There was a period of my life when I had a secret restaurant inside my apartment, and that’s when I got the speed rack, a metal rack on wheels that holds sheet pans that function as shelves. After working in professional kitchens, I realized how useful speed racks were, and with my limited space, they made sense for pots and pans storage. A speed rack gives you open and movable shelving. Of all the things I have in my kitchen, it is the thing I constantly get the most compliments on. I have a Thermomix, a cutting board, and glass cloche that I use to store bread like the rose from Beauty and the Beast, and a giant brass hood that takes up three-quarters of my wall — these are expensive, even gaudy things. But it’s this $100 speed rack that everyone comments on and says things like, This is brilliant; I need one, too. Everybody loves the speed rack.
I’ve been using this one for about 12 years now. The first thing I used the speed rack for at home was for baking egg-custard tarts. I was making 80 of them at a time. The tarts were baked in silicone molds on a sheet tray, which I slid onto the speed rack after baking. The speed rack is great for holiday cooking. If I’m reverse-searing a steak or I have a roast that’s ready to sear, I leave them on a sheet tray that I set on the speed rack.
Mine is right behind the oven, so I can take things out of the oven and set them on the speed rack right away. I haven’t moved it around in a really long time, but I have the option to. I use it to cool off the treats that I dehydrate for my dogs. But since I don’t cook in large quantities at home as much anymore, I use it for open shelving. It’s super-convenient if you’re a visual person like me and you need to see your inventory. I need to be able to see what I have in order to remember that I have it. If something is kept in a closed cabinet, I’ll forget about it. This way, I remember to use that jerk seasoning or za’atar. I use it as an encouragement to add spices that I don’t use very often in my food. I like to store smaller things on it that can often get shoved into drawers, like measuring spoons. I use a mix of both half-size and full-size sheet trays, which you can stagger (for taller bottles that sit on a full-sheet tray but below a half-sheet tray).
A speed rack gives your space versatility. If you’re an avid cook, it can be many things at once: pan storage, gadget storage, storage tower, changeable shelving. I also dry herbs on mine. Right now, I have bundles of lemon verbena, fennel, basil, and parsley tied to it.
I’d love it if a home version of a speed rack came out in, say, matte black or rose gold. That would be a dream. Every now and then, I search the internet for a copper or rose-gold speed rack. They don’t exist, but that would be so excessive and fun.
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