Whether you consider yourself a Food Network junkie that needs cooking options, or you just like having spares around to avoid doing the dishes as often (not that this applies to anyone writing this post, of course), pots and pans can start to pile up around the kitchen. Larger than normal dishes and bulkier than most other cooking utensils, pots and pans can get pretty hard to store. There’s space and safety considerations, and then you need to make sure they’re still easy to get to when dinner time rolls around. It might all sound like a headache, but we promise it isn’t as bad as it seems! One easy way a lot of people go about organizing pots and pans is to help keep them out of the way. In a lot of cases, people will turn to the lowest cabinets in their home, and while that’s not a bad idea it can be a little hard to get everything back out. In a lot of cases, using pantry organizers to stack and organize smaller pans can be a great way of dividing them from your larger pots and keeping everything easier to get to, even while it’s all tucked away underneath your countertops. Of course, not everyone has cabinet room to spare (and some people don’t have cabinets in the first place—scary but true!). In that case, one of the easier ideas is to use your walls! Get some wall hooks placed over your sink or oven (or anywhere safe and out of the reach of smaller hands) to hang at least the ones you use the most often. If you have access to a kitchen cart that has hanging space, this could work too. In a similar vein, pegboards are always a good solution. Mount one on the wall with long wall hooks to keep it stable and then use smaller hooks to provide homes for your pans. This frees up space for the deeper pots (for things like soup and pasta) to be stored elsewhere. If you’re the crafty type, an easy solution could be right on the side of your counter. Mount a towel bar on the side of a cabinet or at the end of your kitchen countertop and grab some durable hooks to dangle your bigger pots and pans from. This might not be the best solution for anyone with very small kids (or anyone renting), but in the right circumstances it can be a fun and easy way to show off your best pots and keep them right at hand. Okay, so we got your pots and pans out of the way—what about those pesky glass lids? Simple! Make some space either in a low cabinet or somewhere close by on the counter (particularly close to the stove so you don’t have to reach far when cooking) and set up a lid organizer to keep them upright and at hand. See? It doesn’t have to be a huge chore the next time you need a pan for cooking! Now, cleaning up afterwards, that’s a whole different story...