we are moving into a new house as we speak and i have 3 extra bedrooms in the house and was planning on making one into a sewing/craft room where i can also store all my pans. But i was wondering how everyone stores their pans where you know what you have and dont have to go digging through boxes to find something. Please help with this i need a plan... lol thanks

You just read my mind Alicia, I was just about to ask the same question, but in my case I have a pantry in my kitchen and few cabinets.

I have a big shelf inside a closet under my stairs and there I keep the pans I use the most ie: rounds, squares etc. and in another shelf the cardboard rounds that go with each pans and boxes.

The character pans I have them store in a big plastic pin and store in the garage. I took pictures of each pan that's in this bin and taped them to outside.

Hope this helps.

see my mom in law said maybe making one of those slotted holders (see them in kitchens to hold plates) but make it big enough to hold all pans with room to grow. so i dont know what i want to do yet just wanted ideas.

I use the storage bins and have one for round and one for square

the slotted holders for frying pans and pan lids are wide slots, I use them for all my pans i have a large cabinet above my fridge which I have 3 racks filled with pan and cookie sheets etc I put all rounds nested inside each other same with squares and sheets to save space.

Your mom in law has a good idea. I just have a closet (my boyfriend doesn't like a crowded kitchen, so he gave me a closet to hold all my toys). The closet has things in baskets that I pull out and take upstairs to the kitchen. I separate things that I use together by basket.

Everything is in a container, clear so that I can see.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Badger-Basket-Folding-Basket-Brown-Polka-Dot/10912900?findingMethod=rr

What kind of pans are they?

If they are the shaped pans, kinda of liked the character one, I knew a lady on another message board that actually hung hers on the walls in her house as decorations. She'd put like pans together. She actually wrote a book about old pans including pictures, so that would tell you she has quite a few of them.

My basic shaped pans are stacked inside of each other according to size then stacked on top of each other on a big metal shelving unit. I'm currently trying to talk myself into selling a lot of my shaped pans, since I never really use them, except for a few holiday ones.

My husband built floor to ceiling shelves on 3 walls of our laundry room for my growing collection of cake pans, around 800 now. Most of them are in the pan gallery on my website. We bought big Rubbermaid storage bins and then sorted the pans by category. Christmas, Halloween/Thanksgiving, Animals, People, Cartoon Characters, Disney, Vehicles, Houses, etc. One bin is all "singles" cupcake size individual pans. Another bin is multi-cavity cupcake pans. Another is all cookie molds. You get the idea. About 40 giant bins at this point. I also have no dining room anymore. All my wedding cake stuff is in there (stands, plates,pillars, etc)

Yes, I have an addiction. Unfortunately, there is no 12-step program for cake decorating. Except CC

PS: I have that book TexasSugar mentioned. It's called "The Collector's Book of Novelty Pans" by Jeanne Gibbs. You can probably find it online.

ETA: I forgot to mention that I put a BIG file folder on which is written CHRISTMAS or whatever in BIG letters inside the end of the bin. Inside the folder goes a list of the pans, and all their inserts, in that bin.

If I sell them, I have promised my past students they get first crack. But if I have any left over I'll let you know. I just have to talk myself into parting with them first.

LOL thanks, yeah i have some that are duplicates and am trying to part with them...

It can be hard. I know I probably won't use them, but there is that what if though. I have between 150-200 pans so I am pretty sure I can part with some and still be okay.

I have storage racks in my laundry room just for cake pans. Most of my pans are round or square so they are pretty easy to stack. I also have a big plastic bin with drawers for more storage for my cake boards and drums.