utensils....especially at 2am I'm sure.

But I am encouraged by the info that you think command hooks may work.

Cute Alku! Not being a pet person I did not consider "chiming" utensils at 2 am.

Just another thought: If your have wood cabinets along each side above your range (assuming your range is not 48 inches wide!), could you put a thin hardened steel rod spanning across the range (way at the back, from one cabinet side to the other one) attaching it a la a closet pole setup? On a 30-inch span you might like to find a few more utensils than five though.

Command Hooks WILL attach to wood. I have attached them to the inside of several of my closet doors, which are wood w/ some sort of varnish/poly on it.

I had one fall off (the plastic of the hook cracked), but it was holding some pretty heavy stuff. And it didn't peel away any varnish when I removed the self-adhesive part following the package directions).

The ones that are holding things like brooms, etc., are still up there.

Also, I have two of them on a painted wall, each holding several potholders, and they're going strong.

(I did "round up" or over-engineer on hook capacity--use hooks that are rated for a bigger weight than they would actually hold)

That's my vote--Command Hooks. They *will* work.

And they're tidy enough looking that I personally wouldn't worry about obscuring them; I'd be willing to look at them on my backsplash; they can't be any uglier than the utensil itself.

If you're putting hooks on tile, you can use any sort of self-adhesive hook.

Great! I'm off to the store today to pick up some Command Hooks. I'll let you know how it goes.

Our finish carpenter had a great solution when I asked him this same question. He whipped out a roll of glazer's tape which is essentially very heavyduty double-sided tape made to be used with windows. My nice little set of pewter measuring spoons is now happily stuck to the tile. He said it's very easy to remove if we want to move it. Otherwise, I really like the 3M sticky things too.

Oooo, glazer's tape...another good option. Patti, do you know about how much load that tape can hold?

I was scared to drill for my knife strip too but it ended up working out fine. I just drilled into the joint between tiles. My backsplash is glass mosaic and a couple of small chips did come off, but that was all. I hear you about the permanence factor, though - I don't think I woudl have done it if I had to drill through an actual tile!

I promised a picture didn't I?

The Command hooks seem to be holding fine, and luckily they blend in a little with our pale backsplash. Still though, I'm a bit put off by the plastic hooks in our brand new classy kitchen. I got DH to agree that if we still enjoy the utensils there in a year that we can drill holes through the grout (as long as he doesn't have to do it himself).

Alku: Glad you found a good solution and you don't have to contend with bell-ringing kitties in the middle of the night! If the white of the hooks bothers you in the meantime, maybe a little gray paint on the Command hooks themselves would obscure them further for you.

Command Hooks come in metal finishes too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Metal hooks

Move forward to 2025 and here’s my comment. I’m going to get the glazer’s tape! Thanks! I have wooden letters to attach to my ceramic backsplash. Should work perfectly!
backsplash