Spice Drawer Makeover
1 Material
$50
3 Hours
Easy
When we bought our second-hand kitchen, one of the drawers was full of these strange, angled ramps that took up the majority of the drawer. I tried to remove the ramps but they were glued in so thoroughly that I almost destroyed the drawer trying to get them out. In the end I just left those silly ramps in place and used the drawer for dog worm tablets and poop bags.
Three years later, Pinterest was created and I realised my ignorance: the drawer with the stupid ramp things that barely fit a packet of dog worm tablets is in fact … a spice drawer. Thankyou Pinterest.
This spice drawer has definitely seen better days. The drawer front is starting to sag away from the sides and the middle ramp has some water damage.
I took it to the shed to figure out how to salvage it. The drawer face is (thankfully) in good condition but the drawer front has died a long, painful death and cannot be revived. The water damage on the middle ramp looks grotty but the ramp is still holding together nicely.
To replace the drawer front, I unscrewed both the face and the front. I used the mangled front as a template and cut a new piece of MDF to fit.
Looking good. High-fives for being such a clever cookie.
As always, Murphy’s Law steps in to teach me humility. The bottom screws holding the front to the face are now in the way of the base of the drawer.
I moved the lower screws up a little and breathed a sigh of relief when the new drawer front fit snugly in place.
Now that the drawer front is fixed I think I can fix (hide) the water damage with a few coats of primer and paint. As you may know, white or blue are my go-to colours for paint, but lately I’ve been fantasizing about something wild. Something crazy. GREEN! I’ve decided to throw caution to the wind, consequences be damned! I’m painting the spice drawer green!
Meanwhile, everyone has decided that they love not having the spice drawer at all. The opening creates a chute straight to the recycling bin which lives in the cupboard below.
(Why bother with doors at all? We have reached epic proportions of laziness here.)
I’m surprised how much I like the colour green. Get ready for some eye candy:
Here’s my sexy spice drawer, painted in British Paints’ Daintree Beauty, in a high gloss water-enamel. While the paint was expensive (approx $50 for 1L), this project only used a tiny bit so there's plenty left over for future kitchen updates.
I love that it’s a subtle, muted colour and not an in-your-face circus-bright colour.
I love it so much! In time I’ll have a matching set of jars (I’ll probably spray the lids black because lets be honest, those beige lids aren’t floating anyone’s boat). For now though, I’m just exceedingly happy to have a beautiful, functioning spice drawer.
Since I love this little makeover so much I’ve decided to live on the edge and continue the green theme for all our food-containing cupboards (spice drawer, pantry, root veg cupboard, etc). All the other kitchen cupboards and drawers will be my standard gloss white (I don’t want to be too wild). So what do you think – are you into green?
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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I love the green. I love Earthy tones. Browns, blacks, grays, greens, whites. I do light color but it has to be a pastel color. Oh and I hate the color red. Lol. I think I’m the only one I know who hates red. You did a beautiful job!
Frequently asked questions
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Where did you get the initials on your spice jars?
Where did you get the tilted shelves inside the drawer?