This Charming Vintage Thrift Store Item Keeps Towels Off Kitchen Floors

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If your kitchen doesn't have a dedicated towel hook or bar, you might find yourself using creative methods for hanging up towels. Hanging a kitchen towel on the handle of a cabinet, drawer, refrigerator, or oven has its downsides, however. Every time you grab the handle to open the door or drawer, the towel is at risk of falling off. If you want a more reliable solution that is also super cute, you might appreciate the charms of upcycling a vintage thrift store find.

A vintage pastry cutter is a simple solution for optimizing kitchen towel storage. This unique kitchen gadget is designed to be used in recipes that combine dry ingredients and fats like butter, lard, and shortening. It consists of a u-shaped handle that holds three or four sturdy, curved metal wires or blades. The pastry cutter is rocked back and forth in the bowl to break apart the fat and integrate it into the dry ingredients, preventing the fat from melting while blending.

While old-school pastry cutters found in an antique store or vintage shop may not be safe to use in the kitchen due to rust or damage to the blades, they can find a second life as a decorative object in your kitchen. Affixing the pastry cutter to the wall or the front of a cabinet via its handle creates an enclosed loop through which a kitchen towel can be folded and hung. This makes for a charming and fun way to hang towels without worrying they will fall on the floor, and it's the perfect complement to a retro-inspired kitchen.

If you want to use this cute DIY kitchen hook idea in your kitchen, you don't need much. Start by finding one or two vintage pastry cutters at your local thrift store or antique mall. Decide where you want to hang them in your kitchen, whether on the wall, the front of a cabinet, or the side of a kitchen island or piece of furniture. Hold the pastry cutter to the wall in the desired spot, using a level to ensure the handle is parallel to the floor. Then attach the pastry cutter to the wall on each side using a u-shaped nail (also called a fencing staple). While you can use two small finishing nails to hang the pastry cutter up by its handle, using u-shaped nails will allow you to insert a towel into the loop of the pastry cutter without risking pulling it off the wall.

Alternatively, if you don't want to (or can't) put nails in the wall, you can use a Command picture hanging strip. Attach the Command strip to the back of the pastry cutter's handle, and the other one at the site where you want to hang it. Then press the velcroed sides together for a nail-free hanging method. When you're done, just hang your kitchen towel through the loop.

If you have more than one towel you want to hang or display, you can take a different approach to this DIY kitchen storage project. Attach two or more pastry cutters to a vintage wooden cutting board, and then hang the board on your wall for a rustic, farmhouse-style aesthetic. You can use both pastry cutters for towels, or use one for a towel and one to hang an apron.