Show & Tell Friday for February 1

For Show & Tell today, I would like to share some nifty items which make life easier in my kitchen. They are all things which Mr. T has added to help me out with kitchen storage. He would want me to caution you, I know, that these items are what he calls “rustic, very rustic.” They are by no means fine carpentry and he realizes that. But these things are a huge help to me and are commented upon by almost everyone who spends any time in our kitchen.

First: The mug rack. This is simply a board with cup hooks in it, placed up at the top edge of the ceiling. I took this photo this morning when several mugs were elsewhere, so that’s why it isn’t full. He put this up because we had far too many mugs to keep in a cupboard. Many are still in a cupboard, and I’ve given away and yard-saled others. But the ones we use almost every day are on this rack. A nice plus to keeping mugs here is that, on days when the wood stove is going in the kitchen, the mugs stay warm. Pre-warmed mugs for hot beverages!


Second: The spice rack. He built this because I tend to buy spices at the dollar store or the kitchen store, and the bottles are larger than the spice bottles sold in the supermarket by the brand-name spice companies. As I acquired more and more of these larger spice bottles, we had to do something, so he built a rack specifically to fit them.

Third: The tea rack. When we came to the point that we had so many tea boxes that they began tumbling out of the cupboard, we had to figure out different storage for them. I saw a rack similar to this (fancy, made out of oak, I believe) in a tea catalog for around $80. Mr. T figured he could make a “rustic” one out of pine to serve the same purpose, and he did. It works admirably. I couldn’t get a photo that showed the top shelf (too narrow of an area where the rack is located next to our back door), but the top shelf could be used either for display (which I do) or for 2 additional tea boxes.

At the bottom of the rack, I have hung a teapot hanging made out of felt from a kit some years ago. I’ve always wanted to make another, and saved the pattern just in case. Maybe someday!

And then this final photo, which was not taken in my kitchen, but instead in a kitchen in faraway Nevada. My daughter who lives there wanted a tea rack, so on one of our visits, Mr. T and our son-in-law worked together to make one. It’s so neat to think of her having something just like mine, that was handmade, in her kitchen too.

To see what others have shared for Show & Tell this week, go visit visit There is No Place Like Home and check out the links. It’s so much fun to see what others have to share!