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daeman
daeman HalfDork
11/7/16 4:29 p.m.

There seems to be a few avid cooks in amongst the good folk of grm. As such I'm hoping some of you have some good ideas for Spice storage?

My New kitchen is nearing completion and I want to do a better job of organising and storing my herbs and spices. The obvious answer is buy a Spice rack or caddy, but most of them have such tiny containers I feel that they're impractical, especially when it comes to my higher use stuff.

I need to keep things easily identifiable and accessible, but I don't want a bunch of clutter or kitschiness.

As an after thought, what are peoples thoughts on kitchen knife storage? Unfortunately I didn't think about adding a knife drawer when the kitchen was built, and while getting one added is possible, its not the first choice option. So what choices do I have? Im assuming magnetic strip or knife block are probably it?

Again, accessibility is a big thing, at least for 3 or 4 of my high use knives.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/7/16 4:36 p.m.

For spices, we have the Ikea drawer organizer and canisters, they're a good size.

I use magnetic strips for my knives. Really convenient and it shows off the good stuff.

Best I've seen is this, though.

pheller
pheller PowerDork
11/7/16 4:43 p.m.

I never understood round containers for spices as they are an ineffective use of space. Some day I will just buy all my spices loose and move them into square containers.

daeman
daeman HalfDork
11/7/16 4:46 p.m.
Keith Tanner wrote: For spices, we have the Ikea drawer organizer and canisters, they're a good size. I use magnetic strips for my knives. Really convenient and it shows off the good stuff. Best I've seen is this, though.

Im due for an idea trip in the next couple of weeks, I'll see what the Super Swedes have on offer.

That guitar rack is so cool.

daeman
daeman HalfDork
11/7/16 4:48 p.m.

In reply to pheller:

Good point on square vs round. That's some seriously sexy organisation.

EastCoastMojo
EastCoastMojo GRM+ Memberand Mod Squad
11/7/16 4:56 p.m.

I highly recommend keeping spices in a drawer, much like PHeller's last pic. Keeping them in a cool, dark place preserves the flavor & intensity longer. I buy bulk and keep the extra that won't fit in the shakey bottle in a zip loc. If possible I will grow or buy fresh herbs which I can then dehydrate myself. Cheaper and better flavor than buying off the rack.

The guitar knife rack is the coolest I have seen, but personally I use a big ol' freebie (thanks craigslist) knife block for our rather random collection of good / decent knives that we have collected. I like the drawer storage for knives, but it just isn't the most effective use of space for our kitchen.

Hal
Hal UltraDork
11/7/16 5:04 p.m.

We had a spice rack built into one of the upper cabinet doors next to the stove when we had the cabinets built. Need spices while cooking; just open the door and there they are.

Have tried different knife storage ideas and keep going back to the old fashioned knife block on the counter. Keeps them protected and handy when needed.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/7/16 5:20 p.m.

Here's the Ikea spice solution we have. However, they've reworked their kitchen stuff (happens every decade or two) so it's probably different now. But it's working well for us. This picture is a half-empty drawer, ours fits better.

For more biggerer, they have magnetic doohickeys with clear tops. Put a piece of steel on the wall, voila.

At the very least, they have a great price on magnetic strips for knives. And tools

bluej
bluej UltraDork
11/7/16 5:26 p.m.

We added one of the really shallow bathroom cabinets from Ikea to a wall spot that wouldn't be able to accept anything else. It's worked out really well. I'll get a pic in a sec.

Wall-e
Wall-e GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/7/16 5:40 p.m.

I have a tall thin pullout cabinet that my spices are in. The knives are in a couple blocks. The magnetic strip looks like a good idea but after a few stabbings in the family I'm not comfortable having them so accessible. I wish I was kidding.

NOHOME
NOHOME PowerDork
11/7/16 8:38 p.m.
Keith Tanner wrote: For spices, we have the Ikea drawer organizer and canisters, they're a good size. I use magnetic strips for my knives. Really convenient and it shows off the good stuff. Best I've seen is this, though.

The rack is a cool idea but in my world I would use the second one from the left exclusively. So no need to the rack.

slantvaliant
slantvaliant UltraDork
11/7/16 10:04 p.m.

I want one of these:

and one of these:

daeman
daeman HalfDork
11/8/16 3:46 a.m.
slantvaliant wrote: I want one of these:

Spartan guy is cool, I like that alot.

daeman
daeman HalfDork
11/8/16 4:04 a.m.

Im really liking the Magnetic Wall cans. They look like they're a good size and could be used a few ways.

I may have just solved my knife storage. Looks like I can squeeze a knife drawer in between my over and benchtop. I might be able to squeeze Spice containers in there to if I can find them in the right height.

petegossett
petegossett GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
11/8/16 5:08 a.m.
slantvaliant wrote:

If that guitar top actually was braced like that originally, it's far better suited as a spice rack - and a damn cool one - than a musical instrument.

mtn
mtn MegaDork
11/8/16 6:21 a.m.

Looks like an old harmony or Kay, so it probably was a ladder brace.

RossD
RossD UltimaDork
11/8/16 7:29 a.m.

I like Alton Brown's solution to herb storage:

mndsm
mndsm MegaDork
11/8/16 7:57 a.m.

My spice rack is a whole cabinet in my kitchen, poorly organized at best, and my knives are as delivered in the box from Chicago cutlery, with a spare chef knife in a sleeve in a drawer.

914Driver
914Driver MegaDork
11/8/16 8:08 a.m.

We had one of these broom bristle type knife holders, works great. Take the broomy thing out once in a while and shake it out.

bluej
bluej UltraDork
11/8/16 8:54 a.m.

ooooo, that broomy thing is cool.

forgot to take a pic again. here's the ikea link to the cabinet I installed:

Ikea cab

wheelsmithy
wheelsmithy GRM+ Memberand Dork
11/8/16 9:02 a.m.

I'm lousy with the internets, but will try to explain one I saw and liked. Shallow wooden box, hinged at the back. screwed to the bottom of cabinets so that it was basically invisible when closed, opened down to approx. 45 degrees to display spices. Really neat.

ultraclyde
ultraclyde UberDork
11/8/16 9:03 a.m.

we have a built in drawer like PHeller's first pic but it's just wood shelves with side rails. The whole rack slides out on simple shelf tracks but isn't attached to the cabinet door. No fancy cutouts. Works really well and it's right beside the stove for easy access. I'm a serious spice guy, so I would love to have more room but it works pretty well overall.

Duke
Duke MegaDork
11/8/16 10:21 a.m.
Keith Tanner wrote: For more biggerer, they have magnetic doohickeys with clear tops. Put a piece of steel on the wall, voila.

These look cool but work terribly. We had them. The lids and windows don't fit tightly enough to keep the spices fresh. And certain spices corrode the galvalume metal and after a while those containers fuse shut. We bought a whole bunch of these and tried them for about a year but eventually we just wrote them off and went with Tupperware modular mates and carousel in a cabinet near the prep area.

dculberson
dculberson PowerDork
11/8/16 12:43 p.m.

For spices, I bought two of these and love them:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KFUEG0

I didn't like the labels that came with them so I used a white paint pen to hand write the labels. Looks good. Works great. So much better than the cabinet or drawer I used before.

cdowd
cdowd HalfDork
11/8/16 2:13 p.m.

knife organizer

I have one of these in a smallish drawer and it works quite well.

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