What is this thing?

October 20, 2011 6:26 PM

What is this?

It feels like a cheap metal. About 12 to 14 inches wide. Those two nubby things on the top rail have threads on them, but the top nubs don't seem to screw off. A friend picked it up at a garage sale for a dollar. She has no idea what it is. Neither do I. Any clue?

posted by ericc to Shopping (33 answers total)

A part from a

i) Oven?
ii) Dishwasher?
posted by jchaw at 6:32 PM on October 20, 2011

Seems odd that it would have handles on it if so but I also am thinking that it is something kitchen related. Or possibly wardrobe related. It looks as if it is meant to hold things and carry them. Not too sure beyond that.
posted by Scientist at 6:34 PM on October 20, 2011

judging by the round feet and side handles it looks like a serving tray designed to hold some very specific things, or a thing intended to sit on a dining table or side table and hold some specific dishes.
posted by thewalrus at 6:35 PM on October 20, 2011

It's a serving tray of some kind--??? It looks like it came with some specific glassware at one time.
posted by marimeko at 6:35 PM on October 20, 2011

... or a shoe shine thing.
posted by marimeko at 6:37 PM on October 20, 2011

I am guessing some sort of all-in-one toast rack/breakfast tray.
posted by peachfuzz at 6:38 PM on October 20, 2011

Some kind of chafing dish setup? The heat source (fire or hot water) could hang off the rods in the middle, while the food container sits around it.
posted by Wulfhere at 6:45 PM on October 20, 2011

as the owner of a two slice toaster, if you start cooking toast and putting it in a "toast rack", don't the slices that were toasted first get cold before you've filled the rack?
posted by thewalrus at 6:45 PM on October 20, 2011

Response by poster: Because of how light the metal is, and the flakey metal-paint finish, I think anything relating to food or heat is out. I thought that it might be some display thing, but the threads throw me.
posted by ericc at 6:45 PM on October 20, 2011

With the handles and the feet it definitely looks kitcheny. That's all I've got.
posted by DoubleLune at 6:47 PM on October 20, 2011

as the owner of a two slice toaster, if you start cooking toast and putting it in a "toast rack", don't the slices that were toasted first get cold before you've filled the rack?

Yes, but I think toast racks hail from a time of using not-toasters (i.e., the oven) to make toast, so you'd fill it all at once. Also, the toast cools but it stays crisp in a rack, so maybe they negate the cold toast problem.
posted by peachfuzz at 6:49 PM on October 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

1. a fancy towel holding apparatus for a hotel bathroom?

2. the missing shelf from a rolling cocktail cart?
posted by marimeko at 6:54 PM on October 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

also, i withdraw my guess - I didn't realize that there were top rails but i see them clearly now. It definitely looks like some kind of serving tray, though. Does it look like it may have one time had a solid glass or plastic bottom?
posted by peachfuzz at 6:54 PM on October 20, 2011

I was thinking dish drying rack or something fireplace related, but now that I stare at it, I can't quite understand how some of the rails work due to the angle of the picture -- it's assymetrical, right? What are those connecting rods on the long side at the top along the flat rail? Are those connecting to the round rail, or going to the ground? If those are feet, it might have a "front". Likewise, the two middle loops at the bottom appear connected with a straight round rail -- do the loops opposite also have a rail or is that beneath them?

Could you take another pic or two from different angles if you have time? I gotta figure it out too now!
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 7:01 PM on October 20, 2011

Looks like a shower caddy with the suction cups missing. Seriously very similar to the one we have from Target.
posted by Nattie at 7:04 PM on October 20, 2011

I was thinking something to hold office supplies? You could maybe fit a ream of paper in the middle, and envelopes and other stationary on the sides?

I was also thinking shower caddy at first, but I'm not sure how the handles would work.
posted by gemmy at 7:06 PM on October 20, 2011

Response by poster: I can't take another picture tonight, but you're right. There's some weirdness going on with the rails.

It's symmetrical side to side in one direction (left and right in the picture) but not the other way (top to bottom in the picture.)

There are four rods that extend all the way left to right. Let's number them 1 to 4 from top to bottom. Rod 1 just has the two nubby threaded things. Rod 2 has six loops. Rod 3 has six loops. And rod 4 is bare.

Now to some of the weirdness, the two loops closest to the center on rod 3 are connected with another rod that only extends to those two loops. There is no corresponding "mini-rod" on rod 2. Also, the loops on rod 2 are not the same size as the loops on rod 3.

Weird, huh?
posted by ericc at 7:12 PM on October 20, 2011

Can you screw up or down the nubby threaded things? Do the nubs come off the threaded rod?
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 7:18 PM on October 20, 2011

Spice rack?
posted by gnutron at 7:36 PM on October 20, 2011

Response by poster: I couldn't unscrew the nubs, and as far as I could tell, they weren't supposed to screw. How you were supposed to use the threaded post without getting the nub off, I have no idea.
posted by ericc at 7:37 PM on October 20, 2011

It's a bathtub caddy, I'm almost positive, with a reading rack - similar to this one.
posted by AthenaPolias at 7:39 PM on October 20, 2011

Oh, sorry, missed the part about it being 12-14 inches wide - too narrow to fit across a bathtub. Damn.
posted by AthenaPolias at 7:41 PM on October 20, 2011

Pehaps it is meant to display something at an angle? Could it be a cookbook rack? Or a rack to hold some display or book?

Those rounded pieces could hold glasses, I've seen those for shoes, they could hold roll stock (like paper rolls), they could hold things sideways (like dishes)...
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 7:52 PM on October 20, 2011

Best answer: This is my last guess for tonight, but perhaps it is some custom wire basket like the thing holding those strange shafts on this page.
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 8:00 PM on October 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: TWBG, that's the closest thing I've seen so far. One of the examples on that page, second row from the bottom on the right, even has similar loops. If it is custom, it may mean that we'll never know for sure what it's for.

Thanks!
posted by ericc at 8:11 PM on October 20, 2011

FWIW, my first thought was chafing dish.
posted by hot soup girl at 9:17 PM on October 20, 2011

Best answer: It looks like a flatware caddy to me. Something like this.
posted by lunaazul at 9:38 PM on October 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

Dang, lunaazul just beat me to it! Based on this, I was going to guess flatware caddy too, and the middle space is for napkins.
posted by platinum at 9:42 PM on October 20, 2011

or maybe the middle space is for plates - that way you'd have the whole dinner service in one caddy
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 9:45 PM on October 20, 2011

The description in the link I posted says the knives go in the center on an angle with handles between the knobs, so maybe in ericc's version the knives go in the middle with the blades under the upper bar on rod 3 and the handles are between the two knob things on rod one?
posted by lunaazul at 10:12 PM on October 20, 2011

Best answer: lunazul is right. Industrial wire baskets would not have decorative knobby feet and be made of cheap metal. The middle space is for knives.
posted by oneirodynia at 10:15 PM on October 20, 2011

This looks just like the rack my mom uses for her fancy silverware when she's using it. I can try to get a picture if you want.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 8:27 AM on October 21, 2011

Well, while I was excited to be in the lead for a solution for a while there, I think lunaazul nailed it with the flatware caddy. It is probably the type of thing that someone gets with a set of fancy flatware at a wedding or something -- then moves the flatware into a drawer, and that thing ends up in a basement until someone pulls it out years later to post on AskMe (either that or they pull it out and try and make very large unusually-shaped pieces of toast).
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 11:42 AM on October 21, 2011