Spice rack organization: Bringing order to chaos

As I’ve been learning my way around my kitchen, I’ve accumulated a modest collection of spices, seasonings, oils and vinegars. It’s quite a mix: There’s the salt and pepper staples, alongside those $5 bottles that you need for that one recipe and swear you’ll find an excuse to use, but more often just get in the way of the staples.

My spice rack — or cupboard, really — had gotten out of hand, so I pulled everything out and started over again.

My spice cupboard actually has a very nice setup. It’s a corner cupboard with a raised, two-tiered lazy Susan built in, for a total of three storage surfaces including the base of the cupboard. So restoring order to the chaos didn’t take much more than a thoughtful consideration of what should go where.

I took this photo in April, Since then, the collection has grown by about six spice bottles. I swear, I’ll use them up.

First, I pulled out all of the spices, planning to dedicate the middle tier to my spices and other things in shorter bottles. I separated the things that I use nearly every time I cook: olive oil, Kosher salt, my black pepper grinder, table salt and recent addition Lawry’s seasoning salt. Those, I keep on the counter, right next to the stove.

Oh hello, loves. These guys get to live right next to the stove so I don’t have to waste time opening cupboard doors or spinning lazy Susans.

Next, I lined all of them up in alphabetical order, staggered into two rows: short bottles and tall bottles.

Conundrum: I buy big bottles of my oft-used spices, but I want to store the short ones in front so I can see to the back.

Then came the tricky part: how to keep the lot generally in alphabetical order so I can find things, while trying to keep the short bottles in the front, while trying to keep the frequently used bottles in the front.

I wanted to be able to see both the short and tall bottles. But spices I use a lot — garlic powder, red pepper flakes — are usually in tall bottles, which I’d like to have at the forefront.

The rest of my system, aside from the mostly spice-filled second tier, is taller boxes and bottles like vinegars, bread crumbs and rice go on the top shelf. Baking and bulk items like flour, sugar and corn starch are on the bottom shelf. Here’s a quick video tour of the second and third levels — the ones on the lazy Susan:

http://instagram.com/p/b0O9vsK6H1/

I’m not sure if I found the right solution yet. It’s been a work in progress, as I absent-mindedly return items to whichever empty space looks right. I also don’t think I’m making the best use of the space on the bottom, and I’ve always wanted nice, neat matching canisters to hold pantry staples like flour and sugar.

But having a system helps keep me organized when I’m putting things away, and it helps me know where to look when I neglect an ingredient or two during prep and have to scramble to add the nutmeg before the roux curdles for the macaroni and cheese.