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I don’t know about you, but my spice drawer used to be a nightmare. With all the different sized containers; big, small, round, square, plastic, glass, labels on the top, labels on the side, how can one gain order?! The inconsistency in size, shape, and label placement leads to a convoluted spice drawer and that my friend is just downright tragic. Tragic I say!
With my type A personality and my love for organization, I have always fought to gain control over the spice drawer. I mean come on, if you can’t gain control over your spice drawer, what hope is there for you? Hehe, I decided to take back control and spent many afternoons tackling this project.
I have lined them up by size, by category, and by alphabetical order. I have tried spice racks, created spice drawers, laid out spice cabinets; you name it, I have attempted it. No matter how I “stacked” them, it would only take a matter of minutes to find them in disarray all over again.
From the moment I moved out on my own, I have always owned an extensive collection of spices, but I only used about four of them. I always thought that a woman needed to know how to iron a shirt, fix a leaky toilet, replace a button, keep a clean home, change the oil in her car, and know how to use spices.
I mastered all of them except for one. You guessed it, spices! Well, that isn’t true, in the first 35 years of my life, I mastered the art of using four of them; salt, pepper, cinnamon, and garlic salt. The dozens of other jars just rolled around, collecting dust.
Occasionally I would open the jar and take a whiff, put the lid back on, and quickly put it away. Boy, have things changed, now I have at least fifteen different salts in my pantry, everything from pink Himalayan to black flaked.
I can now appreciate the difference between ground black pepper and fresh cracked pepper. And thank goodness that I have become friends with the other jarred spices because putting garlic salt on everything, well, just made everything taste like garlic. :)
I have learned to appreciate buying spices in bulk. I recommend purchasing bulk spices from a store that has quality spices and a high amount of foot traffic so that they roll through their stock, keeping the spices fresher. And, because you are not paying for a bunch of little individual bottles and fancy marketing, bulk spices are cheaper! You can also buy just the amount you need for a few months at a time, so your spices stay fresh.
Items needed:
Tip:Do you have spices that you prefer to “grind” as needed? Such as fresh ground pepper? If you do, as I do, you may have noticed that these types of grinders often leave a trail behind them.
Here is a simple and easy approach to keeping your spice area clean. Place a jar lid under the grinder so when you set it down all the crumbs will fall into the lid. (smacks forehead with this epiphany)
Love it!
Thank you Idapie. amie sue :)
Oh my gosh Amie Sue, you put me to shame. You’re so tidy. Love how you’ve done it!
lol Mary, thank you. amie sue
Thanks for sharing your pantry and storage ideas. I think they are great. I will keep this in mind when we build our new home in 12 months time. We are still at the planning stage, so I hope to have all the important details in my kitchen all worked out before we start building.
How exciting Alison. I hope you design the perfect kitchen for you! So many neat things to do when you can design your own. :) amie sue
Hi Amie Sue,
Thank you for sharing, well you have motivated me again! I
need to get busy and start organizing. Great tips!
I noticed you use essential oils, could you recommend a
good resource? Many thanks.
Michelle
Hello Michelle,
Happy to motivate you. :) Go get busy girlfriend. hehe
I use and sell doTerra essential oils. So I use those for the most part. I have a few straggler brands that I pick up when I find a really good one. Have a blessed day, amie sue
Thank you so much for this post. It is 5:30am and I want to get organizing in my kitchen! I love your website. Your recipes are amazing. I haven’t found one I didn’t like. Just not enough time to make them all. LOL
Oh nothing like getting motived at 5:30am Karen. haha But when the bug bites, one must obey. :) Thank you for sharing about the recipes. It is always good to know that they are being enjoyed and not just by us. hehe amie sue
I organize my spices in a similar fashion, just in 2oz glass jars for my kitchen supply and the remaining bulk in jars in our pantry. I’m particularity pleased with your take on with tea storage. I store my loose in jars so out just makes sense to preserve the bags as well. I know what I’m doing today. Thanks amie sue!
Awesome Barb. I am a jar freak. :) I have been very happy with this set up. Good luck getting your teas in order. :) amie sue
Great idea!!!! What are the white poles that you use to separate the jars?
Good morning Joy, I mentioned in the write up that they are tension rods. They work perfect! Have a great day, amie sue
Wow Amie Sue! That is pretty and inspiring! Thank you for the tip about buying smaller amounts in bulk
Hi Amie Sue, Wow and I thought I had a great system. Mine are all on revolving Tupperware racks . Remember the pie wedge containers they sold a long time ago? They hold 24 pie shape containers each and I have 3 of them. I know they are plastic, some day I would love to switch out to glass. I have limited space, so I haven’t figured that out yet – but you sharing your great way has given me an idea.
Mucho gracias, :] Lyn
Morning Lyn,
I have seen those Tupperware containers. I don’t think I have ever owned Tupperware but I remember seeing it all the time in my teens. My girlfriends mom sold it and their house was organized to the hilt with them. :) Do what works for you… it keeps you inspired! Have a happy day my friend, amie sue
Brilliant idea with the tension rods!
Thanks Elizabeth…sure works like a charm. Have a great day, amie sue
Amie,
I was planning to just clean the drawer, you raised the bar:-) Love the creativity re the tension rods……another great share, thank you!
Having an organized spice drawer really helps with creativity in the kitchen. May sound odd to some, but it so true. Have fun cleaning that drawer Nicole. :)
OMGoodness! No wonder I am in Love with YOU Amie Sue!! Canning jars = Organization!! May I come play with you in your kitchen? ;) I love that you shared this with your fans too! Blessings, Robyn
lol Robyn, I hope that you don’t love me just for my jars. haha :) Come play! I hope that your day is going well. amie sue
Hi Amie Sue
I will be back in Australia in 6 months time and setting up my own home. Will definately use your wonderful idea. Appealing to the eye, and everything so handy.
Thanks for sharing.
Sandie
Awesome Sandie. I believe that you will enjoy the system! Have a great day, amie sue
Fantastic spice system – I did something similar, and managed to have almost everything in one big drawer (with almost 100 glasses).
You can see a photo on my blog here if you like (it’s in Danish, but you’ll get the picture from the photos :-))
It’ll show you the mess that was, as well as the order it is in now.
http://hejdis.blogspot.dk/2012/02/noget-faktisk-en-hel-del-om-at-vre.html
That looks beautiful Heidi. I was able to translate your site to English. :) Thank you for sharing. amie sue
I think that “lazy Susan” idea is brilliant for being able to get the spice out where you can see them at the back of the drawer! As always, inviting article and wonderful tips. Keep it up!
Hasta luego, Laurie
Thank you Laurie. I hope you have fun organizing yours! hehe amie sue
Thank you so much the idea of spice and tea system made my day!! Good job
Your welcome Mari. How is your spice drawer? :) amie sue
This is a great idea Amie Sue and I have pinned it to my Pinterest board until I get all the supplies I need to do something very similar. Thanks!
(This is your cousin, SP ;) )
Hello my dear cousin! Soooo wonderful to hear from you here, there….heck, anywhere. :) Sure do love and miss you! Happy New Year. Perhaps you can come visit the farm this summer… hint hint. :) love you, amie sue
you are such an inspiration!! you produce some goods and sell what is your website! show us a sneak peak to your kitchen:D
Thank you Ihab :) Right now I am not selling any of my goods on my site. I just sell locally. That keeps me very busy hehe. Nice to hear from. Keep in touch. Blessings, amie sue
Ha! I just bought the stuff to do just this.. only for my collection of dried fruit, nuts, etc. I thought I might be crazy! You have put my mind at ease :)
Awesome website!!! I have to cook whole food for my parrot whose been sick for a long time. I started thinking I need to change, too. You’re website is my starting point. I am so glad I found it! When is your cookbook coming out.. ..
Good evening Miranda,
No one is crazy here. :) Like minded people gravitate towards one another and in that we can find comfort and a “home away from home” if you know what I mean. hehe
I hope your parrot heals soon. So happy to have you here. Please keep in touch as you try out recipes. A cookbook is my dream…. Blessings, amie sue
Hi Amie Sue,
Where did you get the cabinet with the drawers to store your spices? Love the concept that you have.
Thanks Brenda.
Hello Pink,
Thank you. I too love this set up. It took me years of trying different ways of organizing my spices and this is a golden set up for me now. We ordered the drawers on-line. We looked in all our cabinets to see if we could find a brand name of who made them, with that we Googled them, did some measuring and found this drawers. I would have to do some digging to find the company name if you are interested. Just let me know. If you have a pantry cabinet such as mine, but don’t know why makes them, I am positive that there are companies who make generic ones. You will just need measurements. If you want the exact company that I ordered them from, let me know.
Blessings, amie sue
Thank you Amie Sue. I would love to know who made those. Also what pantry cabinet did you purchase is there a brand?
Thanks!
The pantry cabinet was already built into the kitchen when we moved in. We just added the pull out drawers. It originally had deep shelves where every thing got lost in the far back, dark corners. :P
This is the company where we ordered the drawers from: http://www.cabinetparts.com/c/drawer-slides
I hope you find it helpful. Blessings, amie sue
Oh my gosh. I love this sooooo much. I have OCD. Organizationally Challenged Disorder!!! Just looking at your spice drawer gives me a sence of peace! There is absolutely no place in my kitchen to accomplish a spice drawer BUT it has become an addition to my fantasy walk in pantry that I want in my dream kitchen I have designed in my head. Thank you for that!! You are amazing and I love reading your posts. You write so well and make me smile!! 🙂
Oh thank you so much Crossroads45. I am just like you. OCD all the way when it comes to organizing. hehe Peace out my friend. hehe amie sue
Good morning Amie Sue, I want to tell you, you give me such a GOOD little chuckle in the morning when I read your posts!! I LOVE IT!!! I also love your spice drawers, so are they “mechanics tool drawers”, with the tension rods??? You must have a HUGE kitchen, because I couldn’t fit those drawers in mine, at least not yet! I hope within the next couple of years, I can expand my kitchen to what I want, BUT, we’ll just have to wait & see. I am going through a kitchen renovation in a way, right now as I write this, due to a kitchen faucet water leak within the walls. I need to figure out a different way to store my spices & extracts. They were on elevated acrylic racks that filled up one whole cabinet top to bottom. But that’s so inconvenient, because I always have to use my kitchen step stool to get something up top :( It’s CHAOS!! UGH!!
And no matter what you call the site…WE’LL BE THERE!!! WE LOVE YOU!!! Have a great weekend!!
Good morning JP :)
Such a pleasure to get your message this morning. I am happy to hear that I can bring joy your belly, I crack myself up half of the time. hehe I have two kitchens… my home kitchen and the commercial kitchen. I have both systems in both areas. In my house kitchen, I transformed a tall pantry cabinet from shelves to pull out drawers, which 3 drawers are dedicated to my spices. In the commercial kitchen, I wanted all units; tables, shelving, etc, to be on wheels for the ease of cleaning (commercial kitchens must be clean and tidy!). So I bought a bunch of toolboxes to store my items in, plus they have nice wooden tops to work on. In the toolbox drawers, I have spices set up just like I do in the house. That is what you are seeing in the photos.
I am so sorry to hear about that water leak! ICKES! Even though it has caused much frustration and inconvenience, let’s find the gold lining in it… You get to renovate the kitchen and implement new ways of setting things up. :) If you want, you can email me some photos of your layout; cabinets, drawers, etc. and I could maybe help you arrange items to make the best of your storage areas? Just throwing that out there. If that interests you, email me at [email protected]. I LOVE doing stuff like that. We need to take CHAOS out of the kitchen and replace it with grace, ease, and inspiration. :)
And thanks for the comment regarding the site name. hehe For those who may read this later, this is what we are referring to: https://nouveauraw.com/kitchen-diary/amiesue-com/
Have a blessed and happy day JP, sending you big hugs. amie sue
Thanks Amie Sue, I will once I can get back into my kitchen. Since this is an insurance claim, the insurance company said they had to check for asbestos, lead paint, mold before they could work on the faucet/cabinet area So they found asbestos under the linoleum, and they had to remove all the appliances, flooring and asbestos. now I have to wait until it’s cleared inspection, then they will finish the work. I’ll send some pics when I can. Take care & have a nice weekend!!
Oh goodness, gracious! What a ripple effect you have going on there… but what a blessing to catch some of these things and get them fixed! Keep me posted how it goes. I am always here for you. kitchen blessings and love, amie sue