I once saw someone build/alter a coffee table so that it had a lip/edge. They arranged the bottle caps on top of the coffee table and then poured in some type of polyurethane or lacquer on top (don't quite remember what the name was). Somewhat like this: http://www.luxuryhousingtrends.com/archive/2008/10/okay-guys-heres/.

Could be fun.

Years ago I saw a post somewhere where this person displayed their collection of antique silverware inside an acrylic countertop in their kitchen - or maybe it was a backsplash. It was super cool and obviously bottle tops would be very fitting in a kitchen. http://www.ehow.com/how_6157625_create-clear-acrylic-over-shells.html If you don't want to immerse the caps in acrylic you could probably make a pretty cool backsplash out of shadow boxes filled with the caps.

I'd use a magnetic memo board, glue a magnet to the inside of the cap and arrange as desired.
You could use double sided tape instead of glue.
You could also stick them to the fridge.

I collect squished pennies, and I display them by gluing thumbtacks on the back and sticking them in my cubicle walls at work - I'd imagine this would work for bottle caps too (maybe pushpins instead of flat thumbtacks), you could put corkboard tiles up (backsplash??) and stick them right in!

A friend strung hers together to make a "curtain" - it looks awesome. It took her a really long time, but when the light hits the different colored caps (and the interspersed beads) it looks awesome. Here's a pic http://www.flickr.com/photos/ktmccall/5597465044/

i've seen etsy sellers that take a piece of wood and drill shallow holes into them that would be perfect to display bottle caps or band buttons.

I'm currently making a wood frame similar to those I make for my artwork. In the top of the frame I'm leaving a slot to drop my bottlecaps into, leaving my collection displayed and easily added to! I'll send some pictures when it comes together.

Ooo..I'd love to hear more ideas too! My husband has THOUSANDS of bottle caps he refuses to part with because he knows he'll "come up with something good" one of these days. Of course we've moved boxes of these things to three different homes! any suggestions would be most welcomed.

I love the idea of making a kitchen backsplash with them. I would have done that, if I had a collection of interesting bottle caps.

I work at the corporate headquarters of a major beer company and as such - we have a pub in our office (just as awesome as it sounds!). The backsplash is tiled with round, cobalt blue tiles and about every 6 inches or so is one of our bottle caps. Looks amazing and everybody comments that while it is clever and makes sense for a beer company - it would look great anywhere. Sorry I can't include a pic!

You could glue them to some inexpensive plastic knobs and use them for all pulls in the kitchen - would look really sharp in a variety of colors again bright white cabinets.

seems like they're the perfect size to become fridge magnets!

Pabst Blue Ribbon FTW! :)

@awesomenicole, that backsplash sounds so cool, thanks for sharing. Think ya could get me a job?? LOL!

arrange them by color and put them in shadow boxes?
i really love the backsplash idea, too.

Buy one of those "deep" Ribba frames from Ikea, fill it up with caps, and shake it once in a while.

Similar to the first entry, I saw someone make a serving tray in a similar fashion. Line the caps along the bottom of the tray and pour acrylic over it. I'm now saving bottle caps so I can do the same.

I save them in the hopes of one day making a bottle cap portrait inspired by the work of Chuck Close or Molly B. Right. Or more likely, a mandala, a plaid, or a geometric tile pattern since I don't have the genius eye to create a pleasing version of someone I love enough to have them around as a portrait.

Instructables.com has many tutorials on turning bottle caps into magnets. This way you can display them in many different areas and they make great gifts when made in sets. One good link is below.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bottle-Cap-Magnet/?ALLSTEPS

This, but without spray painting the caps:
http://sweetsomethingdesign.blogspot.com/2010/07/bottle-cap-tray.html

Your post immediately made me think of a great craft idea I saw once, using buttons: http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2011/05/heirloom-button-art.html

Take this idea but use bottlecaps instead, and I think it would look really, really cool. If I were you I'd use a thick dark wood frame, use a backing made of a medium-heavy textured off-white paper, line the caps up in rows according to color, and leave a healthy margin between the frame and the caps. The caps will have a shadow to them which will make this an interesting, personal, but still sophisticated-looking piece of art on your wall. Maybe try a few different configurations -- either all uniform rows, or see what it looks like if you do one color per line, and left- (or right-) align them, leaving a ragged right (or left) edge.

Heck, I might just go do this myself! :)

NO NO NO NO! It's October now. This question is too late. You have to wait until next year when we have the misfortune of hearing about collecting for a whole month again.

Put them in a jar . . . in the garbage.

My great-aunt had a coffee table with what appeared to be a frame built into it with glass as the top of the table and she put a collage underneath and it looked really cool.

Maybe you could do something similar with the bottlecaps?

Otherwise coasters or trivets/hot pads would be pretty cool.

You could always buy a plain mirror and affix the caps to that.

http://shop.tradingplacesinteriors.com/Folk-Art-Bottlecap-Mirror_p_148.html

Hot glued to a lampshade.

I make magnets out of mine. I actually choose some of my beers based on their caps. Its a good way to try new beers, and to get cool looking magnets.

Love that you have an O'Fallon beer cap. Need a Schlafly one to go with it though.

My father in law made us "99 bottles of beer on the wall."

Simple plank of wood. All different caps in a 4 x 25 configuration. Leave the last "slot" blank.

I think he screwed bolts or something into the plank and then hot glued the bottle caps on there. It's a really fun display and whenever you tell people it's 99 bottles of beer on the wall, it always gets a great response.

I have a huge collection of bottle caps myself that I'm planning to glue little magnets to the insides and turn them into refrigerator magnets. They'll be on display and functional!

I made this as a gift for my boyfriend. It is a fun and functional way to display all the beer caps that we had collected.
http://craftyinchicago.blogspot.com/p/beer-cap-tray.html

This is the display at the Bruery Provisions store in Orange, CA: http://www.marianthefoodie.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_1668.jpg

Here's it in the making: http://www.beersearchparty.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Bruery-provisions.jpg