DIY Spice Rack

After finishing my kitchen remodel and cleaning/organizing my kitchen cabinets, I was left with the most frustrating cabinet of them all.  The spice cupboard.  Regardless of how I arranged things, I could never find the spice I needed.  In fact, during this project I realized that I had at least 6 doubles and 3 containers of cinnamon!  Something had to be done.  Here is what I started with:

I looked online, I looked in stores, and then I got really frustrated.  Most of the spice racks are meant for 12″ (or bigger) cupboards– and if that’s your situation, you’re in luck, there are lots of options out there for you.  But, if you’re like me and have only 10″, then your options are basically non-existent.

So, like any good DIY person, I devised a system that I could build and that would suit my needs.

Here’s what I used:

• Wood (I think they’re 2×2′s, which means they’re really 1.5×1.5′s)
• Wood glue
• Primer (because I used scrap wood)
• Paint (because I used scrap wood)
• Saw

And here’s what I did:

1. I measured the width and height of the cabinet (10″ wide and about 10″ high)

2. I used my measurements to figure out how many “2×2″ boards I could stack (1.5+1.5+1.5+1.5+ spice container = little less than 10″)

3. I cut my 2×2′s 10″ long (I used 10, 10″ 2×2′s for this.  4, 3, 2, 1)

4. I lightly sanded my 2×2′s to get rid of really sharp edges or really rough spots– nothing more than 150 grit sandpaper.

5. I then realized that my 2×2′s were not quite wide enough for my spice containers!

So, because I didn’t want to spend any money on this project, I raided my wood pile and found a 1×12″ board and measured the height of my stack of 4, stack of 3, stack of 2, and 1 and then cut corresponding 1×12″ pieces.  Like this:

6. I glued the 2×2 blocks together (4, 3, 2, 1)

7. I glued the 1×12 pieces to the corresponding blocks.

8. I did NOT glue block stacks together!  If I had done this, I wouldn’t have been able to maneuver the blocks into the cabinet (tight space!), so I left them separate and just placed them in the cabinet separate.

9. I primed the stacks.

10. Painted the stacks.

11.  Places the stacks in the cabinet and filled them up.

It’s such an improvement over what I had!  It’s not perfect looking, but now I can see what I have (or what I need) without having to dig through and look at every single container!  And the best part was that I had all the supplies at home, so it was FREE!

How do you organize your spice rack?  Did you DIY something?  I’d love to know.

I’m linking up with A Thoughtful Place’s Oranizing Link Party HERE.

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