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Want to frustrate a cook in the shortest amount of time possible? Try rearranging his or her kitchen without permission. You'll be fortunate if all you receive is the threat of a frying pan upside the head. Cooks tend to be particular about how they organize their kitchens - and, yes, we know that's an understatement. The need to accommodate a personalized organizational system can make selecting the best spice racks a challenging process.
Fortunately, manufacturers of the top spice racks for your kitchen understand the needs of cooks. With their products, they create a nice balance between doing the job of organizing your spices, while also allowing for cooks to adjust the designs to fit cabinet space and personal tastes.
The best spice racks can make better use of your precious kitchen cabinet or countertop space. They're also one of the best tools you can add to your kitchen. And once you've picked the perfect spice rack for your needs, you can check out our list of the most useful kitchen ingredients to fill it up.
A good spice rack should go beyond organizing all your spice jars
If you think the only feature to consider with a spice rack is its ability to hold your jars of spices, think again. Spice racks have a variety of important features you'll want to consider, according to the Foodal website.
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Size and adjustability: A spice rack must be able to fit the space you have available, while also maximizing that space. If you have a really narrow, tall cabinet, you don't want your spice rack to waste the upper half of the space, for example. Adjustability in a spice rack's design can fix this problem.
Design and look: Design considerations are key for spice racks, too. HGTV has collected a variety of spice rack ideas, some of which you can buy and some of which you can make yourself, depending on the look you want. If you'll store the spice rack inside a cabinet, you may not be as worried about its look. But if the spices will be displayed as part of your kitchen décor, you'll want a spice rack with a pleasing look.
Capacity: Certainly, you want a spice rack that will accommodate all of the spices you own, but you also don't want to go crazy and buy a spice rack that will hold 50 spices if you only really use 15 spices regularly. So think about which spices you actually use a lot that you'll want quick and easy access to, and find a unit with that amount of space.
There are different types of spice racks for every need
You also need to consider exactly where the spice rack will fit in your kitchen. Home Stratosphere outlines the different types of spice racks, which we've summarized below:
In-cabinet: An in-cabinet spice rack usually is adjustable in size - both horizontally and vertically - allowing it to fit many different sizes of cabinets. These spice racks also usually will accommodate the spice jars you buy at a store. In other words, you won't have to transfer the spices into other containers to fit an in-cabinet spice rack.
In-drawer: A spice rack designed to fit inside a drawer will hold the spice bottles in a horizontal configuration. It often can use the spice bottles as they are without having to transfer the spices. But it doesn't work well for using different size spice jars.
Wall-mounted or magnetic: Wall-mounted spice racks often are decorative units, as they will be visible at all times. Often, they'll use specific types of jars that ship with the spice rack, meaning you'll have to transfer the spices to the new containers.
Free-standing: A free-standing spice rack may look a bit like a tiny bookshelf or wine rack. You'll slide spice jars into the shelves either horizontally or vertically. These designs sometimes can work with your current spice jars, or they sometimes ship with separate containers.
You can expect to pay anywhere from $10 to $50 for a spice rack. However, some spice racks that are decorative pieces can cost more than $100. Larger units that can hold dozens of jars will cost more than $100, too.
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The Spicy Shelf Patented Spice Rack has an expandable design to fit many pantry and cabinet sizes, and it can hold dozens of spice jars easily.
The flexible design of the Spicy Shelf Patented Spice Rack is our favorite feature of this spice rack. It looks simple, but it can collapse to 7 3/8 inches in width or expand to 16 3/8 inches to fit your cabinets perfectly. Because it ships with two units, you can stack them or place them side by side for more flexibility. The design is a clever way to minimize the amount of wasted space in any kitchen cupboard.
With the U-shaped design of the Spicy Shelf, you'll be able to see all of the bottles clearly. The free space in the center of the shelf makes it easy to grab the bottle you want without disturbing the others. Customers appreciate being able to read the labels on each bottle clearly, thanks to the U-shaped design. Although the plastic construction looks a little flimsy, customers like its toughness. Each unit can hold up to 40 pounds, which is quite a lot for a spice rack.
One aspect of the Spicy Shelf design that some customers won't like is the fact that its depth is not adjustable. You'll need a cabinet that can accommodate at least 10 1/2 inches of depth. Some customers report struggling with assembling Spicy Shelf, too, because it doesn't ship with directions. However, most reviewers on Amazon say it's a great spice rack once it's all assembled. It's also the number one best-seller on Amazon for spice racks.
We appreciate the fact that the Spicy Shelf isn't just for spices, either. It will work with small bottles and containers of other products that are tough to organize. Craft supplies, cosmetics, and average-sized medicine bottles all work great with this design too.
Overall, it's a great affordable, adjustable spice rack for putting inside your cabinet.
Pros: Extremely flexible design, plastic construction looks a little flimsy but is tough, fits a variety of cabinet sizes, surface is tacky to avoid slipping, price is great
Cons: Directions for putting it together are lacking, no lip to hold larger bottles in place
The Seville Bamboo Spice Rack is available in three sizes to meet your needs, it's affordable, and it's beautiful.
Bamboo is a type of wood that's commonly found in kitchens, thanks to its clean look, toughness, affordability, and environmentally friendly makeup. So if you already have some bamboo tools in your kitchen, the Seville Classics 3-Tier Expandable Bamboo Spice Rack can fit right in while keeping your spices organized.
It's especially nice that you can pick up this smart looking spice rack for as less than $20 depending on the design you select. For an all-wood spice rack, that's a highly desirable price point.
In its review, Kitchen Gadget Review highlights the stair-step design of the Seville Bamboo Spice Rack, which helps you see all of your spices at once. You may want to place labels on the lids of the spices to make sure they're easier to find, as the labels on the spice bottles in the back may be hidden by other bottles.
My favorite aspect of this Seville unit is its flexibility. Seville offers two designs for use inside a cabinet or drawer. You can expand horizontally several inches to allow for storing more bottles. This is a great feature for ensuring it'll fit tightly in a drawer or cabinet without wasting space.
Most user reviews on Amazon are favorable, and the low price tag is a big draw. Customers appreciate the clever design of the Seville spice rack. However, we'd strongly recommend that you precisely measure the space in which you're planning to store the Seville Bamboo Spice Rack before ordering it, just to ensure that it'll fit. Some customers reported they liked the spice rack, but that it didn't fit quite where they wanted to use it.
For reference, the cabinet spice rack unit measures 8.25 inches long by x 3.3 in. high and ranges from 8.75 to 15.5 in. wide. The flatter drawer version measures 15 in long by x 8 in. wide and 2 in. high.
Pros: Extremely low priced spice rack, sharp looking design using bamboo, adjustable size to fit different cabinets, can see all spices because of stair-step design
Cons: Only accommodates a limited number of jars, may not fit some drawers or cabinets
If you cook a lot and have a ton of spice jars, the AllSpice Wooden Spice Rack will keep all of them sorted perfectly.
Sometimes making choices is difficult. So if you have a cabinet with 50 or more spices, and you don't want to have to pare down your collection, the AllSpice Wooden Spice Rack is built with you in mind. The AllSpice unit offers a rack with 60 jars, each of which can hold about one-half cup of spice
It's one of the biggest spice racks on the market, and the company makes a smaller design with 12 jars, too. The 60-jar unit is huge, weighing 28 pounds and measuring 24 x 16 x 4.75 inches, so be certain you have space for it on your countertop.
There's nothing fancy about the AllSpice Wooden Spice rack, but it's made of beautiful, solid wood. It looks like a wooden wine crate, and the jars slide into their own individual slots. You will have to transfer your spices from their current containers into the jars that ship with the AllSpice unit, as those jars are the only ones that will fit in the spice rack.
The lids of each of the jars will hang away from the spice rack just enough to make them easy to see. The AllSpice kit ships with more than 200 sticker labels to mark each jar clearly. One of my favorite aspects of this unit is the fact that AllSpice offers shaker lids with different size holes to accommodate spices consisting of powders, flakes, and seeds.
Even though the AllSpice Wooden Spice Rack's design is simple, it is available in a variety of wood styles, including bamboo, cherry, natural, oak, and walnut, as well as white paint. In its review, Foodal highlights the quality of the finishes of this spice rack.
The people who can fit its high price tag into their budgets tend to be big fans of the AllSpice Wooden Spice Rack. One customer highlighted the strong organizational design of the AllSpice unit for speeding up the process of cooking. Another customer appreciated that this spice rack occupies less depth on the countertop than expected.
The AllSpice Wooden Spice Rack isn't for everyone, but for those who love spices — and have a bunch of them — its design is nearly perfect.
Pros: Accommodates up to 60 jars of spices, extremely strong build quality, variety of wood finishes and styles available, easy to see each jar in the spice rack
Cons: Very high price tag, heavy and large spice rack
The Gneiss Spice Rack just looks cool, and its magnetic design means you can mount it anywhere there's metal in your kitchen.
We really love the interesting look of the Gneiss Spice DIY Magnetic Spice Rack. It comes with either 10 or 24 hexagonal glass jars with magnetic lids, so you can mount the jars to any metal surface in your kitchen, such as the refrigerator or a metal backsplash.
The hexagonal shape of the jars allows them to fit together tightly, and you can create cool honeycomb patterns with them.
Each jar measures about 1.75 inches by 2 inches and can hold just shy of one-quarter cup of spice. These jars are a little smaller than some other spice rack options, so you may be refilling the jars frequently for spices you use most often.
Unlike most spice racks, which put the jar lids front and center, this spice rack shows you the back of each jar so you can see all of the different colors and textures of the spices inside.
One downside to this design is that the label for the jar is on the lid, meaning you can't see the labels when the lid is stuck to a magnetic surface, but you can also label the glass end of the jars in case you don't recognize your spices by sight.
Customers report that the magnets in the Gneiss Spice jars are strong enough to adhere to the refrigerator without sliding around, which is an important feature. Additionally, having the spices within easy reach and visible at all times can speed up cooking.
User reviews on Amazon recommend this spice rack for small kitchens that have limited cupboard and counter space. It's very convenient to pop spice jars on your fridge and free up your cabinets. Reviewers also love the way Gneiss' spice jars look in their kitchens.
Pros: Create an artistic look with the spices visible in the jars, magnets adhere tightly to metal surfaces, spices are easily accessible, three jar lid colors available, saves counter and cabinet space by moving your spices out of the way.
Cons: Jars are small, price is above average for limited number of jars
If you want the easiest and quickest access to a limited number of spices, the DecoBros Spice Rack Stand delivers.
The free-standing DecoBros Spice Rack Stand will look nice on your countertop, but it's also functional. Through its three-tiered design, you can see all 18 spice jars clearly, allowing you to grab the right one easily and quickly.
You'll have to transfer your spices from their current containers into the jars that ship with the DecoBros Spice Rack. The spice rack also comes with 48 preprinted sticker labels that you can use to mark the jars.
Customers like the sturdy design and build quality of the DecoBros Spice Rack Stand, which sports a chrome finish. The jars have plastic lids, but they also feature a chrome finish, contributing to the pleasing look of this spice rack.
One complaint some customers have is that the holes in the lids for the jars are so small that they really only work with powder spices. You can use a hole punch to increase the size of the holes to work with spices consisting of flakes or seeds. Alternatively, you may be able to transfer the plastic lining from a store-bought spice container to the DecoBros jars.
For those who have dozens of spices they'd like to display, the 18 jars with this DecoBros option won't work. If you like the look of this unit, though, you can buy two or three spice racks and spread them throughout the kitchen. As Kitchen Gadget Review points out, it's not a big spice rack — it only measures 12 by 5 by 8 inches — so it won't occupy a lot of space on your countertop, even if you need multiple units.
Overall, user reviews on Amazon are positive, and the DecoBros is an attractive, affordable spice rack that will look just as good on your kitchen counter as it does in your cabinet.
Pros: Stylish looking spice rack, doesn't require a lot of counter space, sturdy build quality, inexpensive price, ships with preprinted label stickers
Cons: Holes in lids are small for non-powder spices, can only accommodate 18 spice jars
