Spice Storage for small kitchens?

My mom uses some two-tiered lazy susans in her cupboards for extra spice storage.

I put in Spicy Shelves to help organize. I put a lazy Susan in the middle. This is one of my spice shelves. 

This is what I do too.  I place the whole version of the spice behind the ground.

Can you relocate that to the bathroom (or a shoebox under a bed) except for maybe a box of band-aids and a bottle of asprin? I'm guessing you use spices more often than first aid stuff (at least I'd hope so!).

Get that magnet stuff you mix into paint and paint one of the doors with it, then get magnetic spice jars for all your spices and stick them to the door. Or get the metal magnet strips from Ikea, mount them in a line under the upper cabinets, and stick the magnetic spice jars on the strips.

I have your problem too, and I have a ton of spices and blends/rubs.

I keep the majority of the cooking spices on a double tier lazy Susan by the stove. I try to keep them organized by cooking type. Mexican spices are lined up together and they flow into the Italian seasonings. The top tier is are all my pepper blends and steak seasonings. I always put everything back in the same spot, I hate being in the middle of cooking and not be able to find something right away.

on the cabinet shelf above I have those 'stair step' plastic tiers that I store the taller things on, like the Cost Co sized garlic powder, bottles of Rice wine vinegar, tall jar of Knorrs.

For the rest I bought magnetic lidded tin containers at CostPlus that stick on to the side of the refrigerator. I love them, they look really cool all lined up and you can see the contents. I just used a label maker to label the sides so I know what is what. I put bulk herbs in those, like Herbs de Provence, chile pepper flakes etc.

In the pantry cupboard I store all my extra items. I have a narrow, pull out basket I got at Daiso. In it I keep my little used 'international' type seasonings and blends, like Chaat, Greek blends, packs of sumac, tikka blend. I just pull that out as needed, but it's out of the way for every day cooking.

In my baking area I keep a lidded box (Lock and Lock) with all of my baking extracts and flavorings.

and my favorite thing is

I have a pull out handled basket I use for all my baking. In it I keep:

bottle of vanilla
almond extract
ground cinnamon
plastic lidded container of baking soda
baking powder
a set of measuring spoons that always stays in the basket


I swear it makes life easier when you are baking. You always need one or all of these for everything you bake so it's easy to grab it with everything already in one place.

I've had this set up for years now and I love it. It works for me and I always know exactly where to find everything.

Industrial strength Velcro stapled in strips down my cabinet door and spices attached. I can see everything I have at once and know what I need. No more duplicates.

I have tins like this that I got from Costco, 2 sets. It came with a metal sheet to attach them to, they are magnetic on the bottom. I threw that sheet out and have them in rows on the side of my fridge, under the cabinet, above the lower cabinet. Used a cabeler and out the spice names on the sides. the spices show thru the clear lid and look pretty!
it created a lot of space in my cabinets. I use spices in the bulk section of the grocery store to refill them, much cheaper than bottles. 
HTH
Sharon

Thanks for starting this thread. We are going to remodel, but it will still be necessary to find a small space for numerous spices.

Best of luck!

A couple of things I’ve tried:

I have one of the racks from scrapbooking that has two levels of rings that you can hang hooks from to display your packages of decals, stickers or whatnots. I bought food safe bags and put my spices in them. I arranged them in alphabetical order, so easy to find. Unfortunately I had to put this on a cart and the cart is in my way. If I could put this in a cabinet or on the counter, I’d be good.

I bought hexagonal jars with lids from Amazon. Put very strong magnets on the jar tops. Used command strips to hang a piece of tin on side of cabinet. Worked great, except I didn’t use enough strips and it fell. Will redo this and use it for bigger containers or less frequently used spices.

Discovered that the light fixtures under cabinets are metal, so jars will stick to them. Am going to add a metal strip in front of lights (I never turn the lights on) to hold my most frequently used spices. Also moved my knives to a new knife holder and repurposed my knife drawer for frequently used spices.

I used a couple of command hooks inside my big pantry to hang chains from and I hung the larger bags of spices from there. Not gorgeous, but out of everyday sight and really accessible. Alphabetized, so fast to find.


Also, just discovered that if I use the Ikea knife holder on the side of the fridge, as in, turn it so the magnetic side is sticking to the fridge, I can line my jars up along the holder and they don’t slide down. Previously, I could put a jar at the top of the fridge side and it would slide all the way down. The holders cling so tight, the jars don’t push them down. I made a row across the fridge and I have been able to stack all my jars there. Not the most convenient place, but it works well.

I keep a list of my spices and where they’re stored, along with any refills, in the pantry section of my Paprika app. Saves me so much time, especially when shopping.

OP,
Have you considered attaching framed pieces of tin to the outside of your cabinets and attaching jars with magnets to them? This would work if you can solidly attach the frame to the cabinet door, otherwise you might have the same issue I had.

Marcy

I bought a four tier white plastic cart on wheels from hsn. It is only about six inches wide and about as long as the depth of my washing machine. It is about as tall as my washing machine. I have it between the wall and my washing machine. I label all the spices on top of the lid and have most most often used ones on the top shelf and all the others in alphabetical order.

Could you put your first aid stuff in a small tote or container, place that where your spices are now?

I think for any storage/organization to work for you, you have to consider your cooking style and what you are willing to do or don't mind doing.

For *me*, I don't like digging for stuff. I don't want to have to bend and squint to read a label. So for me, having the spices easily accessible is most important. As I'm doing routine every day cooking I open up the cabinet closest to me and I want to see everything, I don't want to have to move around things to put my hands on the spice I need. The lazy Susan works best for that. I have everything lined up, labels facing out.

Or I can turn around to the side of the fridge to see the rest of the tins lined up across the top, the lids are clear so I can see at a glance pretty much what I need. The spice goes right back up as soon as I'm done using it. Same place, every time.

For the days that I know I'm making tikka chicken, then I know before I start cooking to go into the pantry to grab that bin I store the Indian spices. When I'm done, the entire bin goes back to the pantry.

My mom's pantry is in total disarray and it drives me nuts. I've tried organizing her and then months later I go back in there and everything is all messed up again. That's fine, that's her and she kinda just lives like that, always has. Everyone has their own style. I'm ridiculously anal about mine.