Thursday, June 25, 2020

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

17 comments:

  1. Way-to-Go, Kathy! You got that done and you made it seem so easy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Since I've been at home with not much to do I have plenty of time to think of solutions :-)

      Delete
  2. Clever. My spice cabinet is a major pain. I've looked around but not yet come up with a solution. Also, I do love veggies and have made that curried red cabbage dish four times already. It's become a favorite.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I could do with doing that in my cupboards. I was saying to my daughter only yesterday how much wasted space there was inside most of them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have quite a few places that could be improved with organization. Will be tackling them one at a time.

      Delete
  4. I put all the herbs and spices on the shelf in alphabetical order. People ask me: where do you find the time? It's there next to the sage!

    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I always feel so accomplished when I use my ingenuity to fix an issue, and bonus points when it ends up being really inexpensive.

    ReplyDelete
  6. In my new kitchen I can barely reach the spice shelf. The shelf above it is empty, as are the cupboards over the stove and the fridge. However, I turned the closet into a magnificent pantry. Take that, tall shelve guys.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have kept all my spices on a stand in the floor . The actual reason is I am only 5 feet tall and I cant reach the cupboard. Funny isn't it :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a step stool I use to reach the really tall places, but that would NOT work for spices! I reach for them too often.

      Delete