Introduction: Easy Pot Rack

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After an eternity of dealing with a closet with a big mess of pots & pans, I decided it was time to solve that problem once and for all.

Being, in the tradition of my favorite kinetic sculptor, Jean Tinguely, a bricoleur, the plan was to use objects I found around the house to make something useful. So, with an afternoon, a plank of wood and a couple of bits from Ikea I had lying around, I went to work. The chain, nuts & bolts I sourced from a local hardware store.

Step 1: What I Used...

In addition to the leftover stair tread I found in the garage, I used the following hardware:
  • 2x IKEA GRUNDTAL Rail, 20 3/4"
  • 4x Screw Eyelet, 5/16-18
  • 4x Bolt Eyelet, 1/4-20
  • 4x Nylock Nut, 1/4-20
  • 10ft. Light Duty Chain

Step 2: Pre-Drilling and Mounting the Rails

So it happened that I had a couple of those super-cheap GRUNDTAL rails bars lying around after moving, and since they're so stout and intended to be used with some pretty nice little S-hooks, I surmised that they'd be perfect for my pot rack.

I got started by assembling the rails, checking the length of the screws I had lying around for length (to ensure I wouldn't punch all the way through my plank) and marked them off.

As you can see, I predrilled the holes with my drill press and prepped them for the next step.

Step 3: The Hanging Eyelets

After checking the alignment of my drilled holes, I marked and drilled the corners for inserting the eyelets.

Because the eyelets were closed, I put them one by one in the vise and bent them open so that I could hang the whole business from the lengths of chain.

After that was complete, I screwed the GRUNDTAL rails into the plank, completing the pot rack.


Step 4: The Chains

After tracking down my bolt cutters, I snipped the 10' chain length into 4 2.5' sections. I left those long so that I could be sure I had some wiggle room in the final mounting. I also used a vise to bend them open to facilitate hanging them with the chain.

Step 5: Hanging the Pot Rack.

The next few steps are pretty self-explanatory. I used a stud finder to locate one of the ceiling joists above the drywall, then measured over 16", then 16" again. I drilled a pair of exploratory holes to be sure that the threads were going into wood above the drywall, and used a pliers to seat them in the holes I pre-drilled.

The chains were left a bit long so that I could check the height and make sure all of us could reach the pans before I cut the links and finalized the rack.

I hope you like this Instructable! Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments.

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