Two years ago, I added gripper clips to my cabinet pantry door for easy access to the spices I use most often. They are truly fabulous and convenient. However, I still had dozens of spices, seasonings, baking extracts, powders, etc. tucked away and often lost in the depths of my pantry.
I've had a carousel tray on the top shelf of my pantry to at least keep the spices all together, but the small containers somehow managed to flip off the carousel and get lost. Or worse, they would keep the carousel from turning and cause an avalanche of spice containers. Of course, that always happened when I was cooking and trying to find something quickly.
My son often heard me complain about my pantry cabinet and spice organization. This past Mother's Day, he surprised me with the Deluxe Spicy Shelf. I was thrilled! I had never seen one before, but the picture on the box looked totally awesome and perfect for my needs. Then, I opened the box! Yikes!!! The number of pieces to assemble my new deluxe spicy shelf intimidated me immediately. I set the gift aside to construct "later". Even I didn't realize "later" meant 5 months later.
Assembling My Deluxe Spicy Shelf
Knowing the holidays were fast approaching and I would soon be seeking out those least often used spices, I set aside an afternoon to assemble my much needed organizer shelf. With no small amount of dread, I opened the box once again.
Imagine my utter shock that it took me less than 30 minutes to assemble the shelves, remove the content from my pantry, and set it all back in completely organized, easy to see and so much easier to find a specific item. I was so giddy that is was all accomplished in so little time that I considered putting it all in alphabetical order. I stayed my hand there though because I wanted the things I would need for Thanksgiving toward the front. Extra, unopened spices went to the back, but I can easily see them!
As you can see in the photo below, I even found a great use for my carousel. It has been serving me for so long, I didn't have the heart to toss it.
Because my cabinet pantry is so deep, I set one shelf in front of the other, instead of stacking them. As you can see, that is perfect for me. My short spices now tower over the taller bottles.
Because I have a few economy size spice bottles, I set them just in front of my carousel. They are very easy to lift out and grab what I need from behind them. No more tearing the cabinet apart to find one small bottle.