Scrap Spice Shelf

Back when I was unpacking things in our new condo I tried to be mindful about where I put things in the kitchen, but sometimes I had to work with what I had. For example, the cabinet to the left of the stove was the right size for the turntables that held my spices. However, there was a lot of wasted space, and the second shelf was a little too high for me to see the jars on the interior of the turntable.

Not very efficient

I started looking around for a solution. The big-box housewares store had a variety of spice shelves, but even the least expensive one was more than I wanted to spend. One day Hubby Tony and I were walking through the the neighborhood and I saw some short 2x4 and 1x2 boards that someone had put out  out for the trash. They looked like they might be the right size for the cabinet, so I picked up the boards and carried them with me for the rest of the walk.

Back at home it only took a little measuring and sawing to come up with a perfect three-tier solution.

Holds more, and things are easier to find

The first bank of jars are resting on the cabinet bottom. Just behind them are pieces of 2x4s covering the rest of the bottom, which hold a second row of bottles. The third tier is two pieces of 1x2s stacked on top of each other, holding even more spices.

For the second shelf I found an unused plastic basket to hold the overflow jars, then stashed the "Costco-sized" containers behind it. Finally, I purchased additional brackets to hold a third shelf and picked up two medium-sized baskets at the dollar store to hold seldom-used items.

The total cost for the project was less than five dollars.

Five years ago today: Hurting Head