As part of kitchen cabinets i am building for our new home. I would like to devote a fairly large drawer to “Orgnized” storage of spices. I have never been impressed with the plastic drop in styles and woulld like to have something that securly holds the jar (of which i am also open to suggestions) and displays the label. If any of you have come up with a good original design please post or describe.
One system is saw was use of test tubes with cork stoppers and the rack is simply a series of holes which hold the individual test tube with labels on the top of the cork.
Any good suggestions would be appreciated.
Aaron
Replies
Aaron,
I had two Italian restaurants in Miami and I do virtually all the cooking in our home and I don't have a spice rack or a spice drawer. I know that they are cute but I think you should reverse engineer the project.
First you need to determine just how many herbs and spices you use on a regular basis then determine how much space you need to store them.
Herbs like basil and parsely for example require larger containers while spices such as allspice require very little.
If you go to your local WalMart and look in their herb/spice department you will note that the sizes of the containers vary, so there is no exact formula for the 'slots' you would use, and transfering herbs and spices to, for example, test tubes, is a waste of time, storage space and the exposure to air will delete the value (strength) of the herbs/spices.
Unless you or you wife are epicurians and use a lot of oddball herbs/spices I think you could just make some space in the small cabinets above the range (cooktop) to accomodate your herbs/spices and leave the olive oil, vegetable oil, salt and pepper on the counter top close to the range (and no matter what you do DO NOT INSTALL AN ELECTRIC RANGE IN YOUR NEW KITCHEN. EVERYBODY WHO KNOW HOW TO COOK COOKS WITH GAS - THERE IS NO COMPARISON BETWEEN GAS AND ELECTRIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
John
Thanks for the advise. I agree gas is the only way to go for the cook top for us. We will have a vent hood above the stove so no cabinets above. We actually have few upper cabinets due to windows we have included in our kitchen. We are fortunate our kitchen will be quite large with no lack of cabinet space and lots of drawers, hence the reason for wanting to store spices in a drawer that is very accessible. Our current set up stores spices in cabinets above and on the side. It is a cluttered mess and I often buy spices I already have since I can't find anything.
Aaron
DO NOT INSTALL AN ELECTRIC RANGE IN YOUR NEW KITCHEN. EVERYBODY WHO KNOW HOW TO COOK COOKS WITH GAS - THERE IS NO COMPARISON BETWEEN GAS AND ELECTRIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
I would like to expand on that - Cooktops should be gas. Ovens can be either. For baking, usually electric better, as gas is a "moist" heat and for baking you will usually want a "dry" heat such as electic supplies.
For spices, make sure that they are stored in a cool dark location. Heat and light can speed up the deteriaton of spices. As a GENERAL rule of thumb, ground spices should be replaced every 6 months and whole spices each year. Whay I do, is when I buy spices/herbs, is to use masking tape and date it. and then over time I monitor what I use and in what qty and will not buy the larger jars of items I do not go thru fast enough, and usually buy smaller quantites from the bulk bins and then put into the container and then date it - I now throw out less than I used to.1 - measure the board twice, 2 - cut it once, 3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go 4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
You are correct, but I was not thinking ovens when I said 'range.' Electric ovens are better but without convection they do not cook evenly, the temps at the top are higher than the middle and lower areas and this makes necessary the rotation of breads, cookies, and other items when bakinging on more than one shelf. Therefore, convection is a big plus with electric ovens.John
DO NOT INSTALL AN ELECTRIC RANGE IN YOUR NEW KITCHEN. EVERYBODY WHO KNOW HOW TO COOK COOKS WITH GAS
Hmm. Well, my wife prefers gas but the smooth electric top is easier to clean, so we have an electric top and she cooks with it. I'm surprised to learn after all these years that she doesn't know how to cook. :)My goal is for my work to outlast me. Expect my joinery to get simpler as time goes by.
I'm sure you wife is a fine cook. Perhaps I should have said that gas is the preference of pros.John
Ahh, I'm just pulling your leg. Everyone seems so touchy here lately. :) Heck my wife likes gas better too, because you get the heat level you want instantly. Heh.My goal is for my work to outlast me. Expect my joinery to get simpler as time goes by.
We've built and our last house and redid the kitchen in our most recent house. In both, we put in a pull-out spice cabinet (link example). It's full base cabinet height, widths 6, 9, 12", and the entire unit pulls out to expose 3 shelves accessible from both sides. If the tops aren't already labeled, i write on them w/ permanent maker so their easily to find (I'm an engineer and would use the my label maker, but my wife would make more fun of me :) )
Before we redid the current kitchen, their was a lazy susan in the corner wall cabinet that worked ok.
Also, I've seen some really nice pull-outs in the wall cabinets that maximize space and still allow access to the entire spice collection.
Diamond is on of the best I've seen for creative orginizations solutions: (link).
My other suggestion after a couple kitchen designs: put pull out shelves in all the base cabinets.
Lastly, folks at breaktime (fine home building) probably have good insight as well.
Brad
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John, the gas/electric thing is a major cultural rift -- like Chevy/Ford, ya know? only worse. It's OK. Your wife is an even better cook than you thught if she can do so well with electric, ROFL!!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
aaronb,
A drawer near the stove is very valuable space....don't think I could give that up to herbs and the like.
After many years thinking about it I made two racks that attach to the inside of the cabinet doors. The cherry rack has three shelves; two to accomodate tall containers, one shelf to hold short containers. The dimensions are limited to the actual needs and the floating panel of the door is the back panel. The racks actually wrap around the shelf with the first shelf flush with the first shelf of the cabinet. What is nice about the set up is the spices/herbs are all displayed for quick use when the cabinet is opened.
I like the cabinet door idea and that is what im going towards easy to read and find what you want, but we don't have many uppers near the stove, but more drawers than we probably need, so we probably won't miss the space.
Aaron
IMHO...
Why would you want to transfer everything from the original packaging along with all the nutritional and date info and the custom type of dispenser top that the seller thought would be most useful for that particular spice? How will you label your test tubes - and keep the label side up so it's easily read?
I'd suggest a system that allows different size containers - I virtually always remember the size of the container for Ginger or Allspice or Parsley Flakes or whatever. I'd also suggest you lay out your plan using the spices you currently have and then double the space to allow for easy expansion. If you use the angled inserts in drawers, you could diminish the movement of spice jars and cans by lining them with anti-slip matting (sold for kitchen shelves and routers).
I prefer having the spices near the area where I assemble dishes more than around the stove. I find that the heat and steam from the stove top is distracting.
PS -
I actually have a small closet I added next to the fridge that has adjustable oak shelves that pivot out so I can access both sides. The common spices are on the outside, the rarely used ones on the back side. I use the space behind these shelves for the vacuum, broom, etc.
But I've also seen some pretty good racks that fit inside upper door cabinets if you can allow the spices to take up 2 inches or so of your available space in the cabinet.
For more ideas and comments on spice storage, post the question over in Cooks Talk, I am sure it will generate a lot of responses.
I am building cabinets for our new kitchen and the initial design had a narrow space available below the counter, next to the cooktop. I bought a three inch wide spice cabinet and installed a face frame to match the cabinets. Every cook who sees it wants one. Here is the source:
http://www.specialtysupplies.com/wall-filler-pullout-shelf-tall-p-4655.html
My better half is a fabulous cook who uses a wide variety of herbs and spices in a variety of container sizes. After ending up with three jars of the same spice, she found a cabinet spice rack that seems to work. She bought a stair-step base that fits into an upper cabinet. Seems to accommodate just about anything she wants it too and has eliminated duplication.
The risers lift the labels above the containers in front and allow easy access. The space left by the removed container allows it to be simply returned to its rightful space.
After 30 years of shuffling spice jars, she has a system that works.
I would like to encourage you to rethink the plastic stair-step units. I was skeptical but my wife insisted that that was what she wanted. So I installed it. No problems. The spice jars stay nice and neat and the labels are easy to read. We have ours in a top drawer at the "assembly" counter. Easy peasy to use..... pull it out - grab - shut the drawer. Nothing has ever fallen out of place. Right below this drawer is a "pantry" drawer where we keep oils, etc. It is all within easy reach with little bending over.
I hate stuff stored on the counter..... we have minimized that. Only the things we have to quick grab are there..... two canisters of spoons, wisks, etc. and a few small plates.
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