We created this super simple DIY spice drawer organizer to try to tame our jumble of different sizes of bags and bottles of herbs and spices. Not only does it look so much better, it’s now much easier to find what I need exactly when inspiration strikes!
I told you a couple of weeks ago about how I’ve been working on switching over to more of a waste-free style of grocery shopping and this spice drawer was kind of a natural progression of that process. I realized just how much garbage I was creating with all of the herbs and spices that I use and it was just really starting to bug me. Plus, my spice drawer looked pretty messy. I started switching my spices over to these little glass spice jars and just shopping for them by refilling them at the bulk store over the last week or so. Then I decided that I might as well build a little something to hold them in place in the drawer. Then I decided that I might as well make it pretty while I’m at it. And this DIY spice drawer organizer was born!
How to Organize Your Spices
I really believe that the key to having a spice drawer that looks organized and makes everything really easy to find, is to make the process of keeping it that way as easy as possible. For me, buying my spices by putting them directly into the jars at the store is absolutely key to my success because I just know that something will come up once I get home that will keep me from taking the time to transfer spices bought in bags into pretty matching bottles. I know because it’s been happening that way for years! 🙂 If all you need to do when you get home is put the bottle back into the drawer, it turns a 10 minute task into a 10 second task and that will great increase anyone’s chances of success.
Building Our DIY Spice Drawer Organizer
We just used a bit of leftover MDF to create two separate little sections in our small spice drawer to keep everything in place and so the jars don’t slide around every time the drawer is opened. The front section is big enough to hold 30 of the little square glass jars that I have, and the back holds four of the larger swing-top jars for things that I need larger quantities of like onion powder and bay leaves. Ignore the dust all over the table from sanding. 🙂
The organizer basically forms two smaller boxes with a slightly taller divider in the middle. It’s super simple, but it does the trick quite well!
I like this type of organizer where you can see the top of the jars rather than the full bottles because it allows you to fit quite a bit more in a small space and I always love creating extra storage!
I painted the DIY Spice Drawer Organizer in Martha Stewart Trellis Green to match the green French door that we have on the other side of the kitchen leading out to the mudroom.
I lined the bottom of the drawer using a fun printed scrapbook paper. Since this isn’t a drawer that will ever have wet dishes put away in it, I didn’t need to worry about making it perfectly wipe-able because I can just vacuum out any spices that fall into the drawer. Using scrapbook paper was also super affordable and it allowed me to look through so many different fun choices for patterns!
I literally just cut the paper to size, put it down in the drawer, and placed the pieces of the organizer on top. The whole thing is completely removable so I can switch the paper out in about two minutes if I ever need to.
Now, for comparison, here’s the drawer before:
And after!
Organizing Our DIY Spice Drawer Organizer
I used these little square spice bottles for most of my everyday spices. They fit nicely together in the drawer and really maximize the storage potential for the drawer. I found mine at Bulk Barn, but these look like they’re identical to the ones I’m using.
Of course, since I can only see the tops of the bottles, it was important to label everything correctly. I considered a few different options, but in the end I went with my good ol’ p-touch label maker. It was quick and easy and I think this type of label gives the drawer kind of an old school Martha Stewart vibe, which I of course appreciate. 🙂
For things that I needed to store more of, I used this type of hermetic swing-top jars. The jars in this drawer are the half litre size, but I also have the one litre and the 1.5 litre which I use for storing other pantry items.
Here’s a random little tip that I’ve realized is important after my last few trips to the bulk store to pick up spices: If you’re bringing your own little spice jars to fill in the store, try to also remember to bring a few little funnels along with you to make the whole process easier and to avoid making a mess of the store. 🙂 You’ll probably want to use a different funnel for each spice since the spices seem to stick to the surface of the funnel and you don’t want to mix everything up.
So that’s our newly-organized spice drawer! Have you ever made your own DIY spice drawer organizer? Do you shop for herbs and spices in the bulk foods store?
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Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.