We were having girls night at our friend Alexis' house last week when we spotted her DIY version of a spice rack. Her kitchen occupies quite a small space, not to mention her husband is a chef (meaning they have every spice and cooking utensil known to man). Since they were out of space but needed a handy spice rack, Alexis to matters into her own hands.
Picking up a handful of drawer dividers from The Container Store, Alexis went to town. Nailing each divider in at a different level allows for an easy grab and return of a particular jar of spice. She mentioned to us she's been dying to paint the interior of the shallow cabinet (but we kinda like the wood grain look).
Do you have one of these shallow cabinets in your kitchen or home? What do you have stored inside?
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Comments (21)
I have a built in ironing board in my kitchen. If I can get permission for the ol' land lord, I really want to do something like this.
Great idea! I wonder why they didn't put in shelves that go all the way across so they could store more?
semidivine: Looks like the width won't quite accommodate two of those containers in a row.
Cute idea- I'd really like to see it painted for a cleaner look.
Understood shockthebourgeois, but that couldn't possibly be their only choice for shelves!
I see what you mean, semidivine. I guess that would have been a bit more effort. As it is, I think that there's a ton of wasted space - if they had small shelves right across, which would have been super easy to make, it would be so much more efficient. You could store nearly twice as much stuff in there.
We live in a vintage house and, when covering a doorway, created a 6 inch deep closet on the other side. The amount that that closet held was just amazing. Even though it was only one glass deep, we were able to empty out a kitchen cabinet of mugs, cups, salt shakers...the list went on.
I have too many spices.
My rental came with the ironing board closet outfitted with tiny shelves, perfect for spices http://thefeltmouse.blogspot.com/2006/03/quizzical-results.html
I think it's a really cute idea! But the perfectionist in me is kind of cringing at the odd slanty way they're thrown up there. Maybe it's just the camera angle but when she does paint the wall and goes to hang the shelves back up I really hope she has a level handy.
Looks like the space is a 2x4 wall cavity. Great use of space, horrible look. I'm trying to think of some cheap, quick, but good looking way of lining such a space. Any ideas?
I have way too many spices too... This gives me ideas.
This was exactly what I used for my spice storage, except I needed mine to be long enough to mount on the door beyond where the panels were:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/auie/480696883/in/photostream/
No official spice racks worked. I also didn't want something where I'd have to change all my spice containers. Alexis definitely did a neater job of mounting hers, but I loved the way mine functioned. (I'm in a different house now, with a different system.)
Ummm...this just doesn't seem to belong on the site. If Apartment Therapy is so desperate for content, I would be happy to submit a photo of the toilet paper and detergents under my bathroom sink.
I am interested in where the owner got that red fruit bowl.
kittykittymeowmixhead: Here is a similar one at Williams Sonoma. At the store, they usually have a lot more colors and variety in the stock room, since they don't have enough room to showcase it all on the sales floor, so be sure to ask!
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/d197/index.cfm?pkey=cserveware&ckey=serveware
Thanks minnesara! I love it - I'm gonna order it right from the site! I love that it's stoneware and can be put in the oven too.
we also used the ironing board closet for spices. Put in shelving, added moulding to each shelf so it looked a little prettier and voila-spice rack that holds up to 50 spices! Also has the added bonus of not being near the stove so heat/moisture doesn't ruin the spices.
I have a similar cupboard but use it from brooms, mops and shopping bags. I do not have that many spices to warrant using a cupboard like Alexis'
Her cupboard looks great that way it is very artsy
Doesn't anyone actually iron anymore??
I'm currently looking for a convenient place to hold my spices. I had already considered this idea. Since I'm a visual person, it's nice to see the end result. Ngchgo, why doesn't this belong on the site? Why should you determine "correct" and "incorrect" content for this site?
I did the same thing to my ironing board in the wall!
Except I did use wood to make actually shelves that go all the way across. It's amazing how much I can fit in there! And thank goodness, because we really needed the space.
and angorian, I do iron. but the old wood ironing board that was extremely low to the ground, in my tiny kitchen, is not where I want to be doing it. :)