that is so awesome!!! you're great amber.
ps.
i got my nose ring in the mail! you're the best. and i'm coming to norfolk next friday for that show at relative theory(tarpit is playing) are you going?? you should!! we could do light dinner before/after if you want?

If you tend to not use your spices up really quickly, you should be careful not to expose them to heat. I remember an episode of Alton Brown back in the day where he was talking about keeping them above the stove...either it funkifies the spices or something happens that isn't good. Wish that I could remember what he said! I think he ended up putting a sheet of metal screwed into the inside of his cabinet door, so they were out of sight and didn't take up any cabinet room. Just some food for thought! :)

seriously. you are brilliant. since we don't have any metal above our stove (and our stove isn't magnetic), i just told my husband that i think we should do it on the side of the fridge. then it will look like polka dots on the side of our fridge!

what size of tins did you use?

i have also heard that you should not store your spices near the stove....as non-intuitive as that sounds. the heat & steam causes them to lose flavor rapidly. they need to be stored in a cool, dry, dark place. sorry....because your idea looks really nifty. i love the idea stephedge had about the sheet metal inside a cabinet door....just don't pick the cabinet right over or next to the stove. a friend of mine who actually cooks (unlike me) keeps her spices in a caddy in the pantry. when she's cooking, she puts the caddy on the counter near the stove. everything is handy. it pops back in the pantry when she's done. neat and tidy.

This looks FANTASTIC. I am totally in love with it.

love those tins -- i use mine to sort sewing notions (snaps, hooks, eyes, etc).

Yeah this is such a cute/cool idea. I was more worried about the hot glue being exposed to the heat...than what people have been saying about the pices and heat...it may cause the glue to fail.I would mount a piece of metal to the wall maybe beside the stove...It a REALLY great idea though. I hate spice racks!

Hi,

I wandered into your site via apartmenttherapy, and it's great. I'm so happy to have found someone else with a craft/food/pet/travel blog that also often features photos of dudes in Municipal Waste t-shirts.

Keep up all of the fun work!

I do lj, but I am mostly friends-only:

http://garbagedog.livejournal.com/

My flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78838530@N00/

that looks fab!!

An awesome idea! However, from the two that has already mentioned above about the heat and spice losing it flavors, I suggest you stick 'em on the fridge instead.

A suggestion from your local chef.

-Phil

OMG do NOT show my Roommate, I repeat, do NOT show Roomie. We already have 6 spice racks.

That being said, I really like your idea, and once I have my OWN place, I'll probably replicate.

With the heat from the stove, is there a chance that the spices might lose their potency?? Just curious. When you only eat veggies, proper spicing is SUPER important :)

Woops, I am lame. I think I read the post this morning, and didn't comment until just now. Thus the lag and the reason I posted stupid comment #1,234,567.

To the people who were like "omg u'll set urself on fire", another way to set yourself on fire is to be rummaging through your spice cabinet (manufactured in 1952, complete with non-sliding shelf), trying to find coriander whilst your curried veggies burn.

that looks so cool!! :) i love it. i don't think the spices will go bad that fast... keep it! we used our massage gift cert's today and loved it. thank you :) miss you, see you sunday!

Just read your addition at the end - I think it looks totally adorable. The Container store sells long thin metallic strips if you do decide to move it - they could make a cool graphic line of beautiful circles somewhere outside of the fire zone :)

Becky

Fantastic idea. Now I just need a new stove that I can place these on :) Do you recommend anything for labels?

Crys, I just jotted something on the back with a fine tip sharpie, but you could write on the front with a grease pencil, that way it would be easy to change if you ever run out of what's inside.

What size cases did you use?

I used "F". The 53mm set of 12.

F is a pasteboard case - are those good for spices? I was looking at getting the Aluminum cases as that might be better, but they're a little more expensive...

It means the case they come in, not the actual tins. All the tins are aluminum.

The photo looks like the tins rest completely against the oven, did you glue the magnets on the inside, or do the canisters have a recessed bottom that allows you to put the magnet on the back and the can still comes in contact with the oven? Or am I totally misreading the photos...

No the magnets are just very thin.

You can purchase things pre-made like this at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

I think you missed the point of the post, CS.

What kind of magnets did you use? Which model number?

I used M-185, which is a 50 pack of the Neodymium Magnets, for $19.95.

So funny, I just purchased something similar to this from the Container Store. It was $15... Check it here: http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?PRODID=74672&CATID=70879

totally cute. i think a magnetic panel on the wall would be perfect (not so much because of the potential for damaging the spices, but because the control area on my stove is plastic and i wouldn't want to have to reach across a big pot of something boiling in order to retrieve a spice). and i'm suspicious of hot glue, so i'd probably opt for an epoxy, but the overall idea is fantastic.

this creative idea is negated by the fact that spices, especially ground, will lose flavor fast. Nice idea though!

Seriously, your spices will lose their flavor within days. Move them to your fridge door.

Excellent article. Not you can also use strong velcro (not on the oven, however)

Very nice indeed

Where do you see forty Comments? This is only the thirty-fourth.

spices + heat = I'm not coming over for dinner....
Nice idea but you've got to move them AWAY from the heat.
I like AB's velcro version on the inside of a cabinet much better
because it avoids heat and light (both bad for spices.

thats all fine and dandy until the magnets screw with the electronics in the stove...kaboom!!!!

Not original. Way to rip off the Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43894-2004May20.html

It looks cool enough but causes a few problems. It apparently magnetized my parsley flakes which caused my ramen to get polarized 90deg out of phase with my fork so I couldn't eat properly.

Looks like a great idea except for those with gas ranges. Probably not great to reach over open flame to grab your oregano.

Good way to ruin your spices. Don't understand how this is a new thing, been done for years. Better kept away from the stove.

Jeez people, calm down. They're just spices! Stick your spices where you like, I have a few suggestions for some people.

If you go here:
http://www.lessemf.com/paint.html

And scroll down to the "Magic Paint" entry, there's some stuff these folks make that let you paint any surface (you can then paint over it with your house colour) and it will allow you to stick magnets to the wall. Might be helpful.

-343

They did a velcro version on the Food channels "Good Eats" a couple of years ago.

Quite a great idea. It gave me a bunch of other ideas, too.

I have flat wood cabinet doors near the stove and my cutting board. I was thinking that with those strong rare earth magnets, I might be able to screw a sheet of metal on the back of the cabinet door and line up all the spices on the door against the wood. That would look great. The door is about 3/8 of an inch and I think those strong magnets will hold through that.

I also thought I would make little labels on my computer to put on the cases, so I can tell the oregano from the marjoram. Or maybe I could get my hands on some small white vinyl lettering (do they still make Letraset?) to put labels on with. I think I would go for bigger cases so I wouldn't have to refill them too much.

wow they look so pretty when all the colours mix together in the top picture. great idea, really inventive!

Those people are right. Spices get most of their flavors from volatile oils, which are driven off by heat. As cool as this looks, it's a recipe for tins of colored, flavorless powder.

But there are other cool places to stick them up... nice work!

I did the same thing, only I stuck them on the fridge (next to the stove) to keep the spices away from the heat.

Of course, the reason to use your own spice containers is to create your own custom labels for the spices....

Hey! Good to see a local Norfickian getting dugg...cool idea too.

This is excellent. I recently admired a magnetic spice rack at a local (Dublin, Ireland) upmarket store until I saw the price (~$200). Now I can make one for myself using the links you're mentioned.

Thanks for that.

If you're thinking of moving them it looks like the wall behind the stove is painted. There is this stuff called "magnetic paint", essentially iron bits in a primer. You paint it on (additional layers for more strength) and then paint over it with regular paint. Then you're little cups will just stick to that. Just thought I'd offer up a suggestion.

Nice Job, I love Lee Valley. I just changed all the spices in my spice draw over to the larger stainless cups. Used a labeler with clear tape and red for the letters, on the glass tops. By the way AB uses Mags on his door now.

More tips:
-Wave a sponge for 2 min. and it will kill all bacteria. (Google, health, 1-24-07)
-All my wooden spoons in a jar by the stove, looks cool too.

I love the idea, and will likely do it on my fridge. However -- and pardon my ignorance -- did you glue each magnet to the tin or to the stove? I have read about how strong these magnets are, and wonder if hot glue is strong enough to keep them stuck on the tin (if that's what you glued them to). Thanks. Brad

Brad-
Glued them to the tin. You need to let the glue fully dry/harden or they will pop right off because of how strong the magnets are. If this becomes a problem in the future, I'll probably use some #5 epoxy and just reglue them.

I've been tossing around the idea to get the spices out of our drawer and on a wall mainly because I need the drawer space! Thanks for the links...

That´s absolutely great, I just wouldn´t put it there, since this place will become pretty warm and that´s not good for the spices.

This is a great idea, only they sell ready made tins like this with magnets at Bed Bath & Beyond for about $2. They include little shaker spouts on the sides you twist to open and close.

I did this a couple of years ago: http://snewpy.com/2005/01/31/. You don't actually need to worry about gluing the magnets to the canisters. If they stay on the 'fridge when you remove the canister, who cares?

I think moving them to the cupboard is a good idea. One thing not mentioned yet is that the magnets might screw up the electronics in your stove.

i actually did something similar, with cannisters that already had magnets on them. my refrigerator is right next to my stove so the side of my fridge is now my spice rack.

I just saw this at Cost Plus. Great idea!

Must hate hate hate to cook too. Never store spices near heat or light. Crappy idea.

I did something similar, except I stuck mine to the side of my cabinet, away from heat and most light... you can see the pictures here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/axsdeny/tags/spicerack/

From the flickr description:
I made this spice rack for Bridget (my wife) before Chrismas. It is simply a piece of sheet steel that I bought at Lowes for about $20. I cut it to the size of the side of our cabinet with my Dremel. I attached the sheet to the cabinet with bolts more for the aesthetics than practicality. Our stove and refridgerator are polished metal, so the look seemed to match. A better (akbeit very permanent) choice would have been to use construction adhesive to adhere the sheet to the cabinet. I then purchased the magnetic spice containers at a kitchen supply store for about $1.50 apiece. Bridget bought the magnetic labeling strips from the container store. They are erasable so there is no worry of wasting them.

Rather than getting a sheet of magnetized metal, you can just stick them right onto the fridge! That's what I did, looks snazzy.

Cool, I'd send a picture of my system of storage, not as an example proper organization, but as a reason of why I'm inspired.

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Thank you - my spice rack on the inside door of my pantry is awful - this wire thing and the spaces are too big and the spices keep falling out when I open the door and I'd been wracking my brain for something better - something along these lines will be perfect!

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Sheesh, what is wrong with people? If I see one more post about heat and spices... this is a great project and I appreciate the clear instructions. I'm going to do this soon.

Very good site. Thank you!
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