I loved so much the idea of turning wine corks into knobs that I could not stop looking for other ways of home improvement using these small pieces of wood.

And pretty soon I realized that wine corks and glass pan lids would make a good pair. Here’s why!

Most of the glass pan lids have a holder that usually gets broken in time, because it’s made of plastic or bakelite, which doesn’t seem to resist on long term at high temperatures.

It happened to me too. The shiny polished holder broke to pieces while the glass was clear as new.

I didn’t buy another holder for that lid even if I could, and I thought to make a change and use a furniture knob instead. Poor choice, since I had only one knob at the moment in my stash, and it was a metallic one. You can imagine the burns on my fingers, can’t you?

Now it’s time to fix it up! I gave up the metallic knob and used a wine cork instead, and then I fell in love with the result!

What You Need for the Project

• Pan lid (glass pan lids are prone to have this issue with the holder)
• Reclaimed wine cork
• Wood screw 3/4 of the cork long
• Washer in the same size as the screw
• Varnish (to protect the cork from getting wet while cooking)
• Screwdriver

Optional, you might want to decorate your knobs like I did, so get some sharp thin markers to draw on the wine corks before applying the varnish coat. CLICK HERE to see how I decorated wine corks, and to get the inspiration for your own design.

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How to Do It

Whatever you choose about design, you still need to protect your knob from steam and humidity, so apply a good coat of varnish all over it, then let it dry.

In the meantime, unscrew the old holder from the lid and clean the surface that has been covered by it. Place the washer on the inner side of the lid, then screw the wood screw through the hole, to the other side.

Turn the cork upside down, and mark the center of it. Place the wood screw (with the lid attached) in the center and gently screw it until it stops drilling through the knob. Don’t push it too hard, or you might break it!

This is it!

But wait, here comes more about it! The following one has been painted by my kid, which means that this project is so affordable and easy that even a child could make it work.

Somebody asked me if this type of pan lid can be washed in the dishwasher. Probably not and I won’t do it, because it’s the same thing as dish-washing wood spoons or other wooden items from the kitchen. But I won’t mind washing it by hand, since it looks so lovely! And it’s not like I would have to was by hand everything in my kitchen in the end…

There’s a box full of wine corks waiting for the next project. I’m still counting them, and wondering if I should plan a party to get more corks, or stay with a smaller project.

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