The Supposedly Brilliant Kitchen Storage Hack I Wound Up Hating

Have you ever seen a little hack on the internet (looking at you, Pinterest) that seems so exciting? You just can’t wait to try it and make your life a million times better. You change your plans so that you can go home right after work, do a little trickery, and then spend the rest of the night marveling at your brilliance. You might not have come up with the idea, but you found it! And you implemented it! You deserve a parade!

Something like this recently happened to me. Although, by the next morning, I had changed my tune.

First, let me just say this: I owe you guys an apology. I have edited countless stories in which we suggest you guys add hooks to the back of your cabinet door. From these hooks, we’ve suggested you hang your measuring cups and spoons. The idea is that it frees up space in your drawers or cabinets and it makes it easy to find these little guys that would otherwise easily get lost. You can even hang them in graduated order, which just looks cool. Sounds like a good trick, right? Eh, keep reading.

At first, I was very proud of myself. I left the cabinet door open and called my husband into the kitchen to show off what I had done. I wanted to know if he noticed anything different. He thought I had gotten new sweatpants, which was not correct. I pointed out the hooks and new storage system. He seemed unimpressed and did not offer to throw the parade I desired. Forget him — I was still pumped about this.

The next morning, I went into the kitchen and opened the cabinet door to get a bowl and … whack. The hooks slammed against the cabinet door so loudly, for a second I thought everything was falling off the shelves. It scared the crud out of me! Soon, my husband came in and did the exact same thing. I was definitely not getting a parade.

I thought I would get more used to it over time: If I reminded myself that the measuring cups where there before I opened the cabinet, I wouldn’t get scared. The results were spotty, as I didn’t always remember to remind myself. And even if I wasn’t frightened by the sound, it was still totally annoying. I suppose I could have lined the back of the door with a piece of cork or something else to muffle the clanking, but that made the hack even more involved. After less than a week, the hooks came down.

What about you? Do you hang measuring cups and spoons (or anything else) from the backs of your cabinets? Are you happy with the setup?

This post originally ran on Kitchn. See it there: The Supposedly Brilliant Kitchen Hack I Didn’t Love and Immediately Undid