Organize pots & pans

I have 5 kids.  We homeschool and regularly eat three meals a day at home.  That is a lot of dishes.  A lot. My kids all rotate dishwashing duty.  However, every day when it is time to cook, I am at a loss for where my super sized saute pan or stock pot is hiding.  I know they are clean, but where are they?  In case you're wondering, we rent so a ceiling mounted pot and pan holder isn't an option. (boo-hoo)  Inevitably, I find whatever is missing...in the oven.  The oven seems to be the catch all for stuff that doesn't fit in the cabinets.  

So today...(this is where the picture would go if I wasn't too embarrassed to post it) 

I emptied out all of my cabinets onto the counters and table.

Then I remember the best and most often disregarded rule of organizing -- 

NEVER TAKE OUT MORE THAN YOU CAN PUT AWAY IN 15 MINUTES!!!

Needless to say, we had breakfast and lunch in the living room.   My daughter couldn't charge her cell phone, because she couldn't reach the charger buried under a pile of cookware.  And knowing I wouldn't be able to cook dinner in that mess, I googled "how to organize your pots and pans". 

I was so disappointed.  I watched a couple of YouTube videos showing me how great my cabinets could look with pull out/sliding cabinet organizers.  Unfortunately, that is not an option.  My husband is not going to renovate the kitchen of our rental. And even if he would, it wouldn't be done by dinner time.

So, after trying to get my born organized daughter to help me sort out this mess and then quickly relieving her from duty when she looked like she was going to cry...I jumped in.

I surprised myself.  One cabinet is now exclusively for cookware I use in the oven and the other cabinet is for cookware I use on the stove top.  I never thought it could be that simple.  

Now what am I going to do with all my plastic storage containers?