I Put a $5 IKEA Shoe Rack in My Pantry, and It Doubled the Storage

I love my compact kitchen, but I’m always amazed by how quickly storage space disappears in such a tiny apartment — in particular, my spice cabinet descends into complete chaos in no time. With no counter space to spare, I had to maximize vertical storage by stacking jars, bottles, and tins on top of each other — this resulted in a precarious game requiring surgical precision to avoid a domino effect, which wasn’t ideal.

The breaking point came a few weeks ago when I reached for garlic powder during a busy weeknight dinner prep, and I accidentally sent a bottle of seasoning crashing onto the floor and spilling everywhere. As I swept the mess from the tiles, I knew it was time for a change. I remembered I had a spare IKEA shoe rack sitting unused in my closet and decided to see if it could solve my pantry woes. Spoiler alert: It did! 

When I placed the $4.99 IKEA GREJIG Shoe Rack onto my kitchen cabinet shelf, I couldn’t believe how well it worked. At 10 5/8 inches deep, 6 3/4 inches tall, and 22 7/8 inches long, the (previously discontinued) organizer fit in my cabinet perfectly, and instantly doubled my storage space.

Instead of buying shelf risers or floating inserts, this sturdy metal shoe rack turned a deep, empty vertical gap into two functional storage shelves. Taller items like spice jars, canned goods, and baking extracts fit neatly underneath the mesh steel frame, while shorter oils, jams, crackers, and other cooking staples sit right on top. The rack also forced me to declutter and organize the items based on their height, so I took the opportunity to turn every label forward to remain fully visible.

I love using this budget-friendly IKEA shoe rack for kitchen storage because it requires zero assembly, is easy to clean, and folds and unfolds in seconds so you can get it set up or easily tuck it away when not in use. The shoe rack’s minimalist design — available in gray, a limited-edition blue, and  bright red (that’s on clearance) — blends well with my modern cabinets without looking bulky or adding to the clutter. I adore this hack so much that I’m going to grab a few extra GREJIG racks on my next IKEA run to put in my wardrobe to double the shelf space there, too. 

Living in a small apartment means constantly finding clever ways to optimize every square inch, and this simple $5 swap completely transformed my daily cooking routine — and I know it’ll actually stay that way. Finally, no more lost jars, no buying duplicates of what I can’t see, and, best of all, (hopefully) zero floor cleanups mid-recipe.