I got a bee in my bonnet yesterday and decided to organize the spice cabinets in my kitchen while still wearing my jammies. Here are the steps I took to make it happen in just 15 minutes so I didn’t get too off track.
Here is the cabinet on the right side of my stove. I didn’t take any “before” photos because there wasn’t really much of a visual change in the set-up. This system has been working for me for 6 years. I mainly needed to wipe everything down and take an inventory of what I am going to need in the future for fall and winter baking.
This post contains affiliate links to products I like and use. If you purchase any of these, the blog will make a few pennies but it won’t cost you anything extra. Please see my disclosure statement here.
Here are the steps I followed to clean and organize my spice cabinets:
Step #1 Take everything off of a shelf – even the organizing products. I like to start on the top shelf and work my way down
Step #2 Wipe off the shelf
Step #3 Sort spices together, throwing away any that have expired or that you no longer use. You might come across some “mystery” spices – you know, those unlabeled containers with powdered substances that have no smell. Toss, please. If you find that you have two or more containers of the same spice and they are all “good” you can consolidate them or freeze the extras until you need them.
Step #4 Wipe down each container with a damp dishrag or a cleaning wipe. Dry it off if necessary.
Step #5 Clean the organizing products (lazy susans, risers, or bins) and place them back on the shelf.
Step #6 Place the spice containers back in the cabinet. I like to use my most-used spices on the bottom shelf, near the front (my “A” zone). Other spices not used as frequently go on the middle shelf, near the front (my “B” zone). The least frequently used and seasonal spices go behind my A and B zone spices (my “C” zone). See this post where I talk about how helpful zones are.
Bonus tip: Make a list of any spices or ingredients you are running low on so you won’t have any surprises later on!
I keep baking soda and baking powder in canning jars with plastic lids. I label the tops with what they are and also the expiration date. I just use a permanent marker and I can clean them off with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.
This is the cabinet on the left side of my stove. I configured the shelves to accommodate taller bottles of vinegar, soy sauce, oils, and things like that. A lazy susan on the middle shelf corrals less used spices that are in larger containers (I have DIY BBQ rub and dried onion flakes in small jars).
A small basket on the top shelf holds food coloring and colored sprinkles for making Christmas cookies. I bought a bunch after Christmas last year so my basket is overflowing. No worries though, most of it will be used up at our annual Christmas cookie baking night with the grandlittles. Notice the abundant use of sprinkles on a few of last year’s goodies.
The top shelf of the cabinet on the right has my bottles of homemade vanilla extract that need to sit for several months before they are ready to use. I also keep extra spices up there and my extra vanilla beans.
Some notes about my spices. I like to store herbs as whole leaves or seeds and grind them up with my mortar and pestle. As empty-nesters, we just can’t use up ground spices before their quality fades. I grow a lot of our herbs (basil, oregano, chives, rosemary, thyme) and store the dried leaves in large canning jars in my pantry. When a spice jar runs low, I grab the larger jar and refill it.
The bottom shelf shows two shakers. The one on the left is pepper and the one on the right is garlic powder. I use those in most of our savory dishes so I put them in shakers without lids so I can just grab them and shake.
There is another shaker on the middle shelf that has cinnamon/sugar for Hub’s toast – he can’t live without it and we’ve had that shaker since we were first married (39 years).
You’re wondering where the salt is, right? Well, I keep it in a lidded dish with my oils, cloves of fresh garlic, knives, and my trusty mortar and pestle.
