Go Vertical For A Creative Spice Storage Solution
Kitchens and pantries are my favorite areas to organize. Why? Because there are so many interesting puzzles to solve. I take my work seriously, but truthfully I have So Much Fun doing it, because every kitchen problem is a fun game for me. This particular spice storage problem was an interesting challenge, and I had a great time figuring out the best solution, based on the available space, and how the client wanted to use the space.
You can scroll to the end to see the finished solution. But, if you want to see what it looked like “before”, and the thought process of how I got to the “after”, follow me!
Can You See What You Have?
Do you use your herbs and spices on a regular basis? Or are they sitting forlornly in a cabinet or drawer somewhere? They are often the abandoned toys of the kitchen, overlooked and forgotten. Their potency doesn’t last long, which is why it’s important to be able to use them regularly. Using them regularly requires a good storage system, so that you can See What You Have™.
If you can’t See What You Have™, you might not notice that you already have a jar of oregano, and you’ll just waste money buying more. Right? We have all done this.
If your spices and herbs are easy to see and access, you might be motivated to use them more often, while they’re still fragrant and robust. Right? You’ll probably even get compliments on your cooking. Right? Well, I can’t promise that last part.
Lots Of Spices, Not Enough Counter Space
Does this look like a familiar problem? A lack of efficient storage was the problem for this client, who is an enthusiastic gourmet cook. She had a large collection of herbs and spices that she used frequently. Her kitchen had an assortment of different storage options to hold it all, and none of them were sufficient.
Is it awfully crowded in here?
Too Many Different Containers
There were two acrylic spice racks on the counter, that held 20 bottles each, on their sides. This is a very efficient way to pack a lot of spices into a small space, but for this particular cook, it wasn’t enough. Additional spice bottles that didn’t fit into those racks were placed on top. There was also a revolving spice rack taking up more space on the counter.
This cook was not tall, so it was difficult for her to stretch across the deep counter to get the spices farthest away. (There is a light switch on the wall that needs to be accessible, so the spice racks couldn’t be moved together side by side.)
Too Many Different Storage Places
In addition, there was a pantry cabinet with drawers way over on the other side of the kitchen filled with more bottles and bags of seasonings. Since the cook had to walk around the kitchen island to get to this cabinet, these spices did not get used as much.
Even then, it was a bit of a digging expedition to see everything in that drawer.
Problems To Solve:
- spices had to be kept in multiple areas of the kitchen
- valuable counter space was taken up by spice racks
- it was too far to stretch to reach spices farthest away
Why, Hello There, Empty Wall Space
Look at that nice big empty wall that isn’t being used. That is some Prime Real Estate, right there, in this kitchen. I knew instantly that this empty desert of a wall could become the Las Vegas showstopper focal point of this kitchen.
Think Vertical!
I have to tell you, any time I see some unused wall space in a kitchen or office or garage, I get very excited. Why? Because I know that I will be able to solve my client’s storage problem. If you only have limited space on your desk or kitchen counter (and who doesn’t?)
going
vertical
will
rock
your
world.
I Had A Vision, yes I did, of having her spices and herbs stored compactly on that wall. This would fix all of her problems in one fell swoop (do people still say that? I do), by getting all of her spices together in one place, and getting them cleared off of that valuable kitchen counter.
Priorities
This is my favorite part of my job – studying a problem and coming up with possible ideas, keeping in mind these things that are most important to me:
- how the client wants to use the space, based on her needs and lifestyle
- how much space is available (of course), and
- if the possible solution would create different problems
There are plenty of wall-mounted spice racks that could be used here. They have limitations, though. This particular cook needed to store a very large collection, in a very compact space, so that she would be able to reach them all.
Most wall-mounted spice racks hold the bottles upright, which eats up vertical space very quickly.
Image courtesy of www.target.com
The biggest ones hold lots and lots of bottles, but they wouldn’t be easy to get to in this spot in her kitchen. If we put all the racks that we might need on this wall, they would quickly become too high for her to access without a stepladder. Even the most dedicated cook isn’t going to want to pull out a stepladder every time she needs the allspice.
Image courtesy of www.bonanza.com
The kind of rack that holds bottles on their sides, instead of upright, was looking like the best option for maximizing her available space, by packing as many spices as possible in a small space.
The spice racks she had would have worked, but these metal ones were more compact, and she liked them better and wanted to upgrade to a nicer look. These hold 18 bottles. So, we replaced the two acrylic ones with four of these, so that we could get up to 72 spices in a small area.
Image courtesy of www.containerstore.com
Needed: Sturdy Safe Storage
The next problem was how to attach them onto the wall and make them as level and built-in and secure as possible. These spice racks are metal and glass, so they are heavy. Shelves were the easy answer. I could install shelves on this wall, and place the spice racks on those.
But what kind of shelves? Even shallow bookshelves that are 7”-8” deep would stick out too far into the cooking area. It was important to let this cook have as much elbow room as possible.
Profile Shelves To The Rescue!
I decided on profile shelves for this solution. These shelves are sleek and streamlined and pretty, and have a nice beveled edge along the front. They are quite shallow, only 5 3/4” deep, so the 3” deep spice racks would fit nicely on them. They come in three lengths (2’, 3’, and 4’ wide) and in two colors (white and espresso). I love using profile shelves because their brackets are unobtrusive and the shelf appears to float on the wall, which is just coolness.
Image courtesy of www.containerstore.com
She chose the espresso color, which brought out some of the brown in her pretty granite counters. White would be pretty but would be too hard to keep clean in this heavily used kitchen. (Did I mention that she cooks a lot? Being a lazy housekeeper myself, I always think first of how I would clean something.)
The wall was 43” wide between the two windows, so the 48” shelf would be too long, so I did the 3 foot long (36”) shelves, centered in the wall.
Success!
By raising the spice racks up off of the counter and onto shelves, the light switch down below was now easy to access. So, now the racks can be pushed together side by side. This also made it much easier for her to reach the “A” spices on the far left side while standing on the right side of the counter.
The shelves also gave her a little room for the garlic keeper and other things on the ends of the shelves, getting even more items off of the counter.
You Only Need to Reach The Bottom of a Tall Bottle
I was even more excited when I realized that I could get her flavored oils and vinegars up off of the kitchen counter as well, and onto the top shelf. (She has some Basil Oil that is out-of-this-world delicious, for dipping into with French bread. But I digress.)
She didn’t want to have to stretch up on her toes to reach anything, remember, so we couldn’t go too high up on the wall. But! The great thing about tall bottles is that you don’t HAVE to be able to reach the very top of them, to grab them off a shelf. All you need to reach is the bottom. So, as long as the shelf was low enough so that she was able to grab the bottom of those bottles, she could access them without stretching and put them back with very little effort. Woot!
Besides, it really looks gorgeous having her bottles lined up on that top shelf. Her kitchen now truly looks like the kitchen of a gourmet cook.
Labeling And Alphabetizing Your Spices
As for the last little important detail, I used an online label company for the labels on the spice bottles. You alphabetize your spices, don’t you? It may seem like a lot of work to set them up that way, but you only have to do it once, and you save gobs of time forevermore, not having to hunt for the sage or the nutmeg.
Did I Really Just Shake Cumin All Over My Oatmeal?
If you find yourself accidentally putting the wrong flavoring on your breakfast on bleary mornings, because the cumin and cinnamon are right next to each other, online label programs give you lots of options. You can always use different colored labels or different fonts to differentiate between sweet and savory spices.
Or, you could use cursive font on alternating spices, so that your brain remembers after awhile that the celery seed is in cursive font and the celery salt is not. Your brain likes it when you do things like this.
Boring But Important Detail For Storage Geeks Like Me
The profile shelves are made to hold decorative objects, and can hold a good amount of weight. The 3’ long shelves that I used come with three brackets, and a template for spacing the brackets to make the shelf sturdy. (They are wonderfully easy to install, and I have these profile shelves in my own living room, hallway, and master bathroom. I lurve them.)
However, since these spice racks are rather heavy, and even heavier when the spice bottles are filled, I braced the two bottom shelves with additional brackets, bought separately, for extra holding power. (You can see the extra brackets I used in that close-up picture of the labeled jars.) I’m glad that I did this, because I’m not sure that the profile shelf brackets by themselves would have held up these spice racks, and now I never have to worry about them falling or coming off the wall.
Two Years Later . . .
I did this project two years ago, in 2009. (Where did all that time go?) Recently, I went by to see how it was holding up. It’s still working great for the client, and her kitchen always smells good because she’s always cooking with those fragrant spices.
Pretty efficient AND gorgeous at the same time, don’t you think?
I Love Organizing Kitchens And Pantries!
Can I solve a kitchen storage challenge for you? No matter how big or small, all kitchens have one thing in common. They are full of small things that can get lost easily, in cabinets or drawers. I would love to to come up with strategies to help you organize them so that you can See What You Have™. Contact me to see if I can help.
