A well-organized spice cabinet makes preparing meals a lot less stressful, and saves you money.
Can I hear a Ta Da! It’s really sad how happy a well-organized space makes me. Once I finished this cabinet, it was like a virus. I dug into two others. Now my life is complete. Until the next project that is.
When I put out my Cabinet Intervention post, I found that many of us have the same problem. We don’t know what we have, and will re-buy the same thing two or three times. I asked for ideas, and boy did I get them! By putting everyone’s ideas to work, this is how my organization came about.
We all agreed that similarly sized containers should be used, and some sort of organization by use was in order. Everyone pretty much separated their spices by baking verses cooking or sweet versus savory. The following people graciously contributed to the final result. Please stop and check out their sites for some fabulous food, photography, and friendship.
Apsara of Eating Well Diary
Sarah of The Sugar Hit
Petra of Food Eat Love
Nancy of Feasting with Friends
Shamin of For The Love of Ghee
Patti from A New Day Dawns stated that she uses the Youcopia spice rack. My store didn’t have one so I ordered the larger one, after taking inventory of my spices, from Amazon.
Rufus of Rufus’ Food and Spirits Guide also suggested that I add hardware for sliding shelves and door racks so that I could see everything. I think that would be an amazing idea but didn’t have the confidence that I could do it. This also brings up the fact that I am not 6 ft tall so the items that I used the most have to be accessible.
I started by removing everything from the two cabinets. I separated sweet from savory. I threw out everything that I hadn’t used in eons. I then wrote down what I had and what kind of a container it was so I could determine what my needs were. I bought spice jars to condense open duplicate containers. I also stored unopened duplicates in another area.
I had plastic bags that held the herbs that I dry. They are forever falling out of the cabinet. I solved this by putting them in a stackable glass container.
I always remove the baking soda and baking powder from their containers and put them in stackable containers. Now I know how much I have so am not buying extra or am not running out. I did the same thing for my salt. I have different kinds, and now they are all in similar containers. I’m singing now.
Time to fill the YouCopia spice rack. I put the baking spices in the top drawer, and then everything else. I kept spices that are somewhat similar together such as my cayenne, ancho chili powder and chipotle pepper.
I always keep my bags of flour and sugar in airtight containers. Here is how I store them.-
A couple of things that I learned was that the square containers stack and fit better in the cabinets, and going forward, I will buy my spices in containers that fit in the YouCopia Spice rack.
I even have a bit more room. I think I will just leave the space empty. Too me it’s like having money that I don’t need to spend. I know, a little weird right?
I hope this has helped you with your spice cabinet organization. Please contact me if you have any questions. Better yet, I would love love to see what you do!
My you really did a great job, One day I will do mine too. They are so well organized, looks great.
Thank you so much! I am very happy with the way it came out. Now the junk drawer? Best left closed. 🙂
I’m impressed 😉
Thanks Ted!
Julie, what you did here is absolutely a-ma-zing! You inspire me to do the same. All those containers are so pretty… Love it!
Loving your newly-arranged spice cabinet! Especially the transparent containers – it makes everything easier to see. 🙂
Thank you Ivy. It feels so good too not to have to search and guess if I still have what I need. Have a great weekend, and thank you for visiting!
TAADAAA!
Wow Julie, very well organised. . Your inspiring me to and will do mine very soon… This looks damn good… 🙂 🙂
Thanks Chitra. It feels damn good too!!! 🙂
Great job! I started re-organizing my spices about a year ago and never got around to finishing, so I have a bigger mess than I started with! My bf’s mom has her spices organized in alphabetical order on a big lazy susan. Make’s it so easy to find things! So much organizing to be done…
I even thought about alphabetizing them. 🙂 I didn’t because I would have to rearranging everything when I threw something new into the mix. That would drive me crazy. You should see my wine cellar. 🙂 Thanks for commenting Jill! It’s great hearing from you.
Looks amazing, great job, I bet it is so much easier to find things and now you have room for more things:)
The trick is to not immediately fill it. 🙂
That would be hard for me:)
I love organizing! Just did my pantry. It feels so good 🙂
Thanks Sarah. I need to get in there soon too.
I love how you organized everything–great job! 🙂
Thanks Nancy! I am very glad it’s done and pleased with how it came out.
This looks great. Neither of us are super tall and our cabinets are. Our step ladder is our friend!
Thanks Rufus. That’s the truth. I have a step stool on every level of my house! 🙂
Awesome! I got inspired by your organization. Great tip about the baking soda in an air-tight container. I buy a big bag and use it for cleaning as well. Always cakes up in the container. And thanks for the mention!
Thank you for your support! I was happy to get this done, but most of all, enjoyed working with everyone.
Ta Daa!! Your spice cabinet looks great. Love it! And thanks for mentioning my blog in your post 🙂
Thank you Shamim for taking the time to contribute to the post. I am pleased with how it cam out too. Enjoy your day!
Very impressive and super organized! 🙂 It looks great!
Thanks Petra for helping me out with it!
Impressive and great for grabbing spices in a jiffy. I love spice racks. What more can I say? You’ve inspired me to organize mine asap. Have a wonderful week!
Thanks for stopping Liz! You have a great week too!
Can you come over to my place and help me??? I can never begin to organize my spices!! Ive got too many spices to actually fit into my small cabinet space!! I might have to invest in one of those spice racks to make more space 🙂
I’ll come over, and you make cake! It would be fun.
Sounds like a perfect deal!! 🙂
It is so much fun to cook in an organized kitchen 😀 that spice rack looks very useful 🙂
After using it, I would recommend it. It’s not very heavy and I am careful with the drawers. I don’t know if they would hold up if hung for a long time with heavier jars . I do love an organized space though. Thanks for stopping Andy!
the pleasure is mine 🙂
I think I read this back when you posted and it motivated me to tidy my own spice cupboard! done 🙂 thanks
Mine are still organized and it is so much easier to cook when I know where my ingredients are. Thank you for visiting.