10 Ways you Can Organise and Store your Spices
If you’re like us, spices are one of the most frequently used items in the kitchen. They need to be accessible, easily identifiable and in a location which keeps them safe from constantly getting covered in oil! Where are your spices currently stored? Are they scattered about the kitchen and not confined to one specific area? Or are they overflowing in a cupboard somewhere which you don’t want to open through fear of them all tumbling out on you?!
If you can resonate with any of the above, I’m here to help you find the best way to store your spices. It doesn’t matter what size kitchen you have, I know from my work with clients that we can always find a solution that works.
First things first
Before we decide on where the spices should go, the first step is to take a look at what is already there. Get out all of your spices (or collate them all together if they’re in various locations throughout the kitchen (or house!) and check for dates. When I did this exercise with my mum a few years ago, we actually found some cinnamon from the year of my birth - 1984. For obvious reasons, I highly suggest saying goodbye to these ancient spices. If you find any duplicates or stockpiles (which is so often the case when I work with my lovely clients - once I found 16 identical jars of paprika), think about whether you actually need that amount. If you don’t, donate the extra stock to a food bank or food donation bin in your local supermarket to allow others to use them up before they go out date.
Once you have decided what stays, you will then have full awareness of the volume of items you need to store. Now you can decide on a proper home for them. This is where this blog post may come in handy!
FYI: If you have not completed a whole kitchen declutter, you may need to move things around a bit. This spice task may actually inspire you to tackle the rest of your kitchen komono! Whenever I work with clients on their kitchen items, we normally spend between 5-10 hours organising this category in full. Although it seems like a long period of time, trust me, it’s worth the investment if you can dedicate the time and effort. Think long term organisational bliss in exchange for a short-term commitment of time. In my experience, having an organised wardrobe and kitchen are two of the fundamentals in allowing us to feel ‘in control’ of our day, as they ‘set us up’ for the day and are the spaces that are most frequently visited and utilised in our home.
Now you’ve had a little pep talk, it’s time to think of spicy logistics!
10 ways to organise and store your spices:
1. In a drawer (lay them flat): This is by far my favourite way to organise spices in my clients’ homes. When we KonMari their kitchen items, we free up a significant amount of storage in the process, often whole drawers! Drawers provide a perfect resting spot for spices as you can see them easily when you open the drawer and they’re contained. You know how much you have at one time and can easily identify when something needs to be replaced due to the obvious visual ‘gap’. This stops you from overbuying on items that you don’t necessarily need. Good for space. Good for the budget.
TIP: Make sure the drawer isn’t too deep. If the reach ‘down’ is too far, then this is not a good use of space and may lead you to associate unnecessary additional physical activity with spice retrieval!
Option One: Matching canisters (thank you to the lovely follower on Instagram who proudly shared her spice drawer with me).
Using spice organisers from Ikea to keep the containers in place (not sponsored).
2. In a drawer (stand them up): This is an effective storage method if you use a lot of different spices. Just make sure you write the name of the spice clearly on the lid.
TIP: If you’re worried about them falling over, repurpose some boxes or lids that match the width and height of the drawer to create sections within the drawer. This should keep them in place. You can even organise them into spice categories (Mexican. Indian, Chinese etc.) and pop them into their own category box.
Jars stored upright with handwritten labels on the lids: Thank you to the lovely Instagram follower who shared her spice drawer with me.
Choose an appropriately sized box to keep your spice jars contained.
Only for the brave chef who knows their spices! Transparent containers with no labelling…
3. In a clear or translucent box stored directly on a shelf: Assign a shelf and/or cupboard for storing your spices that is located close to the surfaces where you prepare food and/or the stove and oven. If you store your spices in the cupboards at the far end of the kitchen, you will be constantly running around your kitchen which isn’t great for your stress levels! Once you have chosen the cupboard or shelf, use a clear or translucent container to store your spices in. As it’s clear, you will be able to see at a glance where your spices are at all times and the box will ensure the are contained together in their category. Instead of hunting around the shelf for the spice you need and making everything a mess, you can easily pull out the box and retrieve what you need. It may also help to have two smaller clear boxes stored next to one another; this way, you can differentiate your spices further dependent on the type of cuisine you regularly use your spices for.
BEFORE: Client AF used to store her spices in a drawer but found that this method wasn’t making the most of the drawer space…
AFTER: Now my client stores her spices by cuisine using clear boxes. This cupboard is high level and close to her stove and food preparation area.
AFTER: Client BE now stores her spices in a translucent container in a cupboard next to her stove. She stores her back stock of spices directly behind the container.
4. In a cupboard with built-in shelves that are the correct height for storing spices: If a member of your family is particularly handy (I know this isn’t the case for many of us!) then you can re-assign a ‘tricky’ cupboard for storing your spices. I define a ‘tricky’ cupboard as a cupboard that doesn’t have many options! In the case of my client JD, the cupboard was shallow but next to the stove. Her husband built in some additional shelving at just the correct height to store all of her spice jars.
5. Using turntables in a cupboard: Although I am a massive advocate of the humble box, some of my clients like to use turntables to store their spices. This is a good option if you are left with lots of space following your kitchen declutter.
Client JD’s had her husband handyman build in additional shelving into her ‘tricky’ cupboard so she could store all of her spices…
Thank you to the lovely follower on Instagram who shared her preference for turntables to store her spices in a cupboard…
6. Spice rack on the inside of a cupboard door: Providing your cupboard space allows this, investing in a spice rack and attaching it to the inside of a cupboard door is a great solution if your kitchen is low on space. I am a fan of this option because the rack places a limit on how much you can own at one time. If it doesn’t fit into the rack, or if you’re not replacing an item already in the rack, then you don’t need it. You can still invest in matching canisters and labels if you want to change the aesthetics of the space.
Thank you to the lovely Instagram follower who shared her spice rack attached to the inside of her cupboard door…
Another lovely share from one of my followers on Instagram… this time a cupboard door spice rack with matching canisters and labels.
7. In repurposed boxes stored directly onto a shelf at waist-height: This is the method which works for us in our home. As you know, sustainability is at the heart of what I do (and in line with my intention not to overspend on unnecessary items). We’ve repurposed some beautiful pink boxes which used to give a home to chocolates along with a shoe box. We’ve created cardboard inserts on the inside of the boxes so we’re able to create rows of spices in their cuisine category. Then we store the boxes directly onto one of our shelves in one of our cupboards near the stove. Whenever we need a spice, we slide out the box (it works a bit like a drawer!) and take out what we need. This method has also worked for some of my clients. They choose a box that sparks joy for them, and one which is strong enough to hold the spices, before popping it directly onto a shelf in a cupboard.
TIP: If the box isn’t see through, make sure you write the name of the spice on the lid so you can find what you’re looking for easily.
How we store our spices in our kitchen. The boxes are stored directly into a shelf at waist-height.
AFTER: Client JC now stores her spices in a repurposed box… See if you can find the box in the after photo of her kitchen cupboard below…
BEFORE: Client JC couldn’t find her spices. when she needed them…
AFTER: Client JC now has a designated place for her spices on the third shelf on the left hand side of this cupboard… FACT: Client JC KonMari’d her entire kitchen with me in two KonMari tidying sessions…
The pull out spice rack: Thank you to my lovely follower on Instagram for sharing this slide out spice rack with me…
8. A slide out cupboard (if you’re lucky enough to have one!): If you like this idea and are currently fortunate enough to be redesigning your kitchen, I’d highly recommend instructing your designers to build one of these slide out racks in your kitchen… They really make good use of ‘wasted space’ that is often found in a kitchen. If you currently have a slide out rack, and are using it for something else, take a chance to reassess whether what you’re currently using it for is working well. Perhaps it could be the perfect home for your spices instead?… Again, just make sure you write the names of the spices on the lid to avoid unnecessary spice confusion!
9. Using a riser to create an ‘extra’ shelf within a cupboard: Sometimes all you need is a riser! These are one of my go-to storage solutions for kitchen organisation and often my clients already have them in their home! If you have less than 15 spices that you use on a regular basis, then a riser may be your storage weapon of choice. It allows you to see all of your spices easily and only takes up about a sixth to a quarter of your cupboard’s potential storage space. TIP: If there is space left behind the riser, store your surplus stock of spices here (if you have any).
BEFORE: Client KS’s cupboard… can you see a spot for her spices? (Nope).
AFTER: Client KS now has a riser to give a home to her spices, taking advantage of her cupboard’s height.
10. Create a spice showcase using matching canisters… This may be a pipe dream for some of us (well, it certainly is for me!) but if you are lucky enough to live in a home that has maximum space and storage potential and dare I say, if you’re lucky enough to have your own pantry and love spices, you can create your own visually beautiful spice showcase! Invest in see-through canisters and decant your spices from the original jars or packets. Then have fun organising your spices into an aesthetically pleasing dream. The dream became a reality for me last month when I was invited to organise a pantry in a beautiful home in Kensington across two days. The spices originally lived in a drawer but now they are displayed in all their glory…
BEFORE: Client NG had her spices stored in a drawer in her pantry…
AFTER: I removed the spices and gave them a new home. This freed up the drawer to store chef knives, napkins and bamboo skewers…
AFTER: Client NG’s pantry (with spices on display)…
FYI: They love spices!
Who knew there could be so many options to storing our spices in our kitchens?! Which option above is your current set up or preference? I’d love to hear your thoughts below.
Happy spice organising!
Katrina x