Kitchen Peg Rails

I recently saw a picture of some beautiful under cabinet peg rails in a decorating book and wanted to make something similar. Because my tiles run up the wall to the bottom of the cabinets, I knew I’d have to find an interesting way to install them, and because one of my bee tiles is fairly close to the top, they couldn’t be very wide.

Way back before the pandemic, I went to a wood warehouse and found beautiful pieces of moulding which I used all over the cottage. They stain gorgeously. All my baseboards, my chair rails, door and window trim is made from this moulding. The only catch was, the pieces were only four feet long. But at 50 cents each, I knew they were better than anything else I could afford. I bought all I could get (about one hundred of them) and have found them useful for so many things. For this project, I asked my Dad to run them through the saw and cut off the thicker edge so that they are only 1.75″ wide. I bought 1″ Shaker Pegs from Woodpeckers Crafts. We drilled holes in the recommended size, and after sanding each peg a tiny bit, I pounded them into the holes. I added wood glue on the back, but they aren’t going anywhere.

I gave the rails two coats of paint to match the cabinets. Because each rail is a different length (all five of my cabinets are different sizes) I had to adjust the spacing of the pegs. I wanted them to look similarly spaced, but also to have the same amount of room on the end of each rail. The pegs are between 5.75″ and 6.5″ apart, and I can’t see the differences. Maybe if they were a different color and had contrasted with the rails it would have been more obvious, but as it is, it looks good.

I found some Small Decorative Brackets and added them to each rail. I used the tiny screws provided to attach them to the rails, but I bought longer screws to attach them to the cabinets. These brackets are slightly flexible, so I could bend them around the curves on the rail, and be sure they were at the correct angle to mount to the undersides of the cabinets.

There are five rails, with a total of eighteen little pegs, and I can’t wait to start using them.

They are perfect for holding items both pretty and practical.

The dark metal brackets match my outlet covers and look at home in my kitchen.

I made one more larger peg rail with a full width of moulding to hang under the beautiful shelf above the stove. I plan to use this shelf to hold the amazing French copper jam pot my parents got me for Christmas a year ago. It was made in a little Copper Atelier we visited in Normandy just before the pandemic. I used Big Shaker Pegs from Woodpeckers for this rail, and now I have a place to hang my copper ladle and funnel next to my jam pot.