How do you organize container lids in the kitchen?

[DogwoodTales]

In my house we have a couple drawers in which lids to various storage containers are kept.
Once in a while the wife organizes them by type/size and stacks them, but as one can imagine with children in the house and a typically hectic family life, this does not last long. Additionally, eventually, invariably , we end up with lids without matching containers and visa versa .

I will (someday soon hopefully) build a new cabinet system for the island that happens to include this function of storing container lids.
With that in mind, I'm hoping to find some ideas and inspiration on how to accommodate a better system to store container lids and, hopefully, make it easier to keep them organized. Storing the lids on the matching containers is not a viable option for us due to limited space. (with a family we have a lot of various containers.)

So ... what do you do to keep container lids organized, or where might I find some solutions and inspiration?

Thanks!

[GHR]

My wife has a lot of containers.

For the most part we have 3 sizes of lids that fit most of the containers. The containers without lids nest together. And the lids of each size snap together.

Each size of lid fits 2 or 3 depths of containers. So we have about 8 stacks of containers and 3 stacks of lids.

[K. L. McReynolds]

Been struggling with that one for decades. Especially now with just the two of us. We have a lot of left overs.

Current solution is to periodically round up the remains of the two current sets and give them to our kids(who still have chillins and a worse container problem than we do)and buy new sets of containers for us.

The kids have parts and pieces of those two old sets anyways.

We store ours in an upper cabinet, stacked big/medium/small, with the lids in a large bin next to the containers, largest to the back.

This new set has more square/oblong containers than round. Makes better storage in the fridge.

[fredhargis]

I do not believe what you want to do is humanly possible.

[CLETUS]

fredhargis said:

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I do not believe what you want to do is humanly possible.

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+1

I just give up and say "I need a lid for this"

Somehow my wife has this zen thing going on with that cupboard... Poof, she comes up with the right lid everytime.

[3finger]

I've been trying to convince my wife for years to throw out ALL of what we currently have and replace with a large quantity of like containers in perhaps 3 or 4 different sizes, preferably with lids colored according to size. The initial expense would be more than offset by convenience and time saved.

[Robert Adams]

3finger said:

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I've been trying to convince my wife for years to throw out ALL of what we currently have and replace with a large quantity of like containers in perhaps 3 or 4 different sizes, preferably with lids colored according to size. The initial expense would be more than offset by convenience and time saved.

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That's my thought as well.

Course with just the two of us we rarely have leftovers. We cook just what we need unless it's something like brisket where it's bagged and frozen.
We bought some of the Rubbermaid kits at sams to replace odd old stuff and we rarely use them. Often I grab one when doing a project in the house and use it for a hardware dish...

[EP]

Nice to see that this is a universal problem - not just me. I can never find the tops, SWMBO usually can pick them out of the drawer with little problem.

I constantly lobby for a solution that starts with a nice set of heavy duty containers - color-coded. Then she adds her flimsy use once throw-a-ways but of course they can not be thrown away until they are completely warped or otherwise destroyed. Then I am back to the "can you find the top for this" game. I always lose


So I guess I have no answer for you

[Mr_Mike]

I don't. My wife does. Or not. Its a mess. I give up. I'm a smart man.

[DogwoodTales]

Well I got a lot of good laughs, if no proposed solutions

I like the surrender to the forces of domestic affairs.
I too often just ... give up

I just did a quick google on the subject and there's a lot of ideas out there,
but the issue will be to make something flexible enough for the ever changing needs.

I have had that idea for a while to store the lids on edge, but what occurred to me while viewing those google results and that I didn't see in the search results is to make something spring loaded to keep stored lids stacked together in rows instead of flopping around. That's a little too much engineering for a kitchen drawer, so perhaps a simple, adjustable book-end style that locks in place as in a dovetailed groove or something. That way lids can be stored and kept at least somewhat snug and organized.