New Kitchen Organization & DIY Magnetic Spice Wall

I have declared 2013 the year of organization. By nature, I'm a very neat and tidy person, but behind cabinets and in closets, things can be chaotic! Most of the storage space in our house is maxed out and at least one area drives me crazy on daily basis just trying to locate something. So, I'm taking it space by space, carefully planning it out and getting completely organized! Rome wasn't built in a day, so patience has been key!

First up was my kitchen pantry, spices and baking cabinet. I wish I had taken 'before' pictures of these spaces. Our pantry is not very big to begin with, and being that I love to cook, I accumulate lots of ingredients. But, it was no man's land in there. I had no idea what was in the back, so I ended up with two of things easily. We also live in a field, so over the holidays we had a little mouse trouble. One literally came running out at me when I started to clean it out!! If there had been a video of my reaction, it would surely be a YouTube hit. Talk about having the willies after that! My spice/baking cabinet was also overflowing. Spices literally would eject themselves at me when I opened it. Thus, a big makeover was in order.

Note: this was not done in just one weekend. I spread it out over a few! ;)

First step was to clear everything out and throw old stuff away. Next, I went to Fred's (it's a local dollar-store chain in the Mid-South) and bought all of these containers. It was so cheap!! There is no reason why you should spend tons of money at Bed Bath & Beyond or Container Store. Dollar stores have lots of organizational products.

Next, I made a plan for what made sense grouped together and filled up the containers. The large white labels came from Michael's (Gartner Studios brand), but I may have to change them eventually because I've found they aren't sticking that well.

These large glass jars hold things like chocolate chips and candy bars (things I use for baking). The smaller screw-top jars all hold rice (there are three lined up there).

These two containers hold smaller things that were easily lost in larger baskets.

On the next shelf down, I used two sets of glass canisters and staggered them back. These all hold pastas and grains. In the middle, I used stackable tupperware for things like panko, breadcrumbs, grits, oats, flaxseed, etc.

On the left, I placed two small baskets for misc. items like tortillas, special rice mixes, dried fruits, etc.

On the next shelf down, I used these cool plastic nesting tubs from Fred's. It was so cheap and had 7 sizes of containers - perfect for various snacks. Spaghetti and lasagna noodles are in a container I happened to already have.

At the bottom, I used two large baskets to collect more miscellaneous stuff (extra jars of mayo, chicken broth cartons, etc.) and the other holds chips. It is really nice to be able to slide one of these out versus digging through a mountain of stuff crammed on one shelf.

On the floor, I added a two-drawer stacking bin for holding plastic bags and kitchen papers. On the right I store my crock-pot and panini grill.

It's a happy pantry. But, my favorite thing is the new spice wall on the back of the door!

I needed to maximize my space, so I started doing research on magnetic spice solutions. Tins that are already magnetized are pricey, and I found it would be pretty simple to add magnets myself. I love the way it turned out!

There are 60 tins on my wall, and only 3 are empty for future spices! I cannot believe I had so many crammed into a cabinet.

Of course, they are all alphabetized.

In addition to traditional spices, I added rubs and mixes towards the bottom.

Here's how we did it:

Supplies:

1 Piece of sheet metal from Lowe's or Home Depot - Be sure to get one thick enough to hold a magnet. Either take something magnetic with you, or test using the magnets in their store. We almost checked out with a piece that was too thin to hold a magnet! Our pantry door is not a standard-sized door, so we had a local metal-works shop cut ours down. If you have a standard door or wall space, the pieces of metal they sell at hardware stores won't likely need resizing. Keith was able to simply screw this into the door.

Tins - I ordered 60 4 oz. square tins from Specialty Bottle. I had the choice between round or square and just thought the square was cool, but either would look great. One downside to square I've recently noticed is that it's easier to tell if they are crooked, but that's just my OCD kickin' in.

Magnets - You MUST use Neodymium magnets, otherwise they will not be strong enough to hold the tins and you will risk them falling off and spices going everywhere. I ordered the D901 version from K&J Magnets. I ordered about a dozen extra magnets. If you aren't careful, these are so strong and can break trying to fling themselves onto metal surfaces. I broke 2 that way. I also liked having extra so I could put 2 magnets on the back of some of the tins to hold 'heavier' spices.

Epoxy - To adhere the magnets to the tins, use epoxy from the hardware store. This is the product we used. It didn't require mixing and came with an easy tip dispenser.

Sandpaper - 100 grit sandpaper - a small piece will do.

Damp Paper Towel

Tweezers

Labels of your choice - I'll share details of mine below

How to:

• To adhere the magnets to the tins, you need to first rough the back up with sandpaper. Otherwise, the epoxy won't adhere. 
• Once you've sanded all of them, use a slightly damp paper towel to wipe the dust off. Allow the tins to dry; you don't want any moisture.
• Epoxy sets up really quickly, so you want to be ready with the magnets before adding the glue. We spread the magnets out all over the table (far enough apart to not magnetize to each other) so that it would be easy to grab with the tweezers.
• Keith placed a small dot on the center of each tin, and I followed behind placing magnets on the back by using tweezers to pick them up. The magnets will automatically be drawn to the tins, so make sure your aim is good. It'll jump right off your tweezers onto the tin. NOTE: when I say a small dot of epoxy, I mean it - it doesn't take much!
• Allow the tins to dry overnight before filling.
• Once full and labeled, place them on the spice wall and see if any slide. I found that some of my spices were heavier than others - such as poppyseed and sesame seed, and they had a tendency to not stay in place as well. So, I added a second magnet to the back of those - see below.

Tips:

• When planning out your wall, be sure to allow for enough space around each tin. You'll want to be able to easily fit your hand around them, so that you...
• .....don't grab the tins by the lid to pull them off. This seems like an obvious tip, but just be careful. I've found that it's not natural for me to reach for them by the lid, I tend to grab them with a 'full grip' around it so I haven't had a problem. Just remember not to pull them off by the lid. Otherwise, spice is getting all over you, the floor, the other tins, your kitchen, etc.
• You could purchase screw-top tins if you prefer, but they are pricier. I opted to risk it and haven't had any problems so far.
• If you are worried about expiration dates and not knowing when things expire, just add a sticker to the back and write the expiry date in pencil every time you refill! I was shocked at how old some of my spices where when I did this clean out.
  

For the labels, I enlisted the help of my friend Michelle at work to design a simple style. She created a Word doc for me so that I could easily type the labels in myself (handy for when I have future spice needs). I bought 8.5x11 sheets of label paper, and used my 1.5 inch circle punch to punch them out.

If you are interested in this template, shoot me an email. I'd be happy to share! 

To peel the label backing off, I found that my fingernails would scratch the red print on the front, so I used a straight pin to find the seam, and then peeled the backing off.

Of course, you could use an Avery label that was already sized to the dimensions that you want, but I was unable to find any at my local store, so I improvised!
Tip: Check out Martha Stewart's line for Staples - she's got lots of cute stuff.

I love having my spices in tins now because it's so easy to dip a tablespoon measurement in. That was always impossible with store-bought spice containers.

Is it sturdy? Heck yes. Keith was skeptical, but I knew I had done my research and this would work. To test, we filled several spice tins with heavy batteries and slammed the door a few times really hard before we put spices in. Knowing that we'll never have anything that heavy in the tins (or be so abusive to our door, we felt safe!

I also organized the cabinet where the 60 spices where originally located. I am still in disbelief that I crammed as much in here as I did, but I love it so much more now! It's sort-of become my baking cabinet.

I had Keith adjust the spacing on the shelves to accommodate the various heights. The top shelf is pretty narrow, but it works for what I've got up there.

On the top shelf, I used a couple of lock canisters for melting chocolates and chips. I had SO many extra glass spice bottles that I saved about 20 and washed the labels off. They're perfect for sprinkles! Everything also looks better when you remove it from the packaging it came in. Consistency in containers looks really pretty! It's more 'merchandised' like a store, which I love.

Also on the top shelf is a large tin for misc. piping tips and bags. I also stacked up all of my cupcake liners and placed them here. There are 6 total stacks. I think I have a problem. Better get to baking....

On the middle shelf, I re-purposed a spinning spice rack that was on the counter. I was able to wash the spice names off the lids and filled these with sprinkles using a funnel. Maybe now that I can see what I have, I'll actually bake something with sprinkles! Next to them, I used more lock canisters for baking basics.

It's like a sprinkle merry go round!

These canisters are used all of the time, so spreading them out a bit more makes them easier to get to.

On the bottom shelf, I ordered 10 of these 5.1" tea tins to store things that take up a bit more space: salt, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa, meringue powder, cornstarch, cinnamon sticks, food coloring, etc.

These tea tins are really nice to put a measuring cup down in.

I also ordered 10 8 oz square tins for spices that come in a larger quantity than the small ones on the door would hold, like garlic salt, garlic powder, barbecue seasoning, etc. I also lined up my vanilla extracts on the side and filled a few extra spice jars with toothpicks.

So, that's it! One project down, many more to go. I will say that this was not necessarily a cheap re-organization. The containers for the pantry were inexpensive, but the tins and magnets were more of an investment. Luckily, I know I can move that with me to any house. And, all of this should last me a lifetime anyway! 

Thanks for stopping by! Please let me know if this inspires you to do something similar! 

PS - I'm linking this up on Delightful Order , Organize and Decorate Everything, i Heart Organizing and Kelly's Korner