The organizing spree is still going strong in my kitchen and today I’m sharing how to organize spices in a cabinet! I recently shared a post on How To Organize Your Kitchen For Optimal Efficiency. It got me itching to tackle every cabinet and drawer in my kitchen.
Spice cabinet organization is an easy 5-step system:
- Eliminate the spices you don’t need
- Consolidate the spices you need
- Decide where to put your spice rack
- Time to purchase products to organize spices in a cabinet
- Add spice rack and spices to the cabinet
Even though I will be sharing a lot of general spice organization tips, this post will focus on organizing spices in a cabinet. Just keep in mind that there are many more ways to organize spices. You could organize your spices in a drawer, or you could display them in an interesting way on your kitchen counter. You could even use magnetic spice jars and stick them to your fridge door. Options are endless. For my kitchen, the best solution was to store them in my pantry cabinet, and it might be for you too…
This post is all about Spice Cabinet Organization!
1. Eliminate The Spices You Don’t Need
Go through the spices you currently have and eliminate those that you don’t need! Throw away the ones that are expired, and donate duplicates, as well as those you purchased to try that one recipe you’ll never make again.
I recently got rid of my cloves. I haven’t used them in more than a year, and couldn’t think of any dishes I like using cloves in.
Bye-bye cloves!
(I’ve also updated my spice jars since!)
2. Consolidate The Spices You Need
Once you have eliminated what you don’t need, it is time to figure out which spices you need.
This means keeping your favorite spices, but also investing in those that you don’t have yet, but will allow you to make that curry you used to love, but haven’t made in years because you ran out of the necessary curry spice.
Hello, curry powder!
3. Decide Where To Put Your Spice Rack
When optimal efficiency is a priority in your kitchen, then there are two possible “zones” in which you could consider storing your spice rack. You’d either want to store your spices in your pantry, with the other food items. Whenever you are ready to cook, you can easily grab all your ingredients, including your spices from the same zone.
If you are a more intuitive chef, who likes to intuitively add herbs and spices while you are cooking, you could consider storing your spice rack as close to your stove as possible! Makes sense?
I personally would love to store my spices close to my stove, but unfortunately don’t have the space. I thus decided to store them with the rest of my food items in my pantry cabinet.
Wherever you decide to store your spices, keep in mind that spices are best stored in cool, dark places.
4. Time To Purchase Products To Organize Spices In A Cabinet
When you are organizing your spices in a cabinet, you will need some sort of tiered spice rack. Tiered spice racks will allow you to organize your spice cabinet, without needing to shove any spices around whenever you need one! They give you perfect visibility of your entire spice collection. A dream!
Aside from optimizing the use of the depth of your spice cabinet, a tiered spice rack can also help you optimize the use of the width of your spice cabinet! Consider buying an expandable tiered spice rack, if you want to use the full width of your cabinet to store spices.
Lastly, make sure the rack is either non-skid or has a lip that prevents jars from sliding off. Like this one:
My favorite expandable non-skid tiered spice rack:
If you want your spice cabinet organization to look aesthetically pleasing, you can consider buying matching spice jars.
Pro tip: Purchase spice jars that are the right size for you. I initially purchased 125 ml (4 oz) spice jars, but because I buy my spices in a specialized spice store that sells spices in 100 g bags, those were too small for me. 250 ml (8 oz) spice jars are perfect for me.
My favorite spice jars:
If you decided to decant your spices in matching spice jars, don’t forget to label them! I love using an embossed label maker, to make labels for spice jars.
My favorite label maker for spice labels:
5. Add Spice Rack And Spices To The Cabinet
My favorite part!! The moment in which all your work comes together!
If necessary, give your cabinet a good clean, and then add your spice rack and spice jars.
I decided to categorize my spice jars in alphabetical order, but you can use any categorizing strategy that makes sense for you. You could place the spices you use the most on the bottom tier or you could even categorize them according to color. You do you!
Did you find this post helpful? Don’t forget to let me know, by leaving a comment below.
This post was all about Spice Cabinet Organization!
Learn More About Kitchen Organization:
- 9 Absolute Best Tips To Organize A Small But Deep Pantry
- How To Organize Your Kitchen For Optimal Efficiency
- The 9 Best Kitchen Organization Products To Add To Your Kitchen In 2022