Knife Storage, Revisited, Part 2: Wall-Mounted Knife Racks

If you don’t have room on your countertop for a knife block, a wall-mounted rack might be a good option. And there are so many cool ones to choose from! (Of course, there are purely utilitarian ones, too. You don’t need my help to find those.)

This one comes from Norden Designs, which makes knife racks in various lengths and various woods. Like most wall-mounted racks, it uses strong embedded magnets to hold the knives in place.

Unsurprisingly, some of the companies that make nice knife blocks also make nice knife racks. These come from Arbol Cuisine.

And this one comes from Make Me Something Special. At 10 inches tall, it’s substantially taller than most wall-mounted knife racks, thus keeping the entire knife blade on the rack.

While most magnetic knife blocks hide the magnets, the knife grabbers from Peg and Awl, sold by Food52, make the magnets part of the design. The knife grabbers are all made from reclaimed wood.

Yet another magnetic option is what Zernin Handcrafted calls Magic Circles.

The stainless steel Magneto knife rack from Eva Solo isn’t new, but I haven’t yet written about here. It’s a very different design which keeps the knife blades pointed inward; that might be better from a safety perspective. It also fits more knives into a given amount of space. 2Modern is a US-based source for this rack.

Not all wall-mounted knife racks use magnets; Cattails Woodwork makes ones with a long slot for inserting the knives. These knife racks come in three different woods, and each wood is available in two lengths.

Shop owner Brenda Watts writes about the woods she uses in her products: “Some pieces are crafted using fine cabinet woods such as black walnut, cherry and mahogany, from sustainable sources and managed plantations, many pieces are crafted from local woods that are from trees that may have fallen during storms or ones that have been cut for various reasons. I also love to recycle wood from old furniture, houses, old wooden barns.”

Stuermer Studios uses the same slotted design but uses a “translucent FDA-food approved resin slab” rather than wood; it’s available in three colors. The company notes that these racks are intended for knives “that have a flat transition of the handle to the blade.”

Finally, this knife rack from DMS-Design, which does use magnets, has individual slots and can be hung horizontally or vertically — so it can fit into spots too narrow for other knife racks.

Knife Storage, Revisited, Part 1: Knife Blocks

A friend was recently asking around for knife block recommendations, which made me realize I hadn’t written about knife storage since 2016. When I did some searching, I was delighted to find many products that are new to me — so many that they wouldn’t fit into a single post. So let’s start out with just the countertop knife blocks.

When you hear the words “knife block” you probably think of those big chunky wood things with a bunch of slots. And of course you can still find plenty of those — but you have many other options, too.

For example, look at these lovely knife blocks from Arbol Cuisine, sold on the company website or via Etsy. They’re available in three different woods, and maker Stéphane Dumont says that “a small magnet inserted between each slot ensures that each knife stays in place.” He’s based in Quebec, and he uses woods which are indigenous to North America: maple, cherry and black walnut.

Magnets play a part in many modern knife blocks. This one from Arte Legno doesn’t even have slots; the magnets keep the knives in place. I first found it at Milk Street, although other sites sell it, too. And you can also get it in a larger size. Milk Street says that the magnets “firmly hold blades in place without making them difficult to remove” — and also says that Arte Legno uses sustainably sourced wood.

Here’s another magnetic style you’ll see quite frequently; I think this personalized oak one from Make Me Something Special in the UK is one of the loveliest I’ve found. It’s available in three sizes.

With an old-style knife block you might have had to remember which slot held which knife; with this type of product there’s no such issue. But if you have knives that you don’t think look nice on display, even though they work well, this would not be the product for you.

The knife blocks from Schmidt Brothers, with an acrylic safety cover, seem to be very popular at the moment; you can find them at Sur la Table, Williams Sonoma, and Crate and Barrel.

And here's yet another magnetic design: The 360 knife block and the 360 Max, from Design Trifecta.

Not all univeral knife blacks — the ones without slots — are magnetic. I’ve written about the ones from Kapoosh before, but they are worth a re-mention.

At first glance, the Dice knife block from Kapoosh may look like an old-fashioned knife block. But it has no slots; instead, it’s filled with food-grade plastic “flex rods” which allow you to insert any knife anywhere. The rods can be removed and washed in a dishwasher’s top rack.

Like the idea of the Kapoosh, but not the look? Williams Sonoma has taken a Kapoosh insert and surrounded it with various holders. There’s copper, walnut, marble and more.

An alternative to using plastic rods is to use bamboo or other wood skewers; the Mikoto knife block from Ekoba (which is no longer available) used this approach. Now the only one I’m finding is this lovely knife block from Lirio, made to order.

The Leo knife block from Berghoff provides yet another universal approach, with a removable insert (gray on one side, pink of the other) which holds 6-8 knives. There’s no wood here; this is all polypropylene and rubber, so it’s less stunning but also less expensive. Berghoff says it has an anti-slip base.

One final style I want to mention are those knife blocks that store the knives horizontally. Fine Crafts of Kentucky makes these in three sizes, and it seems they would be great for those who want to put a knife rack under some low-hanging kitchen cabinets. I’m not sure I like the look of having the knife blades stick out the back, but the shop notes this lets them dry in the air and ensures you know which knife is in which slot.

And these blocks will be sold be Viva Terra starting in August, if all goes according to plan.

In Real Simple, Jeffrey Elliot (the executive chef for knife manufacturer Zwilling J. A. Henckel USA at the time the article was published) explains why he recommends this style of knife block over those with slots holding the knives vertically: “The slots should be horizontal so the knives slide in parallel to the counter rather than resting on the blade edges, which can dull over time.”

In Honor of My Mom: Organizing in Blue for 2021

Fourteen years ago today, my mom died of pancreatic cancer. Her favorite color was blue, so this has become my annual tribute to her.

The kingfisher refrigerator magnet features the art of Matt Sewell and is sold to support Ashdown Forest in the UK; it’s printed on FSC wood. There are a number of other Sewell bird magnets which have some blue, but this is the one that really jumped out at me. Note: The image isn’t loading for me when I use Safari, but it’s fine in Firefox.

And here’s another magnet featuring Miffy and two giraffes.

How could I resist the eyes on this ceramic owl money box from Hannah Turner?

This magnetic board from Beyond the Fridge, sold by Not On the High Street, has just enough blue to get included here.

For a heavier dose of blue, there's the Myosotis magnetic notice board from Psalt. It’s also available in larger sizes (Grande and XL) and in a portrait orientation. This smaller one is also available from Not On the High Street. It comes in other colors, too, not that Mom would have cared.

Helen Round calls the color on this linen fabric storage container “duck egg blue.”

The Bead Basket from Hay is made from hundreds of felt balls. It’s available with or without handles, and there are other color options. (The red, white and blue one is nice, too.)

I’ve included many lovely trays in these posts in prior years, so let’s end with another one this time. This is the Granada tray from Serena & Lily, made from laminated birch. It’s available in three sizes.

Curious about my posts in prior years? Take a look at all of them.

Children and Their Hair Clips, Bows, Headbands and Scrunchies — Revisited

Last month a reader asked me about some of the products in my 2008 post about hair bow storage, and I had to inform them that the products are no longer available. (I also noticed that I assumed that only little girls would care about such adornments; yikes!)

You certainly don’t need special products for these items; all sorts of random containers could work just fine. (I noted some ideas in the 2008 post.) But if you’d like something special, the good news is that I’m finding products I like better than those I listed last time.

You’ll notice that some of these bow and hair clip holders look like variations on French ribbon memo boards. Many of them include a rod at the bottom for headbands.

The bow and headband holder at the top of this post comes from BenliBowtique, which has holders in various patterns and sizes.

This bow holder and hairband organizer comes from EverlastingsBySue, which also has many options to choose from.

And here’s a hair clip organizer from XoXoAmour, with the same type of design but a very different vibe.

This bow organizer and headband holder from Wood Decor With Love is a nice variation on the same general approach as the three prior products. You can get these in different sizes and colors.

Nathan and Meg at Field Day Co explain how they came to make their minimalast hanging bow holders: “We are ... parents that found ourselves with too many bows and too little organization. The containers and bags of bows were getting out of control and left us frustrated while doing our daughter’s hair in the morning. We searched online for a solution that met our needs and personal style. We could not find what we were looking for so we designed and created our own. We also realized that other parents might like these too.”

This headband and bow holder from MyEllieBeans, with its individual clips, makes it easy to grab the one you want — no need to tip all the others off the rod first to get to one in the middle. You can order the holder with two, three or four rods — and of course the name is personalized. (You can also choose this saying: There are too many bows — said no one ever.)

Finally, I had to include this scrunchie holder, even though the store it comes from is currently on a break. Here’s hoping they do indeed come back from that break, because this is adorable — and not just for children.

Dish Drying Racks, Revisited

My friend Angela recently wrote, “I just washed some dishes just for the excitement of using my beautiful new dish drying rack.” Of course, I had to find out which rack that was; it’s the Yamazaki Tower, a two-tier customizable rack. That looks like a great drying rack: it’s attractive and it’s good for small spaces, like her Paris kitchen. The reviews are full of other extremely happy customers, too.

And that made me think: It’s been a long time since I last wrote about dish drying racks. A lot changes in the product world in 11 years! I updated that old blog post to fix broken links and such, but I have more suggestions now for those who want dish racks that fit small spaces or that are attractive enough to leave sitting out — or both.

If you’d like something small but don't need the space of a two-tier product — or if you want something you could tuck away in a cabinet when not in use — you might like the compact dish drying rack from Brabantia, available in dark or light gray. It’s currently available from Williams-Sonoma, Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn.

Another compact option comes from mDesign, which notes the rack can be used on a countertop or in the sink. Note that unlike the Brabantia rack, this one does not have a drip tray. So if you were planning to use it on a countertop you might want to get one of the company’s drying mats to put under it — or just use a towel. You could even place it on an attractive tray, as long as the tray was waterproof.

 

You can also save space by using an over-the-sink dish rack, like this one from Neat-O. It doesn’t have a silverware holder, though.

If you get a dish rack without a silverware compartment, you could always get a separate piece for this, if you feel you need one. The whimsical one from Peleg Design caught my eye.

Yamazaki also has an over-the-sink dish rack; this one goes up from the sink rather than down into it.

Another type of space-saver is the madesmart collapsible dish rack. You could keep it, uncollapsed, in the sink — or stash it away somewhere else. It’s sold many places, including The Container Store.

But Surpahs roll-up over the sink dish drying rack must be the rack which takes up the least storage space!

Dish racks are usually rectangular, but they certainly don’t need to be. The Chef'n Dishgarden is another compact dish rack that can fit in the sink, if you wish. The Wirecutter review says, “Though its circular shape might seem like a waste of countertop space, this rack actually holds more than other compact racks of a similar size because of the cup holders around its circumference.”

A final option is to have a dish rack that you’re happy to have sitting out — and people who’ve bought Alessi’s (very expensive) A Tempo dish rack seem to be in that camp. It’s sold out many places, but for now it seems you can buy it at a few places, including RoyalDesign.com, Didriks and Hive — for widely varying prices.