Nice Rack!

So the husband and I have been experimenting with a few different layouts in our kitchen and I think we are finally honing in on the perfect setup. First of all, I am loving the extra counter space and designated area for my espresso machine and Keurig. The problem is, with the two machines, the coffee, sugar, cups, etc. I'm not left with much elbow room to maneuver around and show off my mad coffee making skillz. This became incredibly apparent when I attempted to use both machines at the same time and almost dropped an entire bag of espresso on the floor. (Note: almost.)

There is way too much going on here.

The original plan was to purchase a nice pot rack with a shelf. Theoretically, the rack part would hold all of the shiny new pots my in-laws gave us for Christmas (but are still chilling unopened next to my bed because I had nowhere to store them [yes, this is all a true story]) and the shelf part would hold extra coffee, sugar, cups, etc. Boom. Problem solved.

Well, hello there brand spankin' new pots and pans that have been sitting in my bedroom for two months. I can't wait to meet you!

Except my life is not that easy and it wasn't until the pot rack was delivered that we realized the rack needed two studs that were 32 inches apart. The wall where we wanted to place the rack only has two studs that are 16 inches apart. Fail.

Such a gorgeous pot rack, but unfortunately it was too good to be true. 

Image via Wayfair.

We rolled around a few ideas like purchasing some wood planks from Home Depot, drilling the planks into the studs and then mounting the pot rack on that, but it all seemed a little precarious and way too complicated; not to mention really time consuming and probably expensive. Fuck. That.

Then we thought we could just rotate our kitchen counter thing-a-bobber so that it was parallel with the fridge. The pot rack would fit perfectly in that space since the studs are spaced further apart on that side of the wall. Of course, the counter looked really stupid and ridiculous facing that direction so we gave up on that option too.

Finally I just said SCREW THIS, returned the damn thing like I should have done weeks ago and ordered some cheapo shelves from the good ol' BB&B. It's not perfect, but it does the trick and it's actually kind of growing on me.

Yay shelves!

Yay shelves with things on them!

I also snagged two placemats that were like a million percent off in the BB&B clearance section. They fit perfectly across the counter top so I can protect the wood from inevitable spills and other unforeseen coffee related disasters.

As for the pots? I did some more shuffling and made room for them in one of the cabinets:

Huzzah! New pots!

Now I just need to figure out where to put the god damn lids. More on that later...