Creating Space for Spices
5 Materials
$3
30 Minutes
Easy
Sometimes you have to get creative when you have too much stuff. The stuff in this case is spices. And I have a lot of spices, from Allspice to Thyme. Want chili no problem, Mexican... Italian... how about Indian I have Curry! How about some pumpkin spice in the coffee grounds. It's fall it's a seasonal thing and it's delicious.
The bottom half of my spice cabinet. I started with a wire shelf expander. it helped to get access to the big stuff like cinnamon and dried onions. But all the little stuff?? I had to pull out a lot of things if what I needed was hiding in the back. I tried a lazy Susan but most of the bottles barely fit under there as it is.
I have seen a few tutorials, most use jars under the cabinet or magnetically on the fridge or wall. My fridge is on the opposite side as far from the stove as you can get. I liked the wire rack one that Stonybrook House made. http://www.hometalk.com/diy/organize/kitchen/... I don't have a pantry door to hang them on and the only door big enough is way over by the fridge. The second thing going against me on that project was the bending of the wire. I tried that for something else and it didn't go well. I was at my Dollar tree getting some silk flowers to do a copy of a project I did that I forgot to take pictures of and as I was wandering around looking at all the stuff... It was a new dollar tree they all have different stuff. I saw these clear bin drawer organizers. They looked like they would be perfect for my spice jars.
The first thing I needed to do was put some holes in the bins. I was afraid I'd crack them if I used the drill. I have seen posts on using a hot glue gun for this kind of thing but the tip on mine is kind of big I needed small holes. I got the soldering iron and heated that up. It blew a hole right through that plastic like a hot knife through butter. One thing to note it stinks to high heavens and smoked like crazy. I had to unplug it and take it out side to cool it was smoking that bad. Also in hind site I should have put the holes from the inside to the outside. I discovered when putting in the screws the'd have nestled in the burn hole better if I had done it that way.
I put 3 holes in my bin. First I made sure it would clear the cabinet edges when closed. I used a small drill bit to put in a hole, you just want it big enough for the screw to be able to grip . Also be very careful to not push too hard or you could put a hole right through to the other side. Thankfully I did not do that and mess up my paint job. I put in only the center screw.
Once the center screw was in I grabbed the smallest level I could find, This one is for stuff like vertical 2 or 4 by 4's but it hung on the edge of the bin nicely so I went with that. Drill a couple more tiny holes and put in the other 2 screws. And that bin is done.
I put in one of the tallest spice bottles that I was going to use on the door to gauge the height of the bin that would go above and repeat the process for drilling, leveling and screwing. I had enough space on the door to do 3 bins. Oh I was thinking I was so smart to do this and on my own with out help or getting opinions of others.......
Houston we have a problem... I neglected to take into consideration there is a shelf that goes almost to the edge of the cabinet. oops... what to do I didn't want to remove it. I really needed the space...
Problem solved used smaller spices in that bin. They are more for season baking than cooking but you do what you have to do to salvage a project. I thought I was all done, but. That black basket on the top while it contains things nicely. It is difficult to get to things on the bottom.
I had just hung a copper pipe and copper baskets. You can find that how to in my projects. In doing that I freed up one of those plate stacking organizers. So out came the basket and in went the wire organizer now I can see my bagged spice refills and vacuuming jar lid parts and the other stuff that was in the basket. I still have too many spices on the bottom but it is far less to pull out than it was.
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3 of 42 comments
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Instead of the smoking stinky gun one could use an ice pick and heat the end of it to make the holes in the plastic bin. It would just push through, maybe taking several try’s.
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I used a hot nail to put holes in some plastic reflectors. Just held it on my hot burner. It melted right through and no odor what so ever. Took just a few seconds to heat the nail.
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I've done that on Nylon dog collars.
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Wouldn't you have to clear out stuff on shelves in order to close door? So really what storage space did u gain except you can see what spices you have.
velcro ? Industrial strength? Would that have worked? My head is buzzing with your idea, we just installed a new kitchen with pantry. I need to use it better, but sure don't want to drill holes in cabinet doors? What do you think? I installed cat embossed tiles over the window in my kitchen with industrial Velcro...now wondering about these trays on pantry door with Velcro?