Tired of sifting through a disorganized mess of spice containers in your kitchen? Learn how organizing spices in a pantry using a spice rack storage system has been a game-changer at my house! It just might be the spice organization solution you’re looking for.
Even after living in our house for over four years, there are still little pockets of chaos that are begging for a solid organization system. Case in point — our spice collection.
During the week we moved in, I gathered all of the spices and placed them in baskets on a shelf in our pantry. And here they have stayed, taking up an obscene amount of pantry shelf space.
Does it look like an easy task to find the specific spice you need to make tonight’s dinner? The amount of time it takes to sift through the contents of these bins on the hunt for paprika is ridiculous.
It’s high time to tackle this home organization project. Come along with me on my spice organization journey!
The Best Way to Store Spices
The first step in the spice storage makeover process was to decide on a permanent location for spice storage and to determine the precise spice storage products I would need to complete the job.
Where to Store Spices
Any good list of spice storage tips starts with tip:
To keep your spices fresh, store your jars in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight.
In my research, I also learned that you should avoid storing spice jars near the stove, where heat and moisture can degrade the quality of the spices.
Some ideal spots for spice storage include:
- kitchen cabinets
- kitchen drawers
- a pantry.
In our last house, I used a deep drawer spice organizer to store our spices. But drawer and kitchen cabinet space is at a premium in our current kitchen. There was an untapped vertical storage opportunity in the pantry that would free up much-needed shelf space:
I envisioned a tiered spice rack storage system displaying a gorgeous collection of uniform, labeled spice containers. And this system would be a mere few steps away from the cooking zone — convenient access, yet far enough away to keep the spices fresh in a cool, dry, dark area.
Can you picture it?!?
Pantry Spice Storage Products
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So I went a wee bit out of order when it comes to my typical organizing process and sourced the spice storage products up front. Typically, I source products towards the end of the process in Step 4. In this case, I knew exactly what I wanted. It was just a matter of purchasing the correct sizes and quantities.
Hanging Spice Rack
I decided to use a set of acrylic spice racks as the foundation of our new space-saving spice rack system.
Glass Spice Jars with Labels
I’ve always drooled over those amazing Pinterest images of spice collections in glass jars. Not only does it create a neat and visually pleasing display, but it also makes locating a particular spice infinitely easier.
Benefits of Using Glass Jars for Spice Organization
Glass jars are an excellent choice for storing spices because they are non-reactive, won’t absorb odors, and allow you to see the contents of the jar. They’re also environmentally friendly and reusable, reducing waste in your kitchen.
Additionally, using glass jars can help save you money in the long run by allowing you to buy spices in bulk, which is usually less expensive than buying pre-packaged spices.
Choosing the Right Glass Jars for Your Spices
When selecting jars, consider the size and shape that will work best for your spices. Smaller jars work well for spices you use less frequently, while larger jars are great for frequently used spices.
Airtight lids are a must to help preserve the freshness of your spices. Consider choosing jars that have a wide opening to make it easier to measure out the spices with a measuring spoon.
You can choose the no cost route by repurposing glass jars that you may already have on hand (here’s an awesome example of upcycling baby food jars for spice storage). I chose to purchase a set of glass jars specifically designed for storing spices:
The glass spice jar set came complete with lids, a set of labels, and a silicone collapsible funnel for decanting spices into the spice jars. Sweet! But I wanted to level up even one step further.
Spice Jar Labels
In my search for spice storage products, I stumbled on these modern spice jar labels on Etsy. I just had to have them:
My plan was to use the black round labels on the jar lids and the white labels on the front of each jar. That way, you could easily identify the contents of the jar, no matter what angle you were viewing the spice jars (some of the jars would be sitting below eye level on lower shelves).
Organizing Spices in a Pantry: The Process
1. Clean Out and Prepare the Pantry
While embarking on this project, we took the opportunity to clean out, paint and reorganize the contents of our pantry.
Related: Quick and Easy Pantry Makeover
It felt SO GOOD to start with a fresh slate!
During the process, we decluttered all expired food and made sure our pantry inventory was totally up to date.
2. Sort and Declutter Spices
The good news for me is that I didn’t have to go on a hunting expedition for my spices – they were all contained within three bins on our pantry shelf.
The bad news? I couldn’t remember the last time I went through our spice collection and systematically purged expired spices.
So the next step in the process was to sort all of the bottles so that all of the duplicate spices were grouped together.
The number of spice duplicates was a testament to the fact that disorganization costs you money. Instead of hunting through the bins to find celery salt, we would simply purchase another container of celery salt when a recipe called for it.
And that, my friends, is how you end up with seven containers of celery salt!
Once all of the like spices were grouped together, the next step was to declutter spices. For spices that we clearly had an overabundance of (e.g. celery salt) and that were not expired, I gave away the excess in our local Facebook Buy Nothing group.
I tossed any spices that were past their expiration date.
Side Note: it’s still generally safe to consume spices that are past their expiration date. A spice that is past its expiration date has usually lost most of its flavor, potency, and color.
3. Evaluate and Measure to Determine Product Needs
Next, we measured the available wall space and took an inventory of our spice collection. Armed with this information, we determined the number of spice jars we needed to purchase. That number was used to figure out how many acrylic shelves were needed to store our spice collection.
Once all of the spice storage products arrived, it was time to “get to the good part”!
4. Label Spice Jars
Labeling is a crucial step in any organizing project. It’s especially true when it comes to spice organization. Labeled jars are obviously necessary to ensure you can quickly identify the spices you need.
You can make the labeling process as simple or as “extra” as you want. Some simple labeling options might include labeling bottles directly with a Sharpie Marker or a chalk pen, or whipping out your label maker.
I chose the “extra” route, which involved three labels per spice jar:
- the black circle-shaped label on top of the jar lid
- the white rectangular label on the front of the jar
- a blank black circle-shaped label on the back of each jar (for writing the expiration date (these came with the spice jar set).
Adding all of these labels to each jar was a tedious process, but I knew the final result would be worth it.
5. Transfer Spices into Glass Jars
I used the collapsible funnel that came with the spice jar set to make decanting spices into the new jars less messy. It worked fairly well, but sometimes I needed to massage the base of the funnel to keep the spices flowing.
Make sure you have a recycling bin nearby to dispose of all the empty original bottles after the transfer process is complete.
6. Install Hanging Spice Rack
We determined the optimal spacing between shelves by placing a few of the spice jars on the rack. Then we were able to confirm that there was sufficient room to easily remove and return spice jars to the shelf.
Rinse and repeat – installation complete!
7. Organize Spices on the Hanging Spice Racks
Woot Woot! The moment we’ve all been waiting for!
When it came time to place the freshly filled and labeled glass spice jars back in the pantry on the spice shelves, I had to decide on a spice organization system that would work best for our family.
There are many options for organizing your spices, including:
- organizing spices in alphabetical order
- organizing spices by frequency of use
- organizing spices by cuisine type (e.g., Italian, Mexican)
- organizing spices by color
- organizing spices by flavor profile (e.g., savory vs. sweet).
After polling my family and paying special attention to my husband’s wishes (since he is the primary cook), we settled on alphabetical order:
I’m beyond smitten with the finished product!
We’ve been using the new system for several weeks and it functions like a dream. I wish there was a way to calculate the minutes hours of time this system will save us in the kitchen over the years to come.
8. Spice Organization Maintenance
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention this final important step in the organizing process – maintaining your system.
I plan to periodically go through our spice collection to eliminate and replace expired spices. It will also be a great time to dust off the spice jars and spice racks.
If you’ve been searching for a functional and beautiful option for organizing spices in a pantry, I hope my spice storage makeover has inspired you to give this space-saving method a try.
Got questions? About to embark on your own spice organization journey? Tell me about it in the comments below.
More Kitchen Organization Tips
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- Kitchen Organizing Products I Can’t Live Without
- Declutter Your Kitchen: 10 No Brainer Things to Toss
- Food Storage Organization Tips
- Kitchen Drawer Organization Tips
- Kitchen Cabinet Organization Tips
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