Thursday Tips: Wine Glass Storage (plus Bonus Tip!)

Every Thursday is tip day.

Storing wine glasses is bit trickier than regular glassware, because they tend to be tall and tip over more easily. For most of our mugs and drinking glasses, simply lining the cupboards with non-skid material works fine. I linked to Camping World to show the non-skid stuff, but you can also buy it at Wal-Mart where it is much cheaper. I just couldn't find it on their website.

The liner does keep wine glasses from sliding around, but it doesn't keep them from falling over. To keep them upright, I use spring loaded rods. Take a look at them here at Camping World. The secret is that these are really just spring loaded cafe curtain rods and are available at any hardware store. In fact, the hardware store will have them in many more lengths so you can use them in a variety of cabinets to hold in place lots of different things like books or videos. I use a long one across our shower as an extra place to dry rags, wet bathing suits, or hand-washed clothing.

Here are our three "every day" wine glasses in the cupboard. The white stuff under them is the non-slip liner. The white rod is positioned so that the stems of the glasses are snug up against it. There are other items in this cabinet, but I removed them to get a clearer photo. Normally all the mugs, etc. are placed pretty close to each other but not touching. That way they don't rattle and vibrate against each other.



We also have a couple of tall, stainless steel coffee mugs that also tend to fall over. I hook their handles over the rod to keep them upright.

To buy the right length curtain rod, measure the distance between the two parallel surfaces you want to span (usually the inside of your cabinet). Look for the rods that are round rather than the flat oval kinds. They are sized in a range, such as 12 to 18 inches. Buy the one where your cabinet length is in the range. To get the perfect fit in your cabinet, adjust the length of the rod by unscrewing it until it is about an inch longer than what you need. Then squeeze the rod and brace it between the two walls. If it is really hard to squeeze it, turn to adjust it a little shorter. If the rod falls down too easily, adjust it a little longer.

We also have two crystal wine glasses from Sean's family heirloom set. We use these for special occasions. They hang from a wine glass rack that we bought at some long-forgotten kitchenware store. I know it was only about $5. It is mounted up underneath the same cabinet that holds the everyday glasses.



The four additional wine glasses in this photo are made of plastic and they surround the crystal ones. This serves two purposes: 1) it is storage for extra wine glasses in case we have a party, and more importantly, 2) it keeps the good glasses from banging into the back wall and breaking. If you look closely at the plastic glasses, you'll see that they are worn in a ring around the middle where they tap the crystal. That's fine; they are cheap.

The rack has three slots for glassware. By using just the outer two, the glasses are far enough apart left to right that they don't hit each other and break. The black line in front of the feet of the glasses is a small bungee cord. This keeps the glasses from slipping out of the rack until we're ready to use them. It is very unobtrusive unless you're staring up underneath the counter at this weird angle that I used to take the photo.

As we drive down the road, the six wine glasses swing and sway, but in 75,000 miles the crystal is unscratched and unchipped. They bump gently against the plastic ones and chime like little bells. Most of the time that sounds sweet to me, but occasionally gets on my nerves. Slipping a rubber band around the crystal glasses silences them.

Of course you could use the hanging rack for any kind of stemmed glasses: all plastic, martini shaped, regular Libby glass ones, etc. Measure the feet of your glasses before you buy the rack, though, to make sure they will fit. Some racks that are small enough for under tiny RV cabinets have slots that are too small.

And now, for the Bonus Tip!

If you want to get motivated to dust your RV, start taking photos for your blog of underneath and the insides of your cabinets. When you upload the photo from your little camera to full screen on your computer, you'll see how gross it looks. The desire to fool your blog readers into thinking that your home is sparkling clean and tidy will force you to empty the entire cabinet and wash everything that hasn't been used in months. There! Now don't you feel better?