Majjie's Blog

I spent a lot of my early kitchen designing years trying to persuade people out of having a plate rack in their kitchen. The more ornate ones can be quite expensive and although I could see that they looked very pretty, with beautiful best china plates in them, I thought they were a waste of space and that it was a nightmare to keep both the plates, and the rack itself, clean.

As you can tell from the picture below, which shows a big plate rack in one of my kitchen designs, I changed my mind. It's being used to show off some really pretty plates ... 

For another beautiful plate rack, have a look at this one from Brookmans Wharncliffe Edge range:

Now, that would look great, even if it had no plates in it!

I still think plate racks are a nightmare to clean but there are two things you can do to reduce plate rack problems:

the first is to keep, not your best china in them but your everyday plates and dishes. That way they get washed regularly anyway and it's really quite useful to have them within easy reach and not stacked in a cupboard. Your plates not really pretty? Well ... you obviously need some new ones then!

the second is to insist that the vertical bars/dividers are removable - even if that requires getting out a little screw driver and unscrewing them. That way you can take them out and give the whole thing a good clean once in a while. Once a week or once a year - whichever fits in with your cleaning policy!