A Better Refrigerator Magnet

First, I must confess. Refrigerator magnets are overused, and the flat expanses of the sides and doors of refrigerators suffer the consequences, becoming nothing more than bulletin boards of hopeless, cluttered kitsch. Nevertheless, most of these inexpensive little doo-dads fall (no pun intended) well short of their purpose. The magnets themselves simply aren’t strong enough to hold up anything heavier than a sparrow’s fart.

I’m one of those people who often keep several of my recipes stuck to the side of my fridge, partly for meal planning and partly as a reminder to myself regarding what to put on my shopping list. And most magnets will only hold 2-3 pieces of paper before they fail. I took inspiration from those brave pioneers that repurposed a lowly wood rasp and turning it into the world’s best cheese grate, and started to search for something that could be converted into the world’s best refrigerator magnet.

So I’ve repurposed the C.H. Hanson Magnetic Stud Finder as the ultimate refrigerator magnet. What makes this choice the best? Simple. It uses a pair of extremely powerful rare earth magnets, which give it enough strength to single-handedly holds up all 86 pages of the September 2000 issue of Fine Cooking (and yes, the Galettes on the cover taste awesome).

And bonus, if my electronic stud finder ever fails, I’ve got this little monster as a backup.